The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Division of Law Enforcement Weekly Report from April 5 - April 11 includes incidents in the Lake Okeechobee area. This report represents some events the FWC handled over specified weeks; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement.

Hendry County

• Officer Watson conducted resource and license inspections on several people fishing a freshwater body of water. During one encounter, he observed a subject throwing a cast net and located multiple freshwater gamefish in the subject’s bucket. It is illegal to harvest freshwater gamefish by method other than hook and line. The appropriate law enforcement action was taken.

• Officer Koger was on patrol when he observed two vehicles parked near the South Florida Water Management District gates at the C-23 Canal. As he pulled up to the vehicles, four individuals approached him. They had no fishing equipment with them but stated there were others still fishing along the canal. Officer Koger walked down the canal and found three additional individuals with a cast net. Two of the individuals were in possession of largemouth bass. The two individuals admitted to using a cast net to catch the bass and were issued citations for taking gamefish by illegal method.