This makes me SICK...Spoonbill Poaching

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Seedy

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This is a repost of something I've shared on the North American Native Fishes Assoc. (NANFA) Web site before. I thought I would repost it here as Spoonbill season is upon us.


1st off a couple of quick things to clear the air...
I am a sport fisherman.
I have no problem with people who choose to Spoonbill/Paddlefish snag "responsibly".
I choose not to snag for Spoonbill as I don't feel that snagging fish is "sporting".

With that being said...These pictures make me absolutely sick. These pictures were not staged in any way, they were composed as I saw them. These pictures are just the few whose composition caught my eye, this scene repeated itself multiple times in a 100 yard stretch of river. These pictures were taken at the "Low Water Dam" on the Grand/Neosho river below Lake Hudson (Kerr Dam) in NE Oklahoma. I very well could have gotten my ass kicked or worse for being were I was with my rather obvious camera around my neck while I saw MANY people taking well over their legal limit (1 per day).

You are looking at a couple of things here.
1) A dead bird killed by becoming ensnared in discarded mono filament fishing line.
2)Roofing tiles, discarded bottles and cans
3)A Paddlefish that was snagged, gutted for its caviar and its body (with plenty of good meat) discarded and left to rot well within the banks of the river.

awww.cichlidforums.com_postimages_2009_04_06_253725_001.jpg


The fish itself, gutted and left to rot...looks like a kid was poking it with a stick...

awww.cichlidforums.com_postimages_2009_04_06_253725_002.jpg


Dead Bird

awww.cichlidforums.com_postimages_2009_04_06_253725_003.jpg


Another fish, gutted for its caviar and left to rot

awww.cichlidforums.com_postimages_2009_04_06_253725_004.jpg
 

dennishoddy

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Yeah, thats a pretty sad sight for sure. I don't know what poached caviar is worth on the black market, but some people will do anything for a buck. Those fish are probably 20-30 years old, and wasted. I hope you reported that to a GW so they can keep an eye on that location if they come back.
Discarded fishing line is a major problem in all of our lakes. I can't tell you how many times, I've had to unwind some from my trolling motor or the main motor. My buddy's 200hp Merc had to have a new lower unit, as the mono got past the seal and drained the oil from the lower unit. Before he passed away to cancer, my uncle was a fireman, and on the search and rescue team. I went with him one time for a recovery, at a local lake. When he put his scuba gear on, he also strapped sissors instead of a knife to his legs. He was more afraid of getting tangled up in mono or trot lines in the murky water than anything else, and running out of air.

I do snag for spoonbill on occasion. Catch and release. Its the closest thing to a saltwater fishing trip one can experience in Ok.
 

imhntn

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Yeah, thats a pretty sad sight for sure. I don't know what poached caviar is worth on the black market, but some people will do anything for a buck. Those fish are probably 20-30 years old, and wasted. I hope you reported that to a GW so they can keep an eye on that location if they come back.
Discarded fishing line is a major problem in all of our lakes. I can't tell you how many times, I've had to unwind some from my trolling motor or the main motor. My buddy's 200hp Merc had to have a new lower unit, as the mono got past the seal and drained the oil from the lower unit. Before he passed away to cancer, my uncle was a fireman, and on the search and rescue team. I went with him one time for a recovery, at a local lake. When he put his scuba gear on, he also strapped sissors instead of a knife to his legs. He was more afraid of getting tangled up in mono or trot lines in the murky water than anything else, and running out of air.

I do snag for spoonbill on occasion. Catch and release. Its the closest thing to a saltwater fishing trip one can experience in Ok.

$16 per ounce is what I have heard. That makes one of those big females with 40 lbs of eggs worth a little over $10,000. I have heard the Russian Mafia is working the fishery here for caviar.
 

CrossJ

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In order for the eggs to have any resale value, they must be handled and processed properly. Very few know how this is done properly. Almost an art form. As far as the russian mafia types, this is true. But these guys arent just a bunch of petty thugs with russian accents. These guys are VERY bad individuals. I would try to avoid any contact with them if at all possible.

The Ok dept of fisheries has been running a paddlefish program that is in its third year. The fish are picked up by biologists and processed for the eggs. The meat is also processed and vacuum packed. The meat can be picked up by the fishermen at the processing facility at no cost to the fisherman.
 

Seedy

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These guys are VERY bad individuals. I would try to avoid any contact with them if at all possible.

Yup...the one time I parked near them at a spot near Low Water Dam the vibe I got off of them was extremely heavy. I was probably one wrong move away from getting shot. They had a processing area set up behind a large blue tarp next to their vehicle and I saw one of them carrying a bucket with at least 5 heads in it away from their vehicle towards a fire where they were burning the bodies. I had a rather obvious camera hanging around my neck as I got out of my car, and I heard one of them say something to another (in what sounded like Russian) while throwing a glance my direction. I quickly decided I was in a very bad situation and got back into my car and headed to another spot...

The thought crossed my mind to snap a picture of them and their truck to provide to the GW...but I just didn't feel like risking my life for a fish. I suppose I should have called it in, but at the time, I was rather naive to how lucrative the poaching was and didn't feel like ratting someone out for overfishing...
 

Sniper John

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ElkStalkR

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I choose not to snag for Spoonbill as I don't feel that snagging fish is "sporting".

Well since I am not sporting. How else do you want me to catch a spoonbill? Let me know what "sporting" method legally works and I'll make sure I give it a try. Seriously, its not sporting? Have you ever even tried it?

I don't suppose you support bowfishing or spearfishing either.

Yea, the pics with the gutted paddlefish suck, but ODWC has really been crackin down on that unfortunately you can't catch all the crooks
 

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