During the closing days of the salmon season on the Little Salmon River, Southwest Region Conservation Officers contacted literally hundreds of happy and successful anglers with a fresh fish to take home for the table.
"It was great to see so many folks finding success and I took great joy in watching some people catch their first salmon," District Conservation Officer Marshall Haynes said. "But unfortunately there were a few bad apples in the bushel.”
A select few who didn’t follow the fishing rules left with a citation and a court date to talk to the Idaho County Judge. Conservation officers dealt with and issued citations for a variety of violations on the river over several days, including arresting an individual who didn’t appear on a Fish and Game citation from the fall hunting season, failing to immediately validate a salmon permit, continuing to fish after taking the limit of one adult salmon per day, taking a fish without a healed adipose fin scar, using the salmon permit of another, transferring a salmon permit to another, and taking over the one adult salmon daily bag limit.
These violations are all misdemeanors requiring a court appearance. Penalties for Fish and Game misdemeanors are generally decided upon by the magistrate but can range with fines from $25 to $1,000, civil penalties for illegal fish taken, revocation of fishing and/or hunting license, or even jail time on more serious offenses.
Anyone with information regarding fish or wildlife crimes is encouraged to contact the Citizen’s Against Poaching hotline at 1-800-632-5999.