Game Wardens Catch Men Shock Fishing With an Old Crank Phone

Two Georgia game wardens on patrol encountered an unusual fishing setup after spotting a man attempting to use an antique crank telephone to shock fish in the water, leading to a charge for illegally shocking fish and warnings for fishing without licenses.

The encounter was shown in bodycam footage published by the YouTube channel Arrest Cam Fish and Wildlife, whose narrator said the Georgia Department of Natural Resources wardens observed the activity before approaching the two men.

At first, the conversation appeared routine, with the wardens asking whether the men had caught anything and whether they possessed valid fishing licenses. It soon became clear, however, that the officers had already seen more than the anglers realized.

Wardens Start With Fishing License Questions

The two men told the wardens they had only recently arrived and had not had much luck fishing.

When asked for licenses, both acknowledged they did not currently have valid Georgia fishing licenses.

One of the men explained that they were from out of state and were temporarily in Georgia for work, while the wardens told them they could purchase licenses online through the Go Outdoors Georgia system.

The interaction remained friendly as the officers helped them find the correct website and waited while they tried to get enough cellphone service to complete the purchase.

That part of the encounter could easily have ended with little more than a warning, especially since the wardens appeared willing to let the men correct the licensing problem on the spot.

But one officer had already watched one of them using something far less ordinary than a fishing rod.

Antique Phone Draws the Warden’s Attention

After one of the men moved away from the group, a warden confronted him about an antique crank telephone that had apparently been taken near the water.

The man initially said he had planned to try it but had not actually used it.

The officer then asked why he had thrown the device into the water or tried to get rid of it when the wardens arrived.

“Cuz I got scared, man,” the fisherman admitted.

He said he had noticed someone approaching and panicked because he knew what he was doing was wrong.

The warden made clear that the officers had already been watching from a distance before walking down to the fishing spot.

That changed the conversation quickly.

The fisherman soon abandoned his initial denial and admitted that he had, in fact, tried the crank phone in the water.

“Honestly, I’m not lying no more,” he said. “Yes, sir. I’ve tried it, but I don’t know what I’m doing.”

The admission was important because the old telephone was not simply an odd piece of antique equipment. According to the wardens, he had been attempting to use it to electrically shock fish.

How an Old Crank Phone Became Fishing Equipment

The fisherman said he had bought the antique device at an antique store rather than a tackle shop.

He told officers that coworkers had described the method to him and claimed it could produce large numbers of fish.

According to his explanation, he had never done it before and did not really understand how it worked.

The wardens discussed the water conditions with him and suggested that current and other factors could affect whether the method worked, although they did not provide detailed instructions on how to do it successfully.

The fisherman repeatedly said he did not want to know anymore and promised he would never attempt it again.

That was probably the wisest conclusion he reached during the entire encounter.

Using electricity to stun fish is not simply an unconventional shortcut. It bypasses normal angling methods and can affect wildlife beyond whatever fish someone hopes to catch, which is why game officers treat unauthorized shocking methods seriously.

The man appeared to have learned about the idea casually from coworkers and then decided to experiment with it, but curiosity does not eliminate responsibility once someone knowingly tries a prohibited method.

Fisherman Admits He Tried to Hide the Device

The fisherman became increasingly candid as the conversation continued.

He acknowledged that he had seen the wardens approaching and believed it would be better to be caught without the device than standing beside it.

“I figured it was best to get caught without it than with it,” he told them.

The warden responded that attempting to conceal what he was doing only made the situation worse.

Another officer encouraged him to simply be honest, explaining that when officers approach, admitting what happened is generally better than continuing to deny something they have already observed.

The fisherman said he had “freaked out” when he noticed them.

He also repeatedly asked whether he was going to jail.

“Please don’t take me to jail,” he said later, acknowledging that he knew he had made a bad decision.

His nervousness was obvious, but the wardens remained calm and continued gathering information rather than immediately placing him in custody.

That tone made the encounter unusually conversational for a wildlife enforcement case involving an intentional violation.

Wardens Say They Watched the Attempt

One of the most damaging details for the fisherman was that the wardens had apparently observed the conduct before approaching.

He repeatedly seemed surprised that they knew what he had been doing and even asked whether cameras had been placed nearby.

The officers said there was no hidden surveillance involved; they had simply pulled up, watched the area, and seen what happened.

One warden told him directly that he had watched him drop or dispose of the device.

The fisherman eventually stopped disputing the observation.

By then, the licensing issue had become secondary.

The wardens confiscated the crank phone and told the fisherman he would at least receive a citation rather than being taken to jail that day.

He immediately said he would pay it.

Both Men Receive License Warnings

Both men were ultimately given warnings for fishing without valid nonresident licenses.

The officers explained that there would be no fine or court date attached to those warnings, but told the men that if they returned to fish again, they needed to obtain proper licenses first.

The wardens even provided information about where and how to purchase them online.

That relatively lenient handling stands in contrast to the shocking-fish allegation.

The man associated with the crank phone was told he was being formally charged with shocking fish and was given a court date.

The officer explained how he could contact the court and potentially resolve the matter without appearing personally, depending on how the case was handled.

Arrest Cam Fish and Wildlife said it was unable to locate later court records showing the final outcome of that charge.

Because of that, the video establishes the citation and charge described by the wardens, but not how the case ultimately ended in court.

A Strange Shortcut Turns Into a Wildlife Case

The encounter is memorable partly because of the equipment involved.

An antique crank telephone is not something most people expect to see at a fishing spot, much less being used as part of an attempted method to stun fish.

The fisherman himself seemed to understand how ridiculous the situation had become once the wardens confronted him.

He said coworkers had told him about the technique, he bought the old phone, tried it without really understanding what he was doing, then panicked and attempted to distance himself from the device when officers appeared.

None of those explanations changed the underlying issue.

The wardens said they had watched him attempt to shock fish, and he ultimately admitted that he had tried.

There is also a larger lesson in how the officers handled the encounter. They were willing to give both men warnings for the licensing violations and even helped them figure out how to obtain legal licenses, but intentionally using a prohibited method crossed a different line.

By the end, both men were free to leave, the crank phone was being taken by the wardens, and the fisherman faced a charge for shocking fish.

Arrest Cam Fish and Wildlife said the final court records could not be found, so the ultimate legal result remains unclear.

What the footage does show clearly is that an experiment with an old telephone turned what could have been an ordinary afternoon of fishing into a wildlife enforcement case that neither man appeared to expect.