A routine fishing check at a Rhode Island boat ramp turned into a much bigger problem for three men after a state environmental officer found dozens of fish that were either undersized, over the legal possession limit, or both, according to footage shared by the bodycam channel WildlifeWarden.
The channel’s narrator said Officer Lucas Walter of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management stopped the vessel near the Fort Adams boat ramp in Newport during the fall of 2025, after spotting three men returning from a day on the water.
What began as a calm inspection quickly revealed what Walter described as “quite a lot” of violations, including 48 tautog and 21 black sea bass, nearly all of which failed to meet Rhode Island’s minimum size requirements.
Officer Starts With A Simple Catch Check
Walter approached the men casually and asked how their fishing trip had gone before requesting to see what they had caught…