07-08-2004, 08:38 PM
[#ff0000][size 4]N.D. wardens cite 6 St. Paul anglers for keeping 388 white bass over daily limit[/size][/#ff0000]
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By Brad Dokken
Herald Staff Writer
Six anglers from St. Paul face misdemeanor charges for keeping 598 white bass in a single day - 388 more than their daily limit allowed - while fishing Devils Lake last week near Minnewaukan, N.D.
Charged in connection with the July 1 incident were Chane T. Moua, 19; Anthony Vang, 20; Kaven Kongchee Vang, 19; Peter Vang, 26; Xu Vang, 45; and William Yang, 21; all of St. Paul. The six are scheduled to appear Monday in Benson County District Court.
According to an investigation report filed by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, an anonymous tipster called the state's Report All Poachers hot line after observing the anglers catching "a lot of fish" at the boat ramp two miles south of Minnewaukan.
The caller also reported the anglers as having several ice chests and was able to provide a description of the vehicle and a partial license plate number.
Game warden Gene Masse of New Rockford, N.D., responded to the call and contacted warden Chris Knutson of Devils Lake and a Benson County sheriff's deputy for backup en route to the scene. According to Masse's report, the deputy was the first to arrive and encountered the six anglers with coolers full of white bass.
Masse, upon his arrival, checked the anglers' fishing licenses and found they all had been purchased earlier that day, which meant none of the fish legally could have been caught before July 1. North Dakota's white bass limit is 35 daily, with 175 in possession.
"I asked them if they knew how many fish they had in their coolers," Masse wrote in his report. "They did not know. I told them that they probably were in excess of their daily limit."
Masse and Knutson then counted the fish, and the two wardens tallied 598 white bass in the coolers, along with four walleyes. Each of the anglers was more than 64 fish over his daily limit, Masse said.
Besides issuing citations, the wardens confiscated the anglers' fishing gear, along with the coolers and the fish, the report said.
According to Paul Freeman, game warden supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Devils Lake, exceeding the daily limit of white bass is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000 and 30 days in jail. Jim Wang, Benson County state's attorney, was not available Wednesday to comment on the case.
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