Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Outdoors blog

Illegal gillnetters busted on Deschutes with 85 chinook

Fish and wildlife officers post by some of the chinook and steelhead confiscated from an illegal gillnetting operation at the Deschutes River in Oregon. (Oregon Troopers)
Fish and wildlife officers post by some of the chinook and steelhead confiscated from an illegal gillnetting operation at the Deschutes River in Oregon. (Oregon Troopers)

FISHING -- Working on numerous complaints of illegal gillnetting on the Columbia River at the Deschutes River Sanctuary, Oregon State Police teamed with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement for a nighttime river patrol that caught two people deploying gillnets illegally before confiscating 85 chinook salmon and one steelhead.

The Sept. 18 patrol located a boat operating without required lighting in the sanctuary with 3 persons onboard. They also discovered the boaters had deployed a gillnet longer than 1,100 feet in violation of 800-foot length restrictions as well as being in a sanctuary that's closed to gillnetting year-round.

Lane Meanus, 26, and Ashley Leslie, 24, both residents of Celilo Village, were arrested for multiple criminal acts.

The investigation discovered 85 chinook and one steelhead with a current market value of $3,500.



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

Follow Rich online:




Go to the full Outdoors page