A Justice of the Peace has fined a Sioux Lookout man $3500 for a fishing violation.
Court was told that on December 10, 2017, a Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry conservation officer spotted the man angling through the ice on Big Vermilion Lake. He had already caught seven lake trout.
The lake trout season on the lake is closed from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.
According to the MNRF, Big Vermilion is one of the few lakes in the Sioux Lookout district with lake trout, which is a sensitive and slow-growing species. Enhanced regulations were put in place there in 2004 to help sustain the stressed population.
In addition to the fine, the court suspended the man's fishing privileges for two years.
