Five police officers reprimanded for fishing while on duty

Austin American Staff ^ | Thursday, November 6, 2003 | By Jeffrey Gilbert and Tony Plohetski

[Arrowhead1952]

Some people may think this is silly or funny, but these officers were added after 9/11/01 to guard the power plant. Continuing to fish on duty, after being told to stop, is beyond me. What were they thinking?

[doodad]

Andy was always fishing.

[WilDave]

Did they have Confederate flags in their pick-ups?

[Renfield]

Hey, this is Texas!! Nothing's more important than bass fishing (unless it's dove hunting....)

I miss Texas. I used to spend a lot of time there, went down just about every summer. Time for another trip to the Lone Star State.

[Huck]

The men, in uniform, were seen at least once cleaning the fish they had just caught, according to the reports.

They should also be fined for not practicing Catch & Release! C'mon, men! Preserve the sport! Power plants usually mean dams. Dams often times mean catfish. Eating catfish is pretty nasty if you ask me, but some folks like it. If it's a big reservoir, there could be large or smallmouth bass in there. Wonder what they were catching. I kinda wonder if they are African American too.

[Huck]

Hey, this is Texas!! Nothing's more important than bass fishing

Yeah, but do ya keep em? Clean em? Bass? I'm sorry, but I thought all self respecting bass anglers threw em back.

Check my profile page for some of my NJ jersey bassin' pics.

[boomop1]

Yep at least they weren't terrorozing motorist with speed traps.

[Vigilantcitizen]

1.Catfish can be real tasty if marinated in milk for an hour before cooking.

2. Some lakes here in Georgia are so full of 12-14" bass, that the dnr is asking anglers to keep a few, so that the ones left have more to eat and grow faster. The catch and release everything theory does need some adjustment.

3. These guys may have been catching hybrids, which hang out near the dam end of reservoirs in large schools, and provide some of the best freswater fishing you'll ever do.

Hybrids are striped bass/white bass cross breeds. They eat a variety of live or artificial baits. Pound for pound, much harder fighters than largemouth.

[TexasTransplant]

Yep at least they weren't terrorozing motorist with speed traps.

 

Actually it is probably what they are in hot water for, Failure to collect Taxes, unless they had already met there quota for the day.

 

 

[Huck]

Hybrids....we got them up here in NJ too. Haven't hooked any myself, but know some folks who have. C&R--In NJ, we pretty much ought to throw em all back. I can see how that might not be the case down South. I have eaten catfish. I just don't like it too much. Junk meat. I'd have to be real hungry to eat it. Compared to trout, or tuna, or salmon, or swordfish? And I don't know about keeping bass. I mean, I know there are recipes out there for it. But to me, eating bass would be like eating hawk.

[Arrowhead1952]

Catfish can be real tasty if marinated in milk for an hour before cooking.

Just cut the reddish-brown looking gland out each fillet. Stretches from front to the tail. That is their sensing gland that alerts (all) fish to motion. Get rid of that, and most fishy taste is gone.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Eating bass...I've never personally cared for the taste and like you, consider it to be like eating a hawk. I'd rather have a stringer full of nice fat bluegills-shellcrackers for the frying pan.

Eating catfish...Everyone has different taste. I do consider the snapper, grouper, and tuna I have stocked in the freezer to be more palatable than catfish.

[mtbopfuyn]

But should they have been assigned there in the first place? Is that plant owned by the city of Austin, Pedernales Electric Coop., or by LCRA? The LCRA (God himself of all water and electricity) has officers so Austin police shouldn't be needed. Should Austin police be stationed on either Pedernales or LCRA property? Even going on the assumption the plant is owned by the City of Austin, there are security guards on duty so there's no need for Austin police and then any police would do better out of uniform posing as fishermen. That plant is nothing compared to other area soft spots and one in particular that had the FBI last year investigating ME characters photographing the place.

[sergeantdave]

Who's to say bad guys couldn't don scuba gear and blow things up. These officers were fishing for terrorists.

[TC Rider]

The report also said that Lorett and Moore used their positions as police officers to "allow or instruct" the security guard at the plant to allow police friends onto the facility for "fishing or fishing-type activities."

Fishing-type activities = drinking the beer without actually dropping a line in the water

[gitmogrunt]

A Texas jury would be easily persuaded to believe these officers were providing dam security... case dismissed.

[coloradan]

Some fish were above the legal minimum length ... it was the sworn duty of these officers to remove them from the lake. I guess.

[razorback-bert]

Grab your pole and we will go terrorist hunting.

[Arrowhead1952]

Is that plant owned by the city of Austin, Pedernales Electric Coop., or by LCRA?

This is a City of Austin power plant. As far as I know, the additional ploice were hired to protect "soft targets" within the city limits.

[Arrowhead1952]

A Texas Travis County jury would be easily persuaded to believe these officers were providing dam security... case dismissed