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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Outdoors blog

Fish in low esteem at Grant County court

Washington Fish and Wildlife police seized 376 whitefish, a trout and nine gillnets from three men who were illegally fishing at Banks Lake on Dec. 8, 2014 (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)
Washington Fish and Wildlife police seized 376 whitefish, a trout and nine gillnets from three men who were illegally fishing at Banks Lake on Dec. 8, 2014 (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)

POACHING -- It's stunning to learn that:

  • A team of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife police devoted a day and night of surveillance at Banks Lake...
  • One officer hiding in the rocks for 7.5 hours...
  • Before they closed in to make a bust...
  • That ended with a foot race through the sagebrush to catch poachers red-handed with 377 fish and seven illegal gill nets.

And then we learn that the Grant County District Court judge let them out of jail without even posting bail even though one of the culprits had an airplane ticket back to Ukraine that will depart before their Jan. 22 court date.

Read this story and weep for our natural resources.



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.

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