On February 8, 2025, nine NYS Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) conducting ice fishing compliance checks on Oneida Lake in Oneida and Oswego counties issued 32 tickets for a variety of crimes.
Region 6 ECOs Starczek and Lakeman joined Region 7 ECOs Grisolini, Burdick, Prentice, Plows, Wing, Kostuk, and Bonilla in checking hundreds of anglers for compliance with New York’s fishing regulations.
Officers checked for fishing licenses, catch size and limits, and compliance with New York State recreational vehicle laws.
ECOs issued 32 tickets and four written warnings for fishing without a license, catching undersized walleye, unregistered and uninsured snowmobiles, unregistered All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs), and failure to wear approved helmets.
For more information on ice fishing rules and regulations in New York, as well as important safety information, visit this DEC website.
Photo of ice fishing shanties spread across Oneida Lake provided by DEC.
Wow. Glad they solved that dangerous crime wave.
I was worried about the safty of all us fishermen. Glad they got the rift raft weeded out. What a joke
State must be out of money how dare those people try and fish.
Local residents around Oneida in my opinion should fish for free,, Outsiders who don’t pay New York taxes should pay to fish, New York has to start giving residents some slack,we are taxed to death,, coming out of COVID,, going through sky rocking prices at the grocery store etc,etc,etc..Some of those fisherman could very well have been feeding their families in these troubling times,, They enjoy ruining a nice day out on the lake with your family way to go DEC
Saving their lives. You aren’t supposed to eat more than six fish per year caught from that lake. Mercury rising.
There are protective environmental laws and recreational vehicle laws for good reason.
Intelligent, educated people understand and support this and help monitor these places to inform officers of problems, illegal activities and watching out for troublemakers.
Thanks to all our ECO’s for their dedication and taking care of the “trash.”
Excellent point!
The other posters here seem fairly clueless. It’s tragedy of the commons, but I think that they probably were sleeping during math and economics class.
Listen to all the butt hurt fishermen crying they and their buddies got caught illegally poaching and acquiring fish, there’s a reason why there are size limits and if they let entitled people like yall do as you please then eventually nobody could enjoy the sport and when you or your kids hit someone or cause damage or even kill somebody with your non insured non registered motor vehicles and the victims can’t be compensated or even have their medical bills covered because again dumb entitled idiots like those here commenting acting like this is a waste of time can’t obey simple rules my 2 year old can understand
People ice fishing on the finger lakes are not tourists, they might be recreational, but likely trying to make ends meet. If you’ve never been in that situation then God Bless You!!! For those that are, may your fortunes rise to meet your needs.
Ice fishing is mildly/moderately dangerous to begin with,it would suck to get a ticket besides..
Those walleye are sneaky fish. Out to cause trouble.