By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

An Auburn man will take the fight for his right to snooze while fishing to District Court next month.

Henry “Butch” Davenport IV is challenging a charge that he used an illegal rig while fishing on Lake Auburn in April.

According to the summons against Davenport, he left unattended lines on the shore. Davenport claims he was just yards away from his fishing poles, sleeping in his tent.

Davenport was fishing at Salmon Point, a spit of land on Lake Auburn’s north shore behind Taber’s Driving Range. It’s a regular fishing spot for him and his friends, and they had set up a tent near the shore for shelter from the weather.

“It was April, and that means it was still cold out,” he said. A chilly wind was blowing across the water from the northwest. He arrived at about 6 a.m., baited his hooks with smelt, propped his poles against a log and retreated to the tent.

He’d left bits of Styrofoam attached to the line at the top of his fishing poles as line indicators and said he checked them frequently. If the indicators were gone, it could mean a fish was at the end of his line.

He admits that he fell asleep.

“That’s what you do when you go fishing,” Davenport said. “A big part of fishing is relaxing, and you fall asleep when you’re relaxed.”

He awoke later, hearing voices outside the tent.

According to reports filed by Maine Wardens Richard Stone and Chris Simmons, they were investigating a complaint of unattended fishing lines in the lake. They’d found Davenport’s tent and his fishing poles and watched them for 30 minutes. Simmons wrote that he