Okay this is weird that I just saw this post.. I had an encounter in New Haven Harbor on Monday morning at about 5am with some Mass poachers...They were right over by the Q bridge and they were the only boat out there...My buddy and I pull up to this large school of bunker to see this small skiff circiling the school and throw a cast net on em...When they spot me heading over to them they immediatley throw the net in their boat and make a b-line for us.. I did not get the reg #s on the boat but it was a white flat bottomed carolina skiff type boat with totes and coolers lining the gunwhales. The name on the aftsides was "silence of the clams". As they approached us they were two skinny shirtless college age looking kids. The one on the bow says "hey you guys need some bait"? My buddy replies..Sure!! At that point I told my buddy these guys are loading up to sell.. Thier skiff was absolultley full of bunker I mean to where it was almost dangerously loaded. They pulled up and the guys start telling us that they fish up in Mass and they chunk for bass and chum for them up there alot, as if we were to believe they were getting them for personal use..That's like a cop pulling over a guy with 10 kilos of coke and he says he bought it for his own personal addiction, whatever! Well my buddy was egaging them as if they were telling the truth b/c he truly had no suspicion..He doesnt bass fish much and look for fresh bait as much... So I am saying to myself what am I gonna do about this.. I gladly took the bucket of live fresh bunker an put them into my livewell, They gave us about 15-20 and asked us if we wanted more...Clearly a "peace offering" so we would leave quickly and happily and they could rape the rest of that large school.

This is when I decided to act on these jackholes..I might have been inspired by" Whale Wars" and did something that Paul Watson would have done. I said thanks for the bait guys now its time for you two to hit the road. They said they were gonna get a few more coolers full and then the would be going...I said no...your done now! I then put my boat in gear toward the school. My buddy was like "what the hell are you doing? Lets go bassing these guys are cool. I said relax, I'll explain later. I drove my boat right into the school and stoppped on them. They were like what the hell man"...I said your done today! Get it?..Im not leaving this school you will not be able to net anymore so take your boat back to the ramp. So there was a stand off that lasted maybe 10 full mins with me moving my boat into the school evey time they surfaced. They finally high tailed it out of there with a few choice explatives for us on their way out..

So that's what we did to stop them on Monday..Probably too late as they already made a killing. And they probably went back on Tuesday to finish off the school.. I could only ask myself how could we prove they are poachers?? The only way would be to catch them in the act of selling the bait. That's almost impossible..The DEP guys need to stake out the tackle shops who are supplying the fresh bait and confront the wholesalers(poachers) at the shops in the act of selling....Thats the only way it will stop. I also think that the amount of guys like me who catch there own bait are minimalcompared to the amounts of guys who buy the fresh bait from the shops and head out to fish... So there are probably more guys who want them to supply the stores than guys who dont.....Sad..