Jackson: Poachers preying on Lake Erie and Illinois lakes

In Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, some government officials often play fast and loose with our taxpayer funds.

The end result, if they're ever caught, is a slap on the wrist and off to another job until they ultimately collect their pension.

I was caught flat-footed when outdoors writer Matt Markey shared his findings with me about a major Lake Erie poaching story.

Markey informed me that some Wisconsin officials tried to beat the system in Ohio, where anglers are limited to six walleye per day in Lake Erie.

Markey, who said he follows this column on the internet, explained that light bulbs went on in his head when I wrote about Illinois poaching and how the Illinois enforcement police are spread as thin as cheap cheese cloth.

Lake Erie has long been a major walleye and smallmouth destination for Chicago-area anglers, and this latest poaching report brings to the forefront that Lake Erie is not immune to bad behavior.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, six current and former Wisconsin Department of Correction officials were caught with their hands in the fish bucket.

Markey was a guest on two separate radio shows I host on Sunday mornings. As Markey noted, the six Wisconsin fishermen were caught with over the limit possession numbers. Law enforcement officers said the six violators came to shore, unloaded their fish, and then returned to the water for another round of catching two to six more fish.

Three upper-level state correction officials caught in the conservation bust last month included Michael Dittmann, the warden at the Columbia Correctional Institution; Steve Schueler, deputy warden at the Green Bay Correctional Institutional; and Paul Neevel Jr., a corrections worker in the state's adult prison division. They were joined by three retired former state officials, including former Waupun warden Mike Thurmer.

Markey also told me that once the accused appeared before a judge in Ottawa County their fines ran from $150 to $300, which in Markey's words were ridiculously low and out of line. He also said the convicted were able to keep their fishing gear as well.

According to the newspaper's report, each individual lost his Ohio fishing license for a year as well.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at www.1590WCGO.com) and get more content at www.mikejacksonoutdoors.com.