Conservation agents with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources responded to a call in reference to individuals in possession of an unregistered lake sturgeon. Wilson vehicle. Cousin Kev. Hey, good. You got a moment? Yeah, Warden Bill Hank. How did you guys do today? Not too bad. You? Oh, all right. Going back in. So, wanted to talk to you about your uh sturgeon spearing and uh wanted to talk about the fish. Yep. So, tell me who got it, who got what, and You bet. So, we were out there and Cousin Kev speared a sturgeon. Awesome. And we went to come off the lake at 1:00. He speared it at like 12:00. Mhm. And we hit the lake, we went to Jim and Linda's to register it. Okay. And we got there at like 2:05 and asked to register and they said, "Ooh, nope, just a little past time." Mhm. So, we said, "Okay." And they said, "Well, you might be better off just registering it tomorrow." Okay. And we said, "Okay. That's I guess what we'll what we'll do." Okay. So, yeah, he speared it 100% legal. Nice fish? 57 in. Yep. I'm assuming you guys got carcass tags and all that, well Yeah, all 100% Check all that. Yeah. In all honesty, it was just 100% legal and we didn't know what time we had to come off the lake at. Okay. So, we got the fish, we came off and it was like, "Okay, where are we going? Pike?" All right, Jim and Linda's. We pulled in. "Oh, you got to register your fish by 2:00." Okay. And it was like, "Oh, well, it's 2:05." Is Pike where you guys went on the water? Brothertown. So, you went on at Brothertown. On at Brothertown, came back to Pike. Where's your Where was your shack? 2 mi off of Brothertown and about a mile north. Okay. A mile north in front of Well, so you had to come a little ways to get to Pike then. Yeah, yep, we went off of Brothertown, mile north of the the exit. Okay. Is the fish in the back of the truck? >> 100%. How big is it? Nice? 57. 57 in. Yep. Yeah. Who Who speared it? Kevin. Kevin? Cousin Kev, yep, my cousin. >> 100% honesty, it's our first fish ever. Okay. We've been spearing for 15 years. Okay. And we just didn't know what we were doing. So, we speared it and it was like, "Yep, we got to register it. Okay, we had a good time. We came back. But you got You know you got to register it by 2:00. What? We just speared it. You know, we come off the lake, there was vehicles and stuff and What time did you guys get off the lake? We came off the lake at like 1:00. At 1:00? Yeah, at 1:00, when it closed. Mhm. And we, you know, there was a bunch of people coming off at that time. >> the shack at 1:00 or leaving the lake? >> Leaving the lake. >> Leaving the lake? No, leaving the shack at 1:00. >> at 1:00. Okay. Yep. And then it was like, "Okay, well, I guess it is what it is." You know, we hit hit the crowd of people. Mhm. It was like, "Well, we can't get to Pike by 2:00." You know, kind of hit the time and so we showed up to Pike at 2:05. And we pulled in and it was like, "Oh, you got to register it by 2:00." It's like, "Oh, you know, here it is." Okay. And they're like, "Well, you should probably just register it tomorrow." Who's the person that spoke to the person at the shack? I don't know, it was Cousin Kev. Okay. Yeah, the guy that speared it. Yeah, okay. And he's like, "Oh, maybe just register it tomorrow." Okay. Okay. >> We were just trying to do things right, you know? I mean, we didn't do anything stupid. Okay. And it was like, You said you've been spearing for like 15 years? >> Yeah, yep. >> Okay. Yep. Okay. Yep. I Like I said, we weren't looking to do anything wrong. We didn't do anything wrong. Just Mhm. came a little late to the registration station, you know. Is it your shack? My shack, yep. Your shack? >> Yep, yep. >> Okay. Okay. Would you be able to show me Let me grab my phone and like where on the lake it is? Yeah, absolutely. I'll pull up on that. So, you If you can pull up All right, I I got hunts down. So, here's Brothertown. Okay. On that Where is it at? Which one is it? This one here. All right. When I click on it, so I can just get the GPS coordinates. >> coordinates? Yeah. I'll just take a picture of that. Did you guys take any pictures of the fish? We did. Oh, sweet. Absolutely. I guess I would not try to do anything dumb. First fish ever. We're just trying to have fun. All right. What's the story? I mean, So, what's the Let me Is it just that we didn't register it in time or is it something else? I was going to bring up Is this an iPhone? Yeah. How do you bring up the details on this? Is that these three dots here or I just wanted to see the the time. Oh, I'm sure. Oh, no, no, it says right here 11:13. 