Incident at Monksville....Good Information For Us All

[catfishonthelake]

I just wanted to share something that happened at Monksville yesterday so that people can be on the lookout for stuff like this and know that the state will respond. My buddy was out on Monksville yesterday when he saw a large group of people on shore near a raft and in front of them in the water were 3soda bottles holding up a 100-foot gill net. He called me up and I looked up the number for the DEP. When I contacted the DEP, they immediately sent someone over. It took them a few minutes to get there, but by that time the group was freaked out enough to hop in raft and paddle back to the North Launch, leaving the net. The CO called me back and said it was alright for my buddy, who had some help at this point, to retrieve the net and bring it the launch where they were holding the people. My buddy set free a 5 pound walleye that had become ensnared in the net (after only an hour or so of the net being in the water) and then brought the net to the launch area. They could not prove the net belonged the the group (even though they knew it was), but they gave them a bunch of tickets for not having life jackets and hopefully scared them enough to not do it again.

Very big props to my buddy for taking action and a very big thank-you to the NJDEP for responding. This should be a lesson to everyone to keep your eyes and open and to call the state, as your calls will not be disregarded.

Here is the number for DEP Hotline 877-927-6337