Poached Trout Was On Menu Until Cafe Owner Got Caught

[Phil Lilley]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...3/SPB9UOP3U.DTL

Game wardens trapped, arrested and convicted a Northern California poacher and restaurant owner by using a combination of CSI-style techniques and old-school hide-in-the-bush stakeouts, according to court documents made available last week.

The result is one of the landmark wildlife enforcement cases in California history and also one of the craziest fish stories ever told.

Like many of the best cases, this saga started with a tip. In the summer, a Bay Area angler called the Department of Fish and Game's poacher hot line, (888) 334-2258, and reported that he'd seen a fisherman "catch at least 30 trout in one day and keep them all" on the Sacramento River in Dunsmuir, according to Fish and Game. In addition, the tipster recognized the over-limit poacher because he'd been to the fellow's restaurant.

Game warden Joe Powell, a 15-year veteran with 10 years in the Bay Area, decided to cruise over to the River Cafe in Dunsmuir, arriving incognito in plain clothes, and look the place over. "The menu was taped to the window, and sure enough, there was a rainbow trout dinner for sale for $10.95," Powell said.

The rumor was that the owner of River Cafe, Larry Baker Sr., was following the DFG tanker truckers around, and then after trout were planted, would catch the fish before they could get naturalized to their surroundings.

Within a week, game wardens John Dawson and Jake Bushy, wearing full camouflage and masks, hid in the bushes near Baker's two favorite fishing spots, "the Wall" and "the I-5 Hole," both well known on the Upper Sacramento River in Dunsmuir. They watched as a DFG tanker truck arrived at about 10 a.m. and each of the spots was planted.

<h3 style="" class="subhead">Setting the trap</h3> The "Wall" is in downtown Dunsmuir, where Dawson said he watched Baker arrive within an hour of the plant. Baker placed salmon eggs on his hook, cast out, and one of the freshly-planted trout struck almost immediately, Dawson said.

"I just watched him catch a limit in five minutes," Dawson said by radio to Powell, who was stationed nearby at the restaurant.

"He'd sling the fish up and snap the neck backwards," Dawson said. "We'd never seen that before," and added it would be another indicator to later identify the fish.

The DFG watched Baker for three days. Although the limit is five trout per day, game wardens said they saw him catch 33. In a defining "character moment," Dawson said he also filmed Baker throwing an empty salmon egg jar and a soda can "right into the river."

While Dawson hid in bushes for 10 hours at a time, Powell trailed Baker when he left the river.

"He'd catch five trout, take them to his restaurant, and then go back and catch five more about an hour later," Powell said. "One time he did that three times. The most we saw him catch in one day was 18."

Baker did not know he was being watched. He also didn't know that the DFG's Mark Hampton, an associate biologist with an expertise in marking salmon, had injected a tiny wire with microscopic identification numbers in the tail fins of 300 trout planted at Baker's two favorite fishing spots.

Because Powell, Dawson and Bushy are well known in the area, and in fact, have reputations that approach near-legend status across the Western U.S. for past undercover busts involving bear and elk, Powell asked game wardens Yvette Adams and Rich Wharton from out of the area to enjoy a dinner at the River Cafe.

<h3 style="" class="subhead">The gotcha moment</h3> The couple, dressed like they were on a date, each ordered the Rainbow Trout special. The undercover agents did not finish their meal and placed the leftovers in a take-home box.

Powell, getting more eager by the minute to inspect the tail of the trout, was waiting nearby with what he called "The Magic Wand." This is a $5,000 micro-wire detector. He waved it over the tail of the leftover trout in the take-home boxes and each time, a red indicator lit up and an alarm beep sounded.

"Gotcha," Powell said. He then led four game wardens back to the restaurant, search warrant in hand.

Baker was not at the restaurant because "he's out fishing again," according to a restaurant employee, Powell said.

The game wardens then walked into the kitchen of the restaurant and immediately spotted several trout on a cutting board, Powell said. They inspected one and saw that its neck was snapped backward in a very unusual fashion. Within five minutes, the game wardens found 22 trout, and of those, half were injected with the coded ID wire.

Game wardens seized all the dinner receipts for the entire year, after which they estimated that Baker's restaurant had served 60 trout dinners.

The case ended in January when Baker pleaded guilty to five counts of violation of the Fish and Game Code, including unlawful take, unlawful sale of trout, illegal fish in an eating establishment and littering, according to the DFG. Baker was ordered to pay $5,323, sentenced to 30 days in jail, placed on three years of probation, and banned from fishing in California or accompanying anybody fishing for three years.

In addition, Powell said, Baker sold his restaurant and is moving out of state.

There's a moral to this story, Powell said: "You never know who's watching."

[Trav]

Haha

Too funny.

I am surprised he wasnt charge with any Food and Beverage Violations as well. Food being served in Resteraunts as well as Grocery stores must have a documented trail to the source of at least its distributor.

Doesnt Cali have some kind of union that regulates employer practices so that everyone gets a cut of the profit? Haha

Maybe thats why He jet out of town, ....ticked off some union boss who wanted thier cut of that $10.95.

[flyfshn]

should have been $50k