I was at a meeting recently and Capt. Chris Anderson, an enforcement officer in Region 2. He told me a great success story about a December 28th operation on Banks Lake. There has been problems with gill nets being placed in Banks, and he decided to dedicate some time there and see if could catch someone at it. He set up one evening near the Coulee City Marina and was about to give up when he heard a boat moving across the water. The occupants of the boat were all wearing night vision goggles and were running without lights. He watched them stop and place a net. He could actually hear the fish they were taking thumping in the bottom of the boat. He had some other officers stationed on the far shore, and they were in place when the boat came back into the marina. The illegal netters had 50 fish in the boat. Anderson had them arrested and their boat seized. “The bad thing about these nets is that they take everything, not just the whitefish they are targeting in the winter on Banks,” said Anderson. “Successful operations like this one have resulted in reduced netting incidents on Banks. We’re pleased with that, but are trying to get it stopped altogether.”