Kentucky fisherman booted from no-limit lake -- for catching too many fish

LOUISVILLE, KY (KTRK) -- A man who caught too many fish at a no-limit lake in Louisville, Kentucky, was asked to leave, and despite video of the confrontation going viral, the lake's owners are standing by their decision to boot the fisherman.

WDRB's Valerie Chin reports Ron Riordan was asked to leave the lake after catching 31 fish in seven hours of fishing on May 10. He says he paid for a 12-hour ticket with no limit on his catch.

Now-viral cell phone video shows the pay lake's manager ordering Riordan to leave.

Riordan says, "You stocked the fish. I paid my fee."

The owner says, "You are done here. Period."

Riordan says, "Why am I done? It's a no limit lake."

"For you," the owner says, "there's a limit on you."

He continues, "If you want to catch all you want to catch, a pick-up truck load, you give me two dollars and a dime a pound and you set out there til hell freezes over."

Riordan says, "Then, put a limit on the fish."

The video has been viewed about 40,000 times on Facebook and shared around 1,000 times.

In response to questions about the incident, Norman Pepper, who co-owns the lake and was not the owner in the video, said, "The public has been changing their mind here lately, and they've been coming back and siding on our side."

He added that he supports his business partner's decision, saying, "We don't need 10 or 15 or 20 people coming in and catching 150 fish and going out to sell them taking them away from these people, it's not going to happen."

Asked why they advertise "no limit," Pepper said, "We advertise no limit because that's what it is, no limit. We are under control over this, we can say, 'yea' or 'nay' on it."

The lake has posted a message saying no commercial fishermen are allowed on the lake and they reserve the right to refuse service.

Riordan tells WDRB he's not a commercial fisherman. "I do not sell fish, I feed my family. I donate them to charity," he said. "I give them to people who need them."

The owner in the video did not want to comment to WDRB. Pepper says this lake was created as a family friendly fishing spot, and he's hoping to put a sinker on this controversy.

Pepper says, "That's a problem, it'll be straightened out."