Indiana man faces charges for improper charter boat business

8/9/2001

A team of Ohio wildlife officers working undercover at Lake Erie shoreline marinas have arrested an Indiana man for operating an unlicensed charter fishing business.

Lloyd Johnson, 66, of Syracuse, Ind., will face the charges in Ottawa County Municipal Court at Port Clinton, said Kevin Ramsey, Lake Erie law enforcement supervisor for the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

Ramsey said that Johnson was cited for not having a Coast Guard license and an Ohio guide license to operate a fishing business. The arrest came after three wildlife agents signed on to fish with Johnson out of Turtle Point Marina, Ramsey said.

The undercover officers landed about 15 fish during the trip, and later served Johnson with arrest papers. Ramsey said the wildlife division has seized Johnson's log book and his 25-foot fishing boat.

The wildlife division prosecuted five unlicensed guide cases in 2000.

In other Lake Erie law enforcement news, Giuseppe Caradonna, of Leamington, Ont., has been fined $500 and had 10 days jail time suspended under a year's probation for illegally setting gillnets in Ohio waters of western Lake Erie.

Last Nov. 28 Caradonna was operating a Canadian gillnet tug, the JoAnna I, due north of North Bass Island about 250 yards inside Ohio waters, Ramsey said. Commercial gillnets have been banned in Ohio waters since the early 1980s.

The lawman said that the tug had been working nine gillnets. The charges were issued as part of a cooperative effort, Operation Kingfisher, which includes agencies from Ohio, Ontario, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, and coast guard, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

wA record Ohio green sunfish has been certified by the Outdoor Writers of Ohio, the official record-keeping organization in the state.

Reno Carifa, of Sunbury, caught an 0.89-pound green sunfish on June 13 from a farm pond in Delaware County. He used a homemade lure of beads and feathers, tipped with a piece of nightcrawler. The fish measured 93/4 inches.

The prior record sunfish was 0.75 pounds, caught in 1994 from a private pond near Utica, O.

OWO keeps fish records in cooperation with the Ohio Division of Wildlife. For additional information on the program, contact Tom Cross, OWO record fish chairman, 1497 Cross Rd., Winchester, Ohio, 45697, or call 937-386-2752.

Servicemen dominated the National Trophy Rifle Matches at Camp Perry as the high-power rifle phase continues in the NRA's National Rifle and Pistol Matches there.

Staff Sgt. Richard Threatt, a member of the Marine Corps Rifle Team at Quantico, Va., won The President's Rifle Match with a record score of 299-19X out of a possible 300. The X-score refers to perfect center bull's-eyes and is used to break possible ties.

Maj. Jay Williams, of Vancouver, Wash., and a member of the Army Reserve Rifle Team, with the National Trophy Individual Rifle Match with a 497-19X out of a possible 500.

The Marine Corps Reserve Rifle Team won the National Team Trophy Match with a score of 2924-90X out of a possible 3000.

The Army Marksmanship Unit's “Coffey” team from Fort Benning, Ga., won the National Trophy Infantry Trophy Match with a score of 1393.

Brian Hunter, a civilian engineer at the army's Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Ala., won the fourth annual John C. Garand Memorial Rifle Match with a score of 287-6X.

It was his second win in the match, which requires use of World War II-era issue military arms in .30/06 or .30 M-1 carbine cartridges. Hunter used a 1903 Springfield rifle.

The National Matches continue through mid next week.

Steve Pollick is The Blade's outdoor writer. E-mail him at spollick@theblade.com.