Rich Clients to Help Out Fishing Guide

PORTLAND, Maine— The case of a single 11-inch smallmouth bass has reverberated far beyond a Maine lake and the fishing lodges of Maine's Grand Lake Stream, echoing through the courts to the canyons of Wall Street. It involves an undercover sting operation aimed at a popular fishing guide with an unblemished record, New York area investment advisers who combine wine tastings with fishing vacations, and allegations of abuse of power by the Maine Warden Service.

Fishing guide Randy Spencer spent two days on trial on a criminal charge that he helped a client keep one fish more than the legal limit. The trial ended in a hung jury in June, but a civil charge is pending, and the 56-year-old guide's well-heeled clients have planned a Manhattan dinner and concert to raise money to help defray his legal bills. Along the way, the Wall Street Journal, CNBC and the Bloomberg financial network have reported on the case.

It all started last year, say Spencer and his supporters, when the new owner of the venerable Weatherby's lodge on Grand Lake Stream decided to get a liquor license. As a result, the lodge told investment adviser David Kotok that he and his fishing buddies would no longer be permitted to bring their own wines on their visits, so the group took their business and libations elsewhere. Spencer, who had been a guide for Kotok, helped with the switch, a move that they say stirred up hard feelings among Weatherby's guides. Weatherby's owner Jeff MacEvoy denied that there was any animosity and said he had nothing to do with any complaints against Spencer.

Two weeks later, according to Spencer, a man who identified himself as Al Begin of Waitsfield, Vt., called to hire him for two days. Over their two days together last summer, Spencer said the client caught and released about 50 fish each day. "It was a great two days," he recalled. Three weeks later, however, district warden Brad Richard and his supervisor delivered a summons to Spencer. At his arraignment, Spencer learned that he was accused of helping undercover officer Albert St. Saviour, who was posing as Begin, illegally take three smallmouth bass from Big Lake. Spencer admits that there were three fish on the stringer on their first day of fishing, and that he fileted and grilled them. But he maintains that he caught one of the bass himself and the client kept only his legal limit of two.

He could have pleaded guilty to the criminal charge and the companion civil charge of failing to report a violation, and paid $100 in fines. But he also would likely have lost his guide's license for a year. The jury deliberated for nearly four hours at the June trial but was unable to reach a verdict. Prosecutors and Col. Tom Santaguida, the head of the warden service, decided against retrying such a minor case. However, the state still plans to proceed with a Sept. 22 trial on the civil complaint.

Spencer's legal bills already have reached $15,000. The New York fundraising dinner for Spencer is set for Nov. 5. Spencer's supporters also want to learn why a guide they say has the ethics of a Boy Scout was singled out as a target.

"I see a young 20-something game warden trying to make a name for himself by taking down a community pillar, and some jealous competitors and a whisper campaign," said Kotok, the chairman of Cumberland Advisers of Vineland, N.J. "And now that they were caught in it, the game warden bureaucracy is trying to dig in its heels and protect its turf because it backfired on them and they're embarrassed." Santaguida said the vilification that the warden service has received from Kotok and others has been balanced by support from the public, and he has no regrets about launching the investigation. "We hold guides to a very high standard," Santaguida said. [org pub telegram.com by Jerry Harkavy]