THE owners of a popular angling lodge have been fined a whopping $10,000 for having too many fish in their freezer!
Booi’s Wilderness Lodge and Outposts Ltd of Ontario, USA was slapped with a $7,000 for having ‘an overlimit’ of zander at the lodge and an additional $1,000 for ‘possessing fish in a manner that the number could not readily be counted’. Jim Booi, 41, and Tracy Booi, 39, both from the town of Red Lake were also personally fined $1,000 each.

The prosecution was pursued after Ministry of Natural Resources Conservation Officers conducted an ‘enforcement blitz’ on Trout Lake, which is north east of Red Lake. They discovered 67 zander fillets in a camp freezer at Booi’s Wilderness Lodge.
Officers had cautioned the lodge owners on other occasions and told them that all fish must be accounted for at the camp. In addition, the lodge owners had previously been told they could not stockpile fish. 
Justice of the Peace Marg Pasloski passed sentence at the Ontario Court of Justice in Red Lake. It’s believed to be one of the biggest fines of its kind.