Man Ticketed For Illegal Fishing After Confrontation With Teens

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation issued a citation for a man after he was confronted by two teens for illegally fishing.

Easton Karum, 14, and Ryder Jones, 13, captured a video of their conversation with a man at a neighborhood pond in northwest Oklahoma City. The man attempted to walk away from the pond with bass, a gamefish, that he had caught with a net, which is a violation of state rules.

The man, seen on the video, cursed at Karum and Jones before driving away.

"I threw the (expletive) fish back, is that okay," the man said.

"We were being overly respectful," Karum said. "We were letting him know, that ‘hey what you’re doing is poaching.’"

According to the department spokesperson, the man paid the ticket for unlawfully taking gamefish.

Karum's father, Josh Karum, said he was proud of how the boys handled the situation.

"The ripple effect of taking a fish like that out of the population could be thousands of fish... You’re stealing that experience from those future kids. You know, it is a big deal," he said.

After the video was viewed online in an Oklahoma fishing group, someone reached out to reward Karum and Jones. Josh Grogis gave them both lifetime state fishing licenses and a pair of gift cards for equipment.

"I think those boys earned it. I think that was just the price of their day’s wage for protecting our environment," Grogis said.