Behind the Badge - Creative Counting
Creative Counting
District Game Warden Riley Gerding
It was a cold and cloudy September day with no one out as I drove to a smaller lake where decent sized bluegill were being caught that not many people go to, and I hadn’t been in some time.
I turned onto the dirt road that leads to the boat ramp.
One truck, the only truck around, had just taken a boat out of the water.
I pulled up alongside the two people who were in the boat to ask if they had been fishing.
Both individuals indicated they were.
When questioned if they had caught anything, both said that they had caught a few bluegills.
So, I checked to make sure both had fishing licenses.
The fishermen had valid licenses.
I then asked how many bluegills they had caught.
Both were unsure of how many they had caught and kept.
The limit for bluegill is 10 per person so I wasn’t thinking they would have an over limit on them.
I asked one to get into the boat so he could take the bluegills out to count them.
I was standing on the opposite side of the livewell when the man started pulling the fish out one by one until he had gotten to about 15.
I asked him if there was any more fish in the livewell and he said no.
Just to make sure, I told him I was going to look in the livewell to see if it was empty.
I walked around to the other side of the boat and was just about to investigate the well when the fisherman said, “Wait there are some more that I didn’t see.” He then proceeded to keep pulling out bluegill until the count was now at 35.
He said that was it.
I looked inside and it was empty.
I informed the two anglers they were over the limit of fish by 15 total.
Since the limit is 10 bluegills per person, the most that should be in the livewell is 20.
Both individuals were cited for exceeding the daily limit of bluegill.