Bantam Lake Massacre

[mungo544]

To the idiots who left over a dozen beautiful perch 8 to 14 inches and 3 short pike on the ice in front of Camp Wonposset Saturday, you have been reported to the DEP, please clean up your act. There is no excuse for this. You are not sportsmen you are pigs.

[pikeaholic]

and A-holes.

[FoxyCleo]

wasn't me

[schaffman]

Why people?   Why?  Besides the killing of the short pike, why waste the Perch.   

[elcapitanmas]

Nice job reporting them, wonder if they paid the $40 for their license?

[chadroc]

sick.  not the good sick of a sick fish, the other sick.....

[spanky1]

You are not sportsmen you are pigs.

Exactly! Freakin' morons.

[JJT]

This happened over the weekend? I can not believe that no one did not see this killer(s).

[jigmaster22]

 There is no excuse for this. You are not sportsmen you are pigs.

Hit that one right on the head!!!!
I hope everyone will be watching closer now for these guys

[fishingabomb2006]

then you get lakes like besek where pike have been released and wrecked the panfishing!!!! and we can't even get rid of them without getting a ticket for killing short fish

[jigmaster22]

were talking about bantam lake, A pike lake where the limit is 1 fish 36" during ice fishing season.  If you don't like pike, don't fish for them but to kill them and leave them on the ice is just unjustifiable and illegal.

[Jessox80]

The idea of pike "ruining" a fishery is hilarious to me. Anglers do more damage, and while large pike do put a dent in a population of panfish, about 90% of baby pike are mostly feed for those same fish. The bass lovers at Pachaug complain about the pike....then they fish tournaments during spawning and pull all the bass off their beds. ...right...the pike's fault...

I saw a similar incident at the salmon river last year, very sad...1 huuuge trout and 3 other beauties left to rot on makeshift stringers along the riverbank. I wish I ran into the guy who left them there.

[CTPikeFerret]

Jerkoffs they know nothing

[thndrvlly]

wouldnt it be nice to catch them red handed!!!! no reason for that crap

[fishingabomb2006]

dont get me wrong, i love to fish for pike, but i was making the point that more than a few anglers are wrecking the fishery by laying bucket biologist!!

[tgrm]

Pretty pathetic, the  Fish Gods will seek revenge !!!!!

[Ruger03]

This is my first post so here goes. I was out on bantam today and meet deerslayer. Nice fishing with you, I was picking up and saw a game warden coming over to me. He checked my licence and saw my iceshanty patch on my coveralls,and asked if I would put a post on here about the masacre. He was the one that responded to the call about the fish on the ice. He found the fish and turns out the under size pike were pickerel. He found the guys and gave them a warning. He asked them why they left the fish on the ice, they said to feed the seagulls.

[deerslayer1]

This is my first post so here goes. I was out on bantam today and meet deerslayer. Nice fishing with you, I was picking up and saw a game warden coming over to me. He checked my licence and saw my iceshanty patch on my coveralls,and asked if I would put a post on here about the masacre. He was the one that responded to the call about the fish on the ice. He found the fish and turns out the under size pike were pickerel. He found the guys and gave them a warning. He asked them why they left the fish on the ice, they said to feed the seagulls.

Enjoyed fishing with you today Ruger03. How'd you do after I left? Glad the game warden caught the ***holes that left the fish on the ice. Pickerel or not they should have been returned to the water if they weren't going to be eaten.

Haven't decided on bantam or squantz for monday yet, I'll shoot you a PM tomorrow night.

[Ruger03]

Enjoyed fishing with you today Ruger03. How'd you do after I left? Glad the game warden caught the ***holes that left the fish on the ice. Pickerel or not they should have been returned to the water if they weren't going to be eaten.

Haven't decided on bantam or squantz for monday yet, I'll shoot you a PM tomorrow night.



I caught a couple more dink perch. Let me know how you did at the derby,and where your fishing monday.

[icedragon]

I would like to address the "Bantam Lake Massacre". I was one of the guys in the group that left the fish on the ice & am speaking for all in the group. I want to tell our side of the story to set the record straight.
First of all, the "pike" left on the ice were not pike. They were chain pickerel between 8" - 10" that were caught by our group on Burr Pond on 1/10/2010. Mistakenly, we had been using them as pike bait every Saturday & Sunday since then. At the end of each day, we would put them back in Ziplock bags, re-freeze them, and bring them back the following weekend. We are admitting that we should not have been using them for bait, having found out from speaking to the game warden this last Saturday that it is illegal. In our defense, WE DID NOT KNOW. In fact, we were told a couple of years ago BY ANOTHER GAME WARDEN that not only we could, but that they made excellent pike bait. Apparently, we were either misinformed, or the laws governing allowed bait have changed. Either way, we did confirm this by checking the Connecticut Fishing Guide. SHAME ON US! We should have checked in the first place!
There were some yellow perch left on the ice as well. These perch ranged in size from 6" - 10" and there were only four of them. Two of these were caught on 2/6/2010 and were used as pike bait. The other two were caught on Burr Pond with the pickerel. We're pretty sure thet yellow perch can be used as bait per the Connecticut Fishing Guide. If anyone knows otherwise, please let us know. Both species got to the point of decomposition that we could no longer use them. We left them on the ice thinking the sea gulls would take care of them. I guess not! For this, we apologize to the local residents & agree with the game warden that they shouldn't have to see things like this.
On average we each have over 30 years experience fishing both hard & open water, as well as hunting most game in North America. We as responsible outdoor sportsmen pride ourselves on a very clean records and promise our fellow sportsmen that we will never allow anything like this to happen again. Over the years, we have seen fish left out there and had the same reactions as you guys. It is a waste of our natural resources!
To the warden we spoke to on Saturday, thank you for doing your job well & for your tenacity. You should be commended!
To Mungo544...before posting...get your facts straight, learn your fish species, learn how to count, learn how to measure fish, and last but not least...learn how to spell! 

