Party fishing lands Alaska charter guide in jail


Party fishing is the practice wherein anglers on a boat pool their catch to avoid bag limits. In Alaska, where the limit for halibut is two fish per day, an angler fishing with five friends might catch and keep 12 halibut and spread them around, making it appear that everyone legally caught the two-fish limit. Some halibut charter skippers have been known to do this, too. Aho was among them.

Alaska State Troopers first caught him party fishing in 2005 after sending undercover operatives to book a trip with Catch-A-Lot Charters. Aho was then working as a guide for that company. The trooper operatives watched him help one client catch and kill four halibut, then another client kill three. The fish were then pooled to make it appear no one on the boat had caught more than two. Troopers ticketed Aho for party fishing, and in August 2006 he was found guilty. Homer District Court Judge Margaret L. Murphy fined him $5,000 and sentenced him to 30 days in jail, all suspended; and fined him $5,000, all but $1,000 of which was suspended.

The sentence clearly wasn't enough, because Aho was back in Murphy's court on new party-fishing charges in January. Troopers said that in July 2009 they caught him behaving even worse than his previous 2005 bust. By then, troopers said, Aho was working for Ninilchik Saltwater Charters & Lodge. Undercover operatives who booked a trip there in July went into Cook Inlet again and watched Aho help one client throw five halibut in the fish hold, then another client take three. This time, though, the fishing didn't stop when there were enough dead halibut aboard to fill the two-fish limit of all six anglers, troopers said. Aho allowed everyone to keep on illegally fishing for a larger halibut.

And when the anglers caught a bigger one, Aho told his deckhand to use it to replace, according to a trooper press release, "a smaller halibut that had been lying on the deck for 40 minutes." That fish was likely dead when tossed overboard.

On the trip in question, troopers said, Aho also fished himself, though guides on charters are expressly prohibited from doing so. And while fishing, Aho illegally turned a halibut he hooked over to a client to haul in and keep. By law, the fish is tied to the angler who hooks it. Lastly, Aho falsified his sport fishing guide logbook at the end of the day to reflect that he'd been fishing with six clients who caught two halibut each.

Troopers subsequently charged Aho with a slew of fishing violations.

Guides, a trooper press release said, should "act as stewards of the resource as opposed to violators of sport fish and game laws. The people of the state of Alaska should not have to rely upon troopers conducting covert activities to ensure that such guides comply with fish and game laws."

Murphy agreed and decided that Aho should this time go to jail to think about what he's done. He will serve 10 days of a 90-day sentence. The rest was suspended. Aho was also fined $5,000, ordered to do 40 hours of community service and placed on informal probation for the next six years. He won't be working as a guide for a while, either.
His guide license was revoked and he was banned from applying for another for two years. Troopers appeared satisfied.

"This sentence was crafted to not only deter Mr. Aho from committing similar, future violations, but to also deter others from within the community by making it clear that repeated violations of sport fish and game laws, especially those committed for commercial gain, will result in the revocation of one's privileges to work within the guiding industry," the trooper press release said.

The conviction also underlined the idea that party fishing might not be such a good idea in Alaska.

Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots.