Wall Street Journal story

now if only the game warden would enforce poaching laws even half as serioulsy as Maine on the lower Yuba, we'd be so much better off







A Fishing Guide Gets In Trouble Over One That Didn't Get Away
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Tale of an Extra Bass Roils A Small Town in Maine; Undercover as 'Al Begin'

By JIM CARLTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
August 17, 2005; Page A1

GRAND LAKE STREAM, Maine -- Randy Spencer is in trouble over a fish. But folks here can't decide if it was the extra bass that got him in hot water or the deep-pocketed client that he reeled in.

Mr. Spencer, a longtime fishing guide, landed the coveted customer -- David Kotok, chairman of money-management firm Cumberland Advisors in Vineland, N.J. -- last year, at the expense of other guides. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Spencer contends, rivals set him up to strip him of his guiding license.

In a sting operation last summer, an undercover agent posing as a vacationer hired Mr. Spencer to go on a fishing trip. During the trip, the pair caught and cooked three large bass, allegedly violating a state law that says a person can only keep two bass per day. Mr. Spencer was later charged with allowing a client to keep an extra fish. "It was a cut-and-dried case," says Col. Thomas Santaguida, Maine's chief game warden.

Now the tale of the extra fish is the talk of this hamlet of 125 residents. "A division in town is happening over this," says Steve Takach, proprietor of the Colonial Sportsmens Lodge, which isn't involved in the dispute. Mr. Spencer is fighting the charge, which could result in a yearlong suspension of his license, and a $50 fine. A trial in June ended in a hung jury and a mistrial. A new trial is scheduled for Aug. 30.

"Being nabbed over one fish is ridiculous," says Mr. Spencer, 56 years old, who says he has spent about $15,000 in legal fees on the matter. "This case was never about catching fish." Mr. Kotok, the money manager, has offered to testify for Mr. Spencer. He says he is in a "state of shock" and "embarrassed" to be a part of this small-town fracas.

Over the past 16 years, Mr. Spencer has built a business taking visitors out to local rivers to catch bass, perch, trout and salmon. In his spare time, he is a writer and singer of folk songs, including some about fishing. One, called "Black Flies," about the pests that are a New England menace, topped Maine's charts in 1981, he says.

Mr. Kotok, who heads a money-management firm with about $800 million in assets, started visiting this town in northeastern Maine 15 years ago and fell in love with fishing in the area, he says. He began bringing friends with him on his fishing trips, until the group grew to more than a dozen Wall Street economists and other financial executives.

For years, Mr. Kotok and his friends followed a ritual when they came to the little town of Grand Lake Stream. They stayed at a lodge in town called Weatherby's. The group fished all day. In the evenings, they held wine tastings from collections they brought in. They typically spent $1,000 each on a trip.

But that all changed last year. Weatherby's new owners obtained a license to sell liquor. Under the rules of the license, Mr. Kotok and his group could no longer bring their own wine to taste at Weatherby's restaurant. So Mr. Kotok decided to take his business elsewhere.

Mr. Spencer was the beneficiary. He helped find a new lodge in the area for Mr. Kotok's party and organized the group's fishing. Mr. Kotok, who had hired Mr. Spencer before, calls him a "knowledgeable and friendly guide."

The switch in lodges and fishing guides quickly exacerbated tensions in the town. "I think it's fair to say an atmosphere of sour grapes set in," says Mr. Spencer.

Mr. Spencer says he and Jeff McEvoy, a co-owner of Weatherby's, had disagreed in the past over another issue -- whether to reintroduce the alewife fish to the area. Mr. McEvoy once worked for a conservation group that advocated the reintroduction of the fish. Mr. Spencer had objected, arguing that the alewife would threaten existing fish. Mr. McEvoy says he has had "professional differences" with Mr. Spencer.

Mr. McEvoy says he was disappointed to lose Mr. Kotok's business, but didn't have anything to do with the sting operation. State game officials "wouldn't have gone after Randy if they didn't have a reason," he says.

After receiving complaints, local game warden Brad Richard took action. In a letter to his superiors that was later produced in court, Mr. Richard wrote "several of the guides and members of the public" told him Mr. Spencer was letting clients exceed the daily limit, for that time of year, of keeping two bass. (People are allowed to catch and release any number of fish.)

"What I would like to see happen is have someone [sic] a trip with him and attempt to catch him letting this activity happen," Mr. Richard wrote.

The upshot: Col. Santaguida, Maine's chief game warden, authorized a sting against Mr. Spencer. Col. Santaguida says his office, which conducts an average of 25 sting operations a year, usually nets bigger targets, such as a guide accused of 75 violations and a group involved in a poaching ring. Mr. Spencer's case resulted in the smallest violation that has ever come from an undercover wildlife operation, Col. Santaguida says.

But Maine fishing guides are held to a high standard, he says, and must comply with the law. "There is no advocate in government for wildlife, except the law-enforcement officer," says Col. Santaguida. "They are silent victims."

In June 2004, Mr. Spencer says he got a call from an "Al Begin" of Vermont, begging to squeeze him in for a two-day fishing trip. Booked solid, Mr. Spencer accommodated the new client by working on his off days. He charged his usual fee of about $200 a day.

On their first day, the pair went to 10,000-acre Big Lake, located just outside of town, and soon caught many fish. Mr. Spencer says he caught and kept one fish, and Mr. Begin caught and kept two fish -- within the state law of two bass per person. All three fish were cooked for lunch.

But Mr. Begin, an undercover officer whose real name is Albert St. Saviour, later wrote in a report that all three fish were his. State officials charged Mr. Spencer with allowing a client to keep more than the legal limit, a misdemeanor, and fined him $50. The state also filed a civil charge against the guide for not reporting the unlawful catch, with another $50 penalty.

Adamant he had done nothing wrong, Mr. Spencer went to court. The June trial, in State District Court in Machias, Maine, ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked after three hours of deliberation. Mr. St. Saviour, who has since retired from undercover work, couldn't be reached for comment.

The prosecutor, Paul Cavanaugh, says some jurors had trouble grasping the gravity of the charge. But he hopes for better luck in the new trial this month. "We've tried drug dealers for one pill, and won," says Mr. Cavanaugh, first assistant district attorney for Washington County.

Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com1