jtexas
Fleet Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2003
- Messages
- 8,646
Found this on my local fishing board.<br /><br /><br />Texoma Guides Caught in Sting<br /><br />By Ed Godfrey <br />Outdoors Editor <br /><br />State and federal game wardens cited seven striper fishing guides at Lake Texoma this summer for violations of the federal Lacey Act, the result of an undercover "sting" operation. <br />Game wardens booked trips with seven guides, posing as as out-of-state customers. <br />On each trip booked by an undercover officer, the guides kept more than the total number of stripers allowed or kept more than the legal limit of big stripers, said Dennis Maxwell, assistant chief of law enforcement for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. <br />The daily limit for striped bass on Lake Texoma is 10 per angler, and no more than two 20 inches or longer can be kept. <br />Hundreds of striper guides operate on Lake Texoma. Big stripers are rarer on the lake these days, and Jerry Monroe, special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, thinks illegal harvesting of big fish is partly to blame. <br />"That has to have some impact on the comeback of the big fish at Lake Texoma," he said. <br />Because the guides were told the fish were going out of state, it became a federal violation and fines of $2,000 were imposed, Maxwell said. <br />The Lacey Act involves the interstate transport of illegally taken fish. <br />"Some of these guides have been caught before," Maxwell said. "That's why we looked at the federal violation." <br />State and federal officials hope the stiffer penalties of the Lacey Act will deter future illegal activity. <br />It was the third time in the past 13 years that game wardens have conducted an undercover operation at Lake Texoma, Maxwell said. <br />The "sting" was put together this year after complaints from anglers and other striper guides on Lake Texoma "who knew some of this was going on," Maxwell said.
