walleye poachers on the Detroit river

just in, this is out of the U.S

Twin Brothers Plead Guilty To Poaching Walleye On Detroit River
MARCH 14, 2019 - 10:37 AM
CATEGORIES: News Local News State
(WWJ) Twin brothers from west Michigan have temporarily lost their fishing licenses for poaching walleye on the Detroit River.

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, 54-year-old Benjamin Schrouder, of Ada, and his brother, 54-year-old Steven Schrouder of Lowell, last week pleaded guilty in 27th District Court in Wyandotte after they were caught with about 75 fish in their coolers in May of 2018.

The legal walleye limit on the Detroit River is five, 15-inch walleye per day.

An investigation began, the DNR says, when conservation officers received a poaching complaint via the Report All Poaching hotline.

The caller said he saw the Schrouder brothers as they were filleting fish at a dock at the Libra Marina in Wyandotte. The witness, who then followed the anglers in his boat, said he watched them fillet the fish, place the fillets in a dockside cooler, return to the river to continue fishing, and then repeat this process three or four times.

DNR officers questioned the men, searched their coolers, seized the fish and issued citations. With a search warrant, the DNR was later able to get phone GPS records for additional evidence in the case.

“This is a great example of how our officers and citizens work together to protect our natural resources,” said Gary Hagler, chief of the DNR’s Law Enforcement Division.

After failing to appear for their court date, a bench warrant was issued for both men. Conservation officers found and arrested the two brothers last week. They were arraigned and each ordered to pay $2,070, including $700 in reimbursement for the over-limit of fish and $20 in conservation fees, along with having their fishing licenses revoked for one year.

"With the walleye river run approaching at the end of the month, we want to remind anglers to stay within their daily limits,” Conservation Officer David Schaumburger said. “We also want to encourage others to report crimes such as this one. This caller saved countless fish for other anglers to legally pursue.”

He added that Detroit River is a "world-class walleye fishery," particularly after the spring spawning run.

“It’s a great opportunity to catch plentiful fish," Schaumburger said. "The Detroit River attracts anglers from all over the United States and Canada.”

Anyone who witnesses or suspects a natural resource violation is encouraged to call or text the Report All Poaching hotline at 800-292-7800. Get more information HERE.

TAGS: Fishing Detroit River Michigan Department of Natural Resources poaching

I have no problem with the fine, but the licences should be lost for much longer imo.

Looks good on the greedy SOB's, wish they would have given them stiffer penalties.

Really don't think taking their licenses going to do much against these poachers. You don't see CO's out there near enough. This type of thing happens all the time and not just on the DR. I will be calling the next time I see this happen. I fish the DR for about a month and it is a great fishery. Most days it takes me longer to drive there, than to catch the limit. So you can imagine how many fish poachers take.

I just will never understand that greed mentality.

Sure am glad they got nailed anyhow

Glad they were caught. The fine should be much stiffer not only based on the huge amount they were over their limits but also the fact that they didn’t even have enough respect to show up to court. Also what makes anyone think removing the license of the offenders would change anything. They fished illegally by poaching and breaking their limit I don’t think they would be worried about further offences fishing without a license.

Nothing less than a lifetime ban is justice. That many walleye over the limit is a total lack of respect for the law or the resource.

truly a sad day for all legal anglers.but on the bright side they were caught and made to pay a penalty( my opinion not stiff enough). we legal anglers do not like to see such a waste of our natural resources. i hope the fish were donated at least, i did not see any mention of it. but i agree wit the general concenses that that the licence suspension with not deter them. but if they fish again i hope they get caught and put threw the ringer. next time take their boat as well.
just my opinion
pickerel24

For sure this is unacceptable. Not condoning it. But does anyone worry about the current state of lake Erie. If youve seen the 2018 hatch its signigicantly larger than that of 2015. I honestly think we will have a problem with way too many walleye in the lake verses the amount of food it can produce. Im definitely worried it will crash. Maybe time to up the limits?? Doubt it will ever happen though! Thoughts?

Regarding increasing the limit -it 's not unheard of.
State -side they ran into this problem in Saginaw Bay and they did increase the
limit for walleye from 5 to 8 and reduced the slot size from 15" to 13" recently.

You do seem to be catching more every year. I haven't seen the big ones like they used to be. I have caught them from 4" to about 20". I used to get them more like high 20s.

they just up the lb limit for the commercial fishery on Erie. I've fished the DR for ,many yrs, by far my fav time of yr, April and May on the DR is insane.

gotta get out there early in the season, last wk of March and into early April produce some biguns

hey Wilson, I agree with you on the really big ones. Problem is they are full of eggs and I will always throw them back, but is fun. Was out in March couple years ago, only caught one each time out, but were both over 7lbs. Long drive to just catch 1 and throw back. Only time I get the big ones now, but that ok as I throw anything that is over 20" back anyway. But these poaches, doesn't matter to them the size or the numbers. Come end of April you could probably catch a couple hundred a day if you worked at it and had no morals.

true dat, was not sure were your traveling from, sounded more like you were from around here. I'm 5mins from the ramp at the upper end of the DR, for me anything over 22" goes back.