11:13? Yeah. You guys speared it at 11:13? Yeah, oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. Things were good. We just didn't make it to the registrations in time. Cuz I have a tag as well, so we stayed there see if I could get one naturally. Oh, do you mind if I click on this video? That's actually looks like it right there. >> Oh, yeah, yep, 100% you can click on it. That was the story of the day. By the way, I don't know how to run my phone. Oh, sweet. It was fun. Like I said, we're just looking to have a good day. Okay, yeah, it looks like it 10:40. Yep. Oh, that's a nice fish, dude. It was fun. It was fun. Honestly, we're not looking to cause any trouble. We had a good day and and hopefully nobody else causes any problems. We just didn't get to the registration. We didn't know we had to register it by 2:00. Okay. We had fun, we all had tags and just just didn't get to the registration station in time. >> Nice. Yeah, that. All right, you have your carcass tag handy? Yeah, I do. And actually driver's license too, if you would. They're right next to each other. There's one. And is this is your residence here? It is, yep. Please. >> Yeah, it's your fish, right? >> Yeah. Yeah, well, I think it's yours now, but >> [laughter] >> which is fine. I guess so. Yeah. I So, we tried to register it Want to chat for a quick second? Sure, absolutely. We'll come right back to you and we'll Yeah, just just leave the end gear down. How deep was it? We were in like 18 ft and it was at the bottom, so You guys could see 18 ft down? >> had a camera down. You had a cam Oh. Okay. He hit our camera. He literally ran into >> It ran into the camera. Yep, yes. I thought they were joking, so I took the screw off the hook and dropped it for fun. he hit it. You're kidding me. We're not. We're not kidding. >> First fish, just took it. He Oh, buddy. He was cooking breakfast. I was cooking breakfast. And he goes, "Fish." I go, "That's not a fish." So, I dropped it just to We've been sitting there for what, 4 hours? Yeah, it's been a while. And all of a sudden you're pulling up or I'm pulling up. Holy There's a fish on there. Holy cow. Now, I'll be honest, I've never heard a story like that. >> Yeah. Yeah. I've heard a lot of freaking stories, too. And it gets better. Then the DNR pulled in our driveway. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, they did. But honestly, it was a good day. It was a fun day and we didn't do we didn't do anything wrong. We just missed the registration time. That's the only thing. All right. And we didn't know we had to be there by 2:00. So, who who who did Were you texting? A friend you mean or you Oh, okay. He doesn't fish or nothing. I don't fish. But I'm like, "Dad, I don't like this. I got I got a fish and they won't register it." I'm like, "I know we were like 10 minutes late. They won't let me register it like Well, I get it. We'll talk We'll talk about that and some of the details, but We came off the lake at 12:30 and then it was Of course. Yeah, it was the the traffic jam. It was like we were in Milwaukee. You want to see us the trying to I think the picture of the spears is adequate. If you got a good if you got a good photo. That was the spear you used, correct? So we're not going to take I'm not going to take the spear from you, I'm going to take the fish. All right. We're going to grab the we're going to grab the fish. We're going to load in the back of my truck and I'm going to go over everything with you just so you have an understanding of what took place, what the laws are in that area. So So is the the You want to take a measurement of that spear, too. So there's a a You know, I'm just curious from a like what did we do wrong standpoint? Like is it just that we didn't register on time? Oh, I locked it. Yep. Even the dangerous neighborhood. Well, you've you've seen the videos of somebody jumping into the cop's cruiser and then taking off. >> Yep. I'm not going to be that guy. >> Yep, 100% [laughter] 100%. Which I mean now you just turned into a felony. I mean that bad choice is on you. Yes, I am. And try to hide good luck hiding that. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. I think you dropped that city. Yes. Yeah. Well, but no, that's what I was saying is is it the fact that we didn't register it on time? Time's down, so yeah. We get 11 inches. Okay. All right, I'm going to set this up on top of here. We're going to grab the fish. You sure you can lift it? I think I got him. So let's let's talk over here by the fish. So ultimately the registration of sturgeons is extremely important. So we have How long How many years have you been spearing? Have you looked at the regs? Like how did you get into spearing? Okay, so we'll do a recap I just hung out with them and So I mean you validated your carcass tag, it looks like, so we have that. You were in possession of the carcass tag and that's a good thing. Obviously you had a license, so those are those are positive things. But there's a there's a perimeter around Lake Winnebago which you're not supposed to exit until that fish is registered. Um so and and it has to be so and it has to be so it has to be registered. You have to be in line by 2:00 p.m. So not being in line by 12:00 not being in line by 2:00 p.m. is a violation. Um So obviously it was speared, you know, look like 10:40 this morning. Um that was the time that was on the video, so 10:40 this morning. Not everybody goes off the ice right away, you don't have to, but um and what we generally tell the public is if you're not going to be there in time, call the registration or call the hotline and let us know that you're not going to be there in time. That itself it's a violation, but it's a relatively minor one. So then leaving the the area without with an unregistered sturgeon is a separate violation. Possession of an un Yeah, I'm I'm in So I I figured being late the one that walked into the shack? Yeah. Okay. Tell me what happened because I have a I you know, the fisheries people I don't want to get them anybody else in trouble, though. Well, it's the only one that's that's in your name, it's you. You're the one on the hook. I walked in 2:10, I don't know for sure. I mean I didn't I knocked on the door, lights were off, I said it's the first fish I've ever got. I've heard it's got to be registered by 2:00. I know I'm late, can I register it? They said no. You'd get in trouble [music] if you register it after 2:00. Well, that's that's not what they told me. They said if they register it they have to call the warden. Yes, that's that's theoretically they would have to call the warden. And then what happened? So they said that's true, they said that, right? And then what happened? And then we left. And then you left. What would we do it I mean So we would have had a we would have Well, we would have had a me and you would have had a conversation at the registration station at that point about being late. Oh, so if they had have called the warden I would have But instead yeah. So instead what you did is you left and you left with an unregistered sturgeon and you left the area which you can't be inside and possession of an unregistered untagged sturgeon outside that area is a crime. Yeah, I'll give you that. I'll be honest, I could take you to jail right now. All right, if you want to I'm not going [music] to. Because here's here's the thing, see here's the break I'm going to cut you. You've been cooperative with me. So what what I'm going to do is I'm going to we're going to write a report, we're going to take this to the district attorney's office. We're going to have them review it and you know, we'll make a referral and they will decide what to do with it. I've been shaking in my boots all day like I tried to register they wouldn't do it. So >> want to do anything wrong. I'm just out here having fun. Yeah, so you're not going to go to jail and that's because you've been so cooperative. Well, I otherwise to be honest we I mean we discussed it beforehand and we're like we could actually take you to jail for this. So we're not going to do that. I didn't try to do anything wrong, you know, we were just fishing, you know. So we are going to obviously can't keep the fish. So your license, your your sturgeon tag is is used up. You can't go spear again tomorrow. Um So So you I mean cuz you did you did spear a fish, um so that that's used up. You don't get to go spearing again this season. I'll never Um and we'll we'll again we'll forward that information on. Um We tried to do it. I mean I get it. We were late, we should know the regulations, but we tried to register it. Well, but the thing is you took off, you left the area. Well, they told us we couldn't register it. Well, that's I mean they said they What they said was they'd have to