RI Enviremental Police were doing there job Saturday Night

Last night I went striper fishing in hopes of catching my first striper of the year. I was determined to put in a lot of hours to reach this goal. I got to my first spot at 5:30 pm. I tried multiple spots and much to my dismay, I am still fishless.

The first spot I fished was also my last. Essentially, I did a circle around the river. The only place that had any fish was a dark area behind a rockpile. A couple teenagers were fishing the spot and one of them caught a bunch of fish on a small swimmer. I had a swimmer also but it was bigger than his. The fish wouldn’t touch it. The kids left about eight. I fished another 40 minutes with no luck.

At 8:40 I finally gave up. I emerged from behind my rockpile and saw a large SUV parked directly behind my car. I was parked on an otherwise dark deserted road. The SUV was running, so obviously I was slightly nervous going back to my car.

I opened up my trunk to put my gear away. Someone got out of the SUV. It turned out to be a RI Environmental Police Officer. He asked me if I caught anything. While we were talking he used his flashlight to see through the windows of my car. He asked me if I had any coolers. I did not. He was looking for undersized illegally kept stripers. Since I do not keep any fish, I did not have anything to worry about.

He then asked me to show him my license, which I had left in the car. I showed it to him. After that I told him all the spots I fished and what lures I was using. I told him about the kid that caught the fish earlier. We talked for a couple minutes and I was on my way.

Ever since I started winter time fishing in Providence a couple years ago, I have hated winter much less. I used to be depressed until spring came. Now that I have stripers to fish for (even if I don’t catch them) I am so much happier. Just being able to get out of the house and fish for a couple hours a few days a week makes winter so much more bearable.

 I want to thank the Environmental Police Officer that was out at 8:40 on a Saturday night for protecting this fishery that I love so much. This was the second time in a couple weeks I have seen an EPO in the area.  When I saw him last time there were a lot of guys fishing. He was looking for illegally kept fish. With their presence, poachers are much less likely to keep undersized schoolies. I think most of the regular winter time fishermen are happy to see the authorities. Most of us HATE seeing undersized or too many fish kept. I have called on poachers before.  Glad to see you out there this winter.

Thank you,

Nick Pacelli