Illegal Nets

Love em or hate em the DNR boyz got one right Yesterday. They caught some people that had net for personal uses that were legal but they were taking the fish to Garden to a fish house and were selling them in the round. I"m not talking just a few but THOUSANDS of pound per trip. If they are allowed to catch 200lbs per day for their own use fine but I am glad they got caught selling the illegal ones. The boyz pulled 1200 ft of net yesterday. I enjoy fishing with my 5 yrs old son maybe now we can have some more luck.

i don't agree with the use of nets in the little bay anyway so good job co's

Talk about getting ones blood pressure up! They need to revoke these "so called priviliges" of these guys that get caught violating their card! And fine them per# like they would for non-native americans!

Makes you wonder where this country is headed with these rediculous rules!!

It's About Time!!!!

Where were theses net's located?

It was my understanding ( right from the source ) they were North of the Red Can which is North of the Esc Harbor. I think somewhere around the Terrace. I know when they were on surveillance they went on at the terrace. One time they saw a group of fishermen from Wi. fishing between 2 - 600 ft nets I think that would limit your catch.

Wow. If the CO's read this..........good job, gentlemen. Whether or not one agrees with the tribal rights and laws as they have been established by the powers that be is regardless. If they are in violation, they should be apprehended and fined.

Just talked to them and they said " You're welcome." I had called The Press but the outdoor guy was to busy to go out for Pic's or follow a scoop for the story. Go figure? One of our areas biggest resources and they can not care enough to put it in print. Must be politics or something

We talked with one of the officers involved with this case today. This was a HUGE bust. I really do hope the paper starts to cover this one. The details of what was involved in building the case and tracking the fish were very interesting and need to see the light of day.

Congrats to the guys and gals in green for this one!

If you go to the Escanaba Daily Press web page and look on the left hand side, scroll down to "services". Open it and you will get "contact". Click on that to open to a page of emails for a number of employees of the paper.

SEND THE PUBLISHER an email ( I did) indicating your interest in this outdoor sportsmans story and why they have not covered it. If enough people contact them, maybe they will see the light !!!!!

Hmmm. No wonder the fishing south of Gladstone has been so slow! I just wonder how many pounds of fish they've taken and how long they've been doing it. What a shame.

I heard up to 30,000 lbs pr year for the last 10 yrs. ie... 300,000 lbs thats a lot of fish

Does anyone know if these people with the nets were from the area.

Names not released yet but they are from Rapid River

Those nets were staight of the esky river mouth on the east bank (stonington side) I came across them early ice but didn't give it much though. I bet the fishin will be better there next year!

When I came into work this morning and read some of the posts I took jigrappers advice and sent the press an email. Shortly ago, I got a call from the Daily Press. The gal covering the story said they were not getting any information out of the DNR other than "yes, there was a bust". No other details, other than the investigation is still ongoing. Now I can completely understand not giving out information that they DO NOT have facts on, but what is their problem with not giving the press the facts that they do have now!?

So, since the DNR would not give her anything to write, she asked if I could refer her to anyone that could comment on what kind of negative impact this caused on the bay. I told her that after editing, my comments would most likely not make the press, but I did refer to Bait Shop Guy. (BSG, hope this doesn't piss you off, but after reading your post in how you also think this should be exposed, I did not see any harm) I let her know you would be a great "start", of people she could contact.

Anyways, just wanted to let all of you know the press is trying to do a story on this, but isn't getting far right now. I would like to think I can give the DNR the benefit of the doubt that they will release all the information about this in time... but I my gut tells me they will just keep their mouths shut for some ridiculous reason.

Thirteen-Five.... out!

I can only imagine what would happen if say....the standard sportsman got caught with lets say....30 walleyes. I do the believe the DNR would nail them to the wall (rightfully so). I hope these people are made an example of.

We were up 2 weeks ago and one of the locals was tell us about the nets and how many big fish they (the nets) have been taking. If he knew about it then why did it take this long for something to be done?
We were under the impression that it was legal for certain people to do this.
Or were they just abusing there rights like the ones in Wis.?
There probably luck the DNR caught them before the wrong people found out.
Do things like that up in Alsaska you may end up in a crab pot.
Hope they make them pay big time along with the dumb #ss killing deer with snowmobiles here in Wis.

And we are worried about a slot limit!

No problem, North Town. Hopefully I was able to give her some good facts. I had a lot of information thrown at me in a short time the day before, so I hope I kept it all straight. Sounded like the story would be in Fridays paper.

I was listening to the radio this afternoon and they mentioned it on there. I also had an opportunity to talk to one of our fine "Guys in Green". He told me that he didn't know much, but what he understood was that it will be up to "the Tribal Council" to hand out any punishment. The most that they could do is confiscate the equipment. Then they notified the "Tribe". I guess we will see how this all pans out later.