[deafice]

wow you Are the man  and just learn from your mistake and move on.

[CT Tripper]

CT laws are very clear on what is legal bait and what is not. Quote from CT fishing guide.

"BAIT: Any animal or vegetable, or their parts, living or dead, used
with a hook for the purpose of attracting and catching fish. Any
fish legally acquired, except largemouth bass, smallmouth bass,
chain pickerel , northern pike, trout, salmon, carp and goldfish may
be used as bait.
Bait species- Common shiner, golden shiner, fallfish, creek chub,
spottail shiner, bridle shiner, blacknose dace, longnose dace, pearl
dace, bluntnose minnow, fathead minnow, cutlips minnow, chub
sucker, white sucker, killifish, mummichog, Atlantic & tidewater
silverside, sand lance, frogs (except northern leopard frog),
crayfish, perch bugs, hellgrammites and mayfly nymphs.

[atvjumpers]

wow

[mungo544]

I would like to address the "Bantam Lake Massacre". I was one of the guys in the group that left the fish on the ice & am speaking for all in the group. I want to tell our side of the story to set the record straight.
First of all, the "pike" left on the ice were not pike. They were chain pickerel between 8" - 10" that were caught by our group on Burr Pond on 1/10/2010. Mistakenly, we had been using them as pike bait every Saturday & Sunday since then. At the end of each day, we would put them back in Ziplock bags, re-freeze them, and bring them back the following weekend. We are admitting that we should not have been using them for bait, having found out from speaking to the game warden this last Saturday that it is illegal. In our defense, WE DID NOT KNOW. In fact, we were told a couple of years ago BY ANOTHER GAME WARDEN that not only we could, but that they made excellent pike bait. Apparently, we were either misinformed, or the laws governing allowed bait have changed. Either way, we did confirm this by checking the Connecticut Fishing Guide. SHAME ON US! We should have checked in the first place!
There were some yellow perch left on the ice as well. These perch ranged in size from 6" - 10" and there were only four of them. Two of these were caught on 2/6/2010 and were used as pike bait. The other two were caught on Burr Pond with the pickerel. We're pretty sure thet yellow perch can be used as bait per the Connecticut Fishing Guide. If anyone knows otherwise, please let us know. Both species got to the point of decomposition that we could no longer use them. We left them on the ice thinking the sea gulls would take care of them. I guess not! For this, we apologize to the local residents & agree with the game warden that they shouldn't have to see things like this.
On average we each have over 30 years experience fishing both hard & open water, as well as hunting most game in North America. We as responsible outdoor sportsmen pride ourselves on a very clean records and promise our fellow sportsmen that we will never allow anything like this to happen again. Over the years, we have seen fish left out there and had the same reactions as you guys. It is a waste of our natural resources!
To the warden we spoke to on Saturday, thank you for doing your job well & for your tenacity. You should be commended!
To Mungo544...before posting...get your facts straight, learn your fish species, learn how to count, learn how to measure fish, and last but not least...learn how to spell!  

     Thanks for admitting your mistakes and understanding why I reacted the way I did. I believe you when you say you will not leave such a mess again.  As far as getting the species correct, I hope you can understand that it might be difficult to  identify a partially decomposed fish.
     There were many more than four fish left on the ice. Someone else might have come upon your mess and thought it was a good idea to attract gulls to the ice. Also, I changed my spelling of "massacre" for you in my original post even though I looked it up and come to find out either spelling is correct. 
By the way, "that" is spelled T-H-A-T. I don't believe "T-H-E T is an alternate spelling. If you want to correct your spelling error, click "modify" above your post.

[saxmatt]

I have a possible solution to the problem...lets start a campaign to legalize usage of pickerel and trout as bait 

[hawk01]

I have a possible solution to the problem...lets start a campaign to legalize usage of pickerel and trout as bait  

Yup, Pickeral as bait, not the trout and add walleye as prohibited.

Hawk

[Penn920]

Nah no pickerel trout and kokanne salmon man. Just imagine the monster bass and pike that suck those down like candy every day.

[saxmatt]

Trout make great pike bait. CT should should do what Jersey does. Down here you can buy 6-10" trout from hatcheries and you can use them for bait as long as you have a recipt. Catching your own trout for bait can remain illegal, but people who purchase their own trout can use them. That way the state won't be wasting money on stocking bait, and we'll be able to buy live bait over 4", which has been really hard to find in CT this season.

[Penn920]

Trout go down like ice cream no spines or anything for a bass or pike even a big brown trout to eat. That would sound like a plan, but trout are not really tough when it comes to being out of water for a long time. For example, in a live well they only last a hour before belly up. Now as dead bait though thats a whole nother story... 

[saxmatt]

They're doing fine in the tank in my garage right now