On the night of April 16, ECOs Franz and Pabes responded to reports of anglers keeping over their legal limit of striped bass at Hempstead Harbor on Long Island. The Officers called in ECO DeRose and K9 Finn to assist with the investigation due to the lack of light. ECOs Franz and Pabes checked the large group of anglers while Officer DeRose and K9 Finn searched the thickly wooded area near their fishing location. K9 Finn detected an oversized striped bass hidden nearby and alerted ECO DeRose. An angler in the group admitted to catching the oversized striped bass and received a ticket. The legal size limit for recreational striped bass in Nassau County (marine waters south of the George Washington Bridge) is 28 to 31 inches. The ECOs escorted the group back to a nearby parking lot and were preparing to leave the area when they observed a black pickup truck parked strangely off to the side in the lot, almost hidden. They investigated and discovered the driver of the pickup truck was the same individual ticketed for the oversized fish found hidden in the woods. The subject was in possession of four striped bass, which is over the daily limit of one fish per person. ECOs issued a second ticket to the angler for possessing more than the daily limit of striped bass.
ECOs ticketed a second angler in a separate case that night for catching and keeping a striped bass over the legal size limit.