call the warden. Yeah. That's okay. I didn't read it like that, but >> [laughter] >> I'll give you that. I see it down that way now. I'm not going to argue. I Like I said, I tried I was texting my dad. I'm like this feels weird like we didn't register this is not right. Like legitimately I'm like this isn't right. I'm nervous I say I I don't like this. So I don't it didn't feel right from the start and that's why I tried we said I said if we go 10 minutes late feels better than not going at all. Let me tell you this. So we have the DNR hotline. Um in a case like So So Um it's in the regulations and I can tell you what whenever somebody self reports a violation um or comes up with a question you're like hey, jeez I I didn't register. I'm sitting here in pipe right now. It's It should have it didn't though. Um I need to do something with this fish. I'd have came over there, we'd have gotten care of it. I agree. Absolutely you've been quite cooperative about it. We just didn't think of it. Okay. I agree. I'm not going to try not to. Do you guys have a copy Have you read through the regulations at all? No? I've never thrown a fish before. Probably should. You can download them on your phone or on the internet, it's available. I'm not going to argue with you. So We're not here to cause problems. Okay. Do you have any questions for me? Yes and no. Sure, ask away. I know the answer. You're going to You're going to tell me I should have looked up the rules. I'm just saying we tried to register it and Nate said we couldn't, so that's all I Well, and that's why you're not going to jail tonight. Is this going to hurt my bone? Um it all depends on how it's handled if that makes sense. So initially no, um but it's going to be in the hands of the district attorney's office um at that point. What's going to take to help that? Uh so you'll I'll I'll I'll meet with the district attorney. Being responsive. If they send you a letter, if I send you anything in the mail, um read through it and respond to it. If they give you a call, answer the phone. Well, we live and we learn we learn. All right. Let's let's go meet with the group here. We're All right, do you guys have any questions for me? But they're good, right? Yeah, we appreciate you guys stopping over. I mean potentially you were the driver, you could be charged with party two. We're not going to go down that road. You've been super cooperative. He could have went to jail tonight. He's been super cooperative, so he's not going to jail tonight. It is a crime to transport an unregistered sturgeon untagged sturgeon um outside of that that boundary. Yep. Yep. We didn't mean to do any of that. So we had a couple we had a couple violations. Had you guys have waited for the the warden to show up like this fisheries state staff said would have happened. He said he Well, obviously he did, right? >> [laughter] >> That's why we're here. That would have been one minor violation at that point. But when we took off with an untagged sturgeon, we just committed a crime. Yep. So 100% And so this is a this is a very special resource. Um you guys know that, right? It's very unique. So we take it darn seriously. And you should. And we appreciate that. I recognize that. Yep. Which is why I think you're going to be okay. We appreciate you guys stopping out. Honestly, this is our I've been spearing for 15 years. This is the first fish we ever pulled out of the ice. And it was a hell of a lot of fun. Good point. Too soon? But honestly, we had a really good day. It was fun. And I know you guys as DNR want everybody to have fun. You know, I mean that's what you guys are here for. It's Absolutely. And we did. We had a good day. And we just missed the registration time by 10 minutes. All right. We appreciate you guys. We're going to kick you guys loose. Let me give you my business card as well. If you have any questions, reach out. Thank you. All right. And we appreciate you guys. All right. Take care. In the end, the suspect was charged with improperly possessing unregistered speared lake sturgeon from Lake Winnebago, improperly possessing lake sturgeon being transported prior to registration, and failure to complete required lake sturgeon registration. He pled no contest all three charges and was adjudicated guilty. He was ordered to pay a total of $873.25 in costs and fines, which he promptly paid. If you like this video and want to see more like it, subscribe to Arrest Cam. As always, thanks for watching.