On a dark night in late-July anglers off the coast of Rye New Hampshire spotted a man fishing from a boat with no lights. A boat fishing without its safety lights on at night is almost always up to no good. As the anglers closed in on the dark vessel and observed, it became apparent that this man was a poacher, keeping well over his legal limit of one fish and all of them were visibly above the legal slot limit size.
Soon, more boats caught on to what this criminal was up to and they began calling him out and threatening to call the authorities. They also saw that the boat was tagged in Massachusetts and noted its make and size. The poacher then sped off as the anglers called in what they saw. In a coordinated effort between Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine authorities, the man was apprehended by the local police at a boat ramp in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He had already hitched his trailer and was in the process of ‘ditching the fish’ when the officers confronted him.
In a recent article, local news station WMUR interviewed Lt. Delayne Brown from the New Hampshire Fish & Game about the arrest, he was quoted “He knew that he was caught red-handed.” He went on to say that the poacher confessed to catching the fish and revealed that he planned to sell them in Massachusetts under his Massachusetts Commercial Striped Bass Permit. His nearly 400 pounds of striped bass would have sold for roughly $1600. He was cited for keeping too many fish (14 total) and for keeping striped bass that fell outside the legal slot limit of 28 to 31 inches, all of the seized fish measured between 38 and 47 inches.
It is a little strange that the name of the offender has been withheld thus far; these things happen all the time and, the names are usually released. That’s supposed to be part of what you risk when you make the decision to the break the law; your reputation is supposed to take a hit. Rest assured that we’ll be keeping a close eye on this situation for any further developments, and we’ll bring them to your attention as soon they are available.