Check out dailypress.net. Brief article Thursday (which I was going to post but didn't want to violate any copyright laws). It says there will be more in Friday's paper.

It probably true that the "punishment" will be handled within the tribe by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. However, I believe, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, that the commercial fisheries in Garden (I believe all of them are in the Garden peninsula) who accepted the catch for cash are grandfathered into commercial fishing with no tribal connection. They will be the ones who will likely feel the most repercussion in the form of fines and hopefully loss of license to fish commercially. That will take months of litigation. Furthermore, the DNR does not usually give out information on such things before there is an arraignment hearing, and then case becomes "public information".

Im just read all the post on this netting issue. What exactly happened? Did this happen recently or in the fall and the word just got out? Or did these nets get pulled up thru the ice and reset?

Just trying to stay in the loop.

The offenders called up the the tribe and ask if they could put more nets out and they were told they still had their card and had a legal right to do so but they should be very careful because they will be watched. The tribe is not supporting them per say but until they are charged and the system runs it course it would be legal. I hope justice prevails but the Michigan people will most likely get screwed. Look forward to pulling some nets my self some day. I will have a fish fry and invite ya all over for a meal

just a little note to entrprise; all comm fishing done on the garden pennisula are tribal, the state fishermen got bought out, in 2000, with the loss of many jobs on the pennisula, so i ask everybody not to think that all legal fishermen are involved in this type of illegal activity, from what i hear its your neighbors that were doing the illegal fishing, i'm sure more details will come out over time, this is probably a complex investigation that takes time to sort out.

What tribe is it & how do we get ahold of them. I think we should ALL get in touch with them & let them know how we feel. I would love to give them a piece of my mind. If we just let it go they'll never stop. We could let it go and give up but I'm fed up with rolling over. They should have a Casino or a treaty. Its bad enough they act like we had anything to do with it, it was 150 years ago. To say we did anything to them is a bald face lie. I know personaly tribe members who shot 5 bucks each before Nov and bragged about it, doesnt sound like feeding your family to me. Well my blood pressure is high enough for now.

Boy reading these posts can get a guy fired up!

Looks like a tribal issue that hopefully will get resolved. No telling if they will do anything at all .....but "If sportsman want to take some action on this issue......STAY OUT OF DA CASINO'S".

The news has been saying business is down at the casino's all over Michigan. Well, it can go down further if people stay away!!!!!!!!!

Think of all the money saved and the neat fishin stuff you would be buyin!!

Hmmmm....lets have a "players card burning party at the Kipling launch".

Amen to that Jigrapper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I say we pool our money and buy a big ole advertisment on a bill board or Escanaba news or both. Boycott the Casino's at once. My wife and I were going tonight but not anymore! This fires me up and I live in the LP. We just signed our great treaty last year. What a bunch of bull $%#@.

http://www.dailypress.net/page/conte....html?nav=5003

Thank you for the clarification UPFISH08. I didn't know that the non-native fisheries were bought out. You learn something new everyday! Then the matter will be kept entirely within the jurisdiction of the BIA and the Federal court system. We should hope for the best chance of justice there. I personally do not believe that the entire tribe should be punished for the heinous acts of a few members. Thats ridiculous. My wife and children are cardholding members of the Soo Tribe, but I am polish LOL. My wife doesn't require a fishing license but rarely fishes. I will never condone my children to take advantage of the liberal treaty rights they posess and never have taken even close to our state of Michigan legal limit when we are fishing. Even though we'll take home enough perch for that night's dinner, I've also taught them the value of catch and release. In this day and age of limited and shrinking resources we all should be setting that example. The issue isn't even close to being debatable.

My son is also a member of the tribe so is my girlfriend and her whole family. Her father has a commercial liscence but does not net or take fish period. The few people I know that net,(from Rapid River) do not deserve a card. You would never know they were Native American by looking at them. They have the smallest percentage of native in them but still obtained a card. Its a shame the rap all the natives are getting for this because of some mostly white people abuseing the rights they dont deserve in the first place. The good news is I was told the tribe revokes there rights for LIFE! Just my opinion anyway.

This whole story does make pretty angry. How does this all go on right under everyone's noses for 10 years.
I really dislike the use of nets anyway. Seems like cheating. No sport at all. Just easy and wasteful.
I am happy to hear that the tribe has revoked their priveledges for life. They should be made an example of. They should lose their right to fish period, anywhere for life. No license from MI either. You blew it!

This whole story is frustrating b/c we had a horrible fishing trip in the same area of these nets. One question.....How do these guys get the nets down there and how do they get the walleyes out thru the ice? Or are these nets put in in open water?

Thanks,

this has been going on forever and alot of us have been bitching for years. The only difference is now maybe they are finally starting to do something. lets hope they keep it up.