Another rare fish through the ice

[Sprocket]

A little searching has this page from the regs for 2017
http://www.eregulations.com/vermont/fishing/general-regulations-definitions/

“Take” and “Taking” mean pursuing, shooting, hunting, killing, capturing, trapping, disturbing, harrying, worrying, wounding, snaring or netting fish, birds or other animals. It includes placing, setting, drawing or using any net or other device commonly used to take fish or wild animals, whether they result in taking or not. It includes every attempt to take and every act of assistance to another person in taking or attempting to take fish or wild animals.

And further down the page:

Threatened & Endangered Species

Anyone who takes or injures a Vermont Threatened or Endangered Species is subject to either civil enforcement or criminal prosecution for a big game violation. Criminal penalties include up to 60 days incarceration, a $500 to $2,000 fine, a $2,000 payment to the fish and game fund, and restitution costs. Agency civil enforcement penalties are capped at $42,500 for a single violation. The complete list of threatened and endangered species is available on the Fish & Wildlife website (www.vtfishandwildlife. com). The list includes lake sturgeon, stonecat, timber rattlesnake, bald eagle, spruce grouse, beach heather, great laurel, Canada lynx, marten, little brown bat and Indiana bat. Federal penalties also may apply.

I'm gonna leave it up to you all as individuals but I'm not gonna risk an encounter with Deputy Fife instead of Sheriff Andy...I'll be cutting the line asap and I hope nobody else gets jammed up by the EPO's.

[flagfishon]

Taking, is taking the animal, not taking a picture.  As long as it was done quickly and the fish wasn't harmed, I don't see any problem. 

[VTMatt]

If you catch a sturgeon by accident, I highly doubt they will come after you for taking a picture of the fish. Poor handling of the fish MAYBE. Or, if you keep catching sturgeon and don't change what youre doing, they can come after you for purposely targeting them.

[spot]

With cameras on phones all over the place these days snapping a picture before release is a matter of a minute or so, so it probably isn't a big deal as long as they got the fish back in the water quickly otherwise and didn't let it thrash around on the ice too much.

[vtcountrychamp]

Since the fish & wildlife social media pages are praising this fisherman, I doubt he is breaking any sort of law.