Wildlife officers say they cited four Nashville men Tuesday for possessing 360 white bass over the legal limit. (Photo: TWRA)

Four Middle Tennessee fishermen have been cited for keeping 360 white bass (stripe) over the legal limit.

The incident occurred in the tailwaters of Cheatham Reservoir, northwest of Nashville. White bass often congregate below dams as they make upstream spawning runs this time of year. Experienced anglers take advantage of this. However, to prevent overharvest and to more fairly spread the catch among more anglers, Tennessee law allows fishermen to keep only 15 stripe per day.

Officers say the four men cited Tuesday March 19th had a total of 420 stripe.

“That was 90 fish over and above the limit for each of them,” said arresting Wildlife Officer Brad Bagwell. “The most they could have had in their total possession was 60—or 15 white bass per person. This was a lot of white bass that could have been enjoyed by others, whether as table fare or just to catch and release.”

The four men, all with Nashville addresses, are set to appear in Cheatham County General Session Court April 24 for a preliminary hearing. Khamnovan Keomanychanh, 60; Kongkham Phenevongsa, 68; So Akhom, 70; and Phay Souksavong, 78; will each face charges of exceeding the daily creel limit six times.

Carp must not have been biting

“When I saw how many fish there were, I had the four suspects help separate them into piles of 10 fish each,” Bagwell said. “When we got all them separated, there were 42 piles, and that came out to 90 fish over the limit per man.”

“Sometimes, we have problems with people illegally netting game fish, but every one of these white bass were caught in a day with rod, reels and artificial lures," he said.

Bagwell and assisting officers Maj. Cape Taylor and Wildlife Officer Eric Tummins confiscated 10 fishing rods and reels as evidence, as well as the 360 white bass in excess of the legal limit.

Musta been IDOT. White bass eatin joker.

That's a LOT of fish that will likely be wasted.

Those ole Vietnamese guys got on Supper and they couldnt help themselves.

Freakin Vietnamese. I see them do this all the time below Logan Martin dam. I have never seen a person of Asian descent release a fish. Not once. I told myself that this year I will start calling the game warden every time I see this happening.i know no one could eat all those fish. They must sell them. I've had all I can take from the Vietnamese fishermen and I am not gonna take it anymore. There are probably 5,000 striped bass of some sort put in my boat every year whether they be saltwater stripe or hybrids or white bass and I may keep and eat ten a year. It just makes me sick to see all of these fish being killed. They act like it is a renewable resource but little do they know that hybrids and stripers cannot breed in any lake in Alabama but Weiss. Every striped bass caught in any lake other than Weiss was put their by man.

Hey TFD, you fish below Logan Martin? Used to spend alot of time there in boat and on the rocks. Loved catching those stripes/hybrids this time of year. Caught a 12lb hybrid standing on the rocks down there one spring before daylight.

Come to the gulf , ive seen them stay at the pier for four or five days with up to four 250qt ice chest filing them with anything that will bite. Most of what they keep is trash fish but if there is a bull red run they will keep as many as they can.

Yeah stob, I spend a lot of time down there. I used to fish off the rocks too but now I only fish out of my boat. The rocks are too crowded with idots who don't have a clue what they are doing. Now there are a few idots that have gotten boats too and will cast over you while you are fighting fish and things like that, but most of the boaters are respectful and will keep their distance. I love fishing at the dam though.

Maybe they wont get wasted. A few years ago I watched some inmates clean several large coolers of whites that were confiscated from foreigners. They were put to use. Maybe these go to the same cause.

Yes this too. I have seen them catching menhaden off the pier in gulf shores and filleting them and putting them in bags. I've also seen the Vietnamese at Logan Martin dam snatch fishing and catching 2 lb gizzard shad and putting them in the cooler with the other drum and carp and gar and whatever else they had snatched that day. They will definitely eat any kind of fish that swims as long as they have about 60 thousand of them.

I'm Japanese, and I never keep fish.

we used to go to Gulf Shores area and help the Marine Police at the shrimp opener. All we caught illegal netting were Vietnamese. And we caught a bunch of em.....

Yep, when the DI Pier was open I watched em cook fish head stew right on the pier..with SKIPJACKS! I dont think a cat will eat a skipjack!!

As long as they stay within the limits of the law, I dont care what they keep and eat. A lot of Asians, use the fish in stews. Some of it's pretty good.

Them vietnamese must love some fishing. We got some down here in central Fl. that use cast nets for Tilapia. They load the boat with em (literally).

May they get prosecuted to the full extent of the Law.

Seen one on di pier cutting a hardtail up in nice even 1" pieces thought he was cuttn bait till he started poping them like tater chips.

Let me rephrase that. There are some Asian bass fishermen and they usually release their fish but I have never seen an Asian person release a fish unless they were bass fishing. I was trying to talk about Vietnamese without being rude. There are some very good and ethical Japanese fishermen. Sorry for classifying y'all together.

I learned a lot from the Asians that fished the skyway pier in Tampa. If yall suspect people keeping more than they should or shorts, call the damn GW.

It is okay. Some valid points to remember are the fact that there's a nationality barrier, there is the possibility the do not fully understand our game laws and are stuck on the habits of their homeland. I am not defending these men or any others who break the law, but lets face it, fish is a very important part of Asian culture and always will be.

A lot of these guys I see keeping over the limit are in boats and seem to know a bit about fishing. I think if you buy a boat and all your fishing stuff then you probably know that there are rules with fishing in the US. I can understand the people that look like they just got over here from Vietnam and are fishing under a bridge somewhere but I bet you a dollar to a donut that wherever they bought their fishing rod and tackle had a copy of the Alabama hunting and fishing regulations right beside the register. There is no excuse for breaking the law. I just think they don't give a shat and think they won't get caught. My question is, what are they doing with all these fish? I am not talking about keeping 2 or 3 over the limit. I am talking about having 5 or 6, 15 fish limits everyday of fish that weigh between 2 and 15 lbs a piece and averaging around 5 lbs. and yes this is everyday.

There was a very nice Vietnamese man begged me for a stingray big as a car hood that I caought at the pass in OB. I couldn't eat that thing if my life depended on it. Well, on second thought, I might if it meant my life. You know what I mean.

Have you ever eaten scallops?

That's an old wives tale. 1st, if you ever eaten stingray, it's upper and lower portions of it's body are seperated by a very thick membrane. When cooked, it has the same texture as a fileted fish. I kept a stingray one night and ate it. While it actually tastes fairly decent, there is very little meat that can be harvested from it.

I was just kidding. I've never tried to eat a stingray but I will tell you that its about the best shark bait you can get your hands on.