The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has charged two men with having 106 sunfish over the limit. Jeffrey Allen Meuleners, 52, Montrose, and Donald Peter Gabrelcik, 58, Delano, were each cited for possessing 53 sunfish over the limit. The citation carries a maximum fine of $1,072, restitution of $265 and a possible penalty of 90 days in jail for each man. They will each lose their fishing license for three years.

In early February, Minnesota Conservation Officer Chris Vinton, Detroit Lakes, received a Turn-in-Poacher (TIP) call that a group of anglers were fishing for sunfish on Tulaby Lake in northern Becker County and were taking more than 100 fish at a time. The statewide limit for sunfish is 20 per angler. The caller provided information about the vehicle driven by the anglers. In mid-February, Vinton observed the anglers fishing in the location that the informant had identified. Nearby was a vehicle similar to the one the caller described.

Vinton saw one of the anglers count 30 sunfish into a bucket before contacting the group as they stopped at the access. A quick count of the fish in the buckets showed them to be 12 short of a limit for three anglers. Vinton continued checking the lake every other day for several weeks when the group reappeared. Vinton, joined by Conservation Officer Dennis Lang, Perham, observed them until dark when the anglers began to load the vehicle. They followed the anglers to a cabin near Akeley.

The officers received permission to enter the garage there and said they had received a TIP call about a group of anglers taking over limits of sunfish. Gabrelcik said they hadn’t counted the fish they caught, but believed they were over the legal limit. Gabrelcik then produced two buckets of sunfish that were in the rear of the pickup. He said they had more hidden in one of the portable shelters. There were 85 sunfish in the buckets and shelter.

Lang returned from the cabin and said there were four bags with 61 partially frozen sunfish. Vinton said, “Both anglers kept commenting that they ‘could not stop’ and ‘the fishing was just too good.’”