EXCUSES

By Sgt. Duane Taylor

Everyday that I am in the field checking outdoorsmen for the legal requirements of whatever activity they seem to be engaged in at the time, it never ceases to amaze me at some of the excuses that I hear when you catch them violating a wildlife law. Now that hunting season is behind us, we have turned our attention to fishing, both recreational and commercial.

I spend most of my time on Canny Lake which is located in Jackson Parish, just north of Jonesboro. It is a 5000-acre man made impoundment that has been stocked with Florida Strain Largemouth Bass since it began in the 1980’s. In 1994 the 14" - 17" slot was moved to 15" - 19". The fishermen caught violating this law have a dandy list of excuses they will hand you the minute it is evident that they were caught in possession of a slot fish.

We now have a new lake in North Louisiana. It is Poverty Point Reservoir. It is a 2500 acre man-made impoundment that is a result of the hard work of state Representative Francis Thompson. It was stocked several years ago with all species of freshwater gamefish, the main one being Florida strain Largemouth Bass. There is a protective slot on bass from 14" - 17". It opened in April of this year and catching fish of any species seemed to be a matter of grabbing anything from your tackle box and getting it wet. It was nothing to catch 60 to 75 bass per day. Most of these fish however are falling within the slot. With some fisherman, throwing back these 3 pound bass seemed to go against their religion and a select few were bound and determined to take them home for supper. The amount of slot fish tickets that rolled in during the first month or so was evident that the delta country of Richland Parish had people with there on list of excuses as to why they kept a slot fish.

The excuses may vary from Jackson Parish to Richland Parish, as well as other parts of the state as to why they chose to keep a slot fish. As I am writing the subject a fishing award for his efforts, I often ponder on which one he will pull out of his "big bag of excuses". Some of them are hilarious and I am sure most of us have heard the same ones over and over but in case you are in an area where there is not a lot of thought to detail on what to tell the game warden when caught red handed, I would like to share a few of these with you, just in case one of our elite decides to venture to another part of the state for a fishing trip.

(1) 1 just bought a new boat and wanted to get that all important "fishy"

smell in the livewells

(2) 1 thought they removed the slot here

(3) 1 knew there was a slot here but was not sure what it was

(4) 1 didn’t see the sign

(5) 1 was going to keep it in the livewell and release it after I showed my

friends

(6) 1 was going to release it before I took the boat out

(7) My measuring board must be off by an inch or so

(8) 1 found it floating in the lake and it was almost dead. I tried to revive it.

(9) It was hooked real deep and it was going to die anyway

(10) 1 am in a tournament

(11) 1 don’t get to fish much so I keep them when I get the chance

(12) I measured it with a tape measure

(13) I measured a couple of places on my boat and scratched it with my pocket knife

(14)Some guy gave it to me

(15) 1 can usually just "eyeball" them

(16) 1 was just going to take a few for supper

(17) 1 put it in the live well to try and revive it

(18) 1 didn’t measure it

(19) My brother-in-law fishes here all the time and he has never been checked

20) 1 was not sure on what kind of tolerances y’all had on measuring them

It seems like there is no end to the excuses we hear. The end result is always the same. If you fish in one of our slot lakes and do not like to release fish then may I suggest one of our other public lakes with no restriction on size? If you do choose to fish them, I would encourage you to obtain a measuring board and learn the proper procedure so you don’t have to reach into your bag of excuses and hand me one as I reach down into my book of receipts and fill out one for you at a cost of $318 in Jackson Parish.

Measuring a slot fish at Caney Lake in Jackson Parish