hntnfsh
07-07-2004, 03:08 PM
From today's Columbus Dispatch Metro Section:
Two Columbus fishermen were placed on probation yesterday and ordered to pay restitution to the state for illegally netting more than 100 saugeye in March from Hoover Reservoir.
Environmental Judge Harlan D. Hale ordered Jiahe Weng, 39, and Hua-Xin Ye, 28, to each pay $800 in fines after the men entered guilty pleas to catching more than the legal limit, using an illegal net and fishing by unlawful means, all fourth-degree misdemeanors punishable by 30 days in jail.
Hale said he suspended jail time in lieu of five years of probation. He fined each man $300 and ordered each to pay an additional $500 to the Ohio Department of natural Resources, which stocks Ohio lakes and rivers with game fish, including saugeye.
A state wildlife officer saw the men using the net before dawn on March 30 near the east side of the dam.
Officer Brad Kiger, who issued the citations, found 108 saugeye, two white bass and a shad in the net.
He said yesterday there is a limit of six saugeye per day per pole in Ohio.
Nets were banned years ago.
The two men used a net with diamond-shape webbing that often catches fish by the gills and won't let them move. The net is usually kept in place with floats.
"It's illegal to even possess one of these nets. Everything that goes into it will die," Kiger said. "It was a really good case because we actually found them tending the net."
The men's attorney Sam Law, who speaks Chinese, also served as their interpreter yesterday in court. He said they have been seeking U.S. citizenship.
The men said they worked for a North Side restaurant that sells saugeye. That business is under investigation by the Department of Natural Resources, Kiger said.
Two Columbus fishermen were placed on probation yesterday and ordered to pay restitution to the state for illegally netting more than 100 saugeye in March from Hoover Reservoir.
Environmental Judge Harlan D. Hale ordered Jiahe Weng, 39, and Hua-Xin Ye, 28, to each pay $800 in fines after the men entered guilty pleas to catching more than the legal limit, using an illegal net and fishing by unlawful means, all fourth-degree misdemeanors punishable by 30 days in jail.
Hale said he suspended jail time in lieu of five years of probation. He fined each man $300 and ordered each to pay an additional $500 to the Ohio Department of natural Resources, which stocks Ohio lakes and rivers with game fish, including saugeye.
A state wildlife officer saw the men using the net before dawn on March 30 near the east side of the dam.
Officer Brad Kiger, who issued the citations, found 108 saugeye, two white bass and a shad in the net.
He said yesterday there is a limit of six saugeye per day per pole in Ohio.
Nets were banned years ago.
The two men used a net with diamond-shape webbing that often catches fish by the gills and won't let them move. The net is usually kept in place with floats.
"It's illegal to even possess one of these nets. Everything that goes into it will die," Kiger said. "It was a really good case because we actually found them tending the net."
The men's attorney Sam Law, who speaks Chinese, also served as their interpreter yesterday in court. He said they have been seeking U.S. citizenship.
The men said they worked for a North Side restaurant that sells saugeye. That business is under investigation by the Department of Natural Resources, Kiger said.