Fooling Your Kids Into Thinking You Caught A Fish Can Get You Arrested In Austria

[Gerritt]

A German dad who tried to impress his kids while on holiday by “catching” a couple of fish that he had actually bought at a supermarket - could face prison after being prosecuted for poaching.

 

Alexander Donninger was on holiday in Austria with his family when he decided on the trick to make his kids think he was a top fisherman, newspaper Die Welt reported on Tuesday.

 

He went to a supermarket in the Kufstein district and bought two frozen trout – already gutted and ready to cook - not anticipating how tangled his lines were about to become.

 

Once back at the lake where he and his kids were “fishing” he tied them to the end of lines and dangled them in the lake until they were thawed enough to appear freshly-caught.

 

He might have been the hero of the family holiday were it not for a passer-by who reported him to the local authorities for poaching.

 

Although Donninger had a fishing license, he did not have permission to catch anything from the lake he was standing by when he “caught” the trout, the newspaper said.

 

Not only did he suffer the humiliation of admitting in front of his children that he had had lied about his fishing prowess – the authorities assumed he was telling tall tales to wriggle off the hook.

 

Now the case is set to be heard by the Kufstein local court, which will meet as soon as the passer-by returns from his own holiday. Donninger could face up to six months in prison or a fine of up to 360 days of earnings, Die Welt said.

 

The Local/hc

 

 

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20120529-42823.html

[Broker]

Too funny !

[Dave Bailey]

If he kept his receipt for the fish then this sounds like a case of the police being a bunch of officious nitpickers. If he didn't then even inspecting the 'catch' and finding out that they had been gutted should have put the matter to rest. Or couldn't they have gone to the supermarket and asked if they remembered him? He was just having a little fun with his kids, this sounds like an overbearing application of the law. I hope he gets off, and I hope his children are smart enough to understand that he was just having a joke on them.

[Dave Bailey]

Reminds me of this oldie but goodie:

 

Heaven is where the Police are British, the Chefs are French, the Mechanics are German, the Lovers Italian and it's all organised by the Swiss.

 

Hell is where the Chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss, the Police are German and it's all organised by the Italians.

[johnnyb]

That is just a dandy of a fish story....hope the dust clears and the guy gets off with no more than a little egg on his face

[Snidley]

It's a funny story until you realize we are talking jail time or a huge fine that could run into tens of thousands of dollars. We have our own draconian story that was almost with us in BC. The BC government just delayed putting forward a new law that made it illegal to report contaminated food (ie. contaminated farmed salmon) to the public (ie. via any sort of media) and the sentence was going to be 2 years in the crowbar hotel. It was aimed directly at Alex Morton and the folks in BC trying to expose that criminal enterprise known as the farmed salmon industry out there. The bill is delayed but it is not of the docket and could still be introduced. This is just another effort on behalf of the scum that is now running this country, be they Libs like in BC and Ontario, Tories like the Feds or God help us the NDP where ever they turn up. McGinty attempted something just as sleazy to try and cover up the ORNGE scandal by making it a crime to report on any details of that debacle but he failed to get it through.

[ccmtcanada]

Wouldn't the fact the fish were already gutted be a clue here? Gutted fish don't usually chase bait am I right? Lol.

[Dave Bailey]

Wouldn't the fact the fish were already gutted be a clue here? Gutted fish don't usually chase bait am I right? Lol.

 

It's quite possible that the authorities turned up in answer to the complaint long after the fish were taken back to wherever they were being cooked, in which case being gutted would be expected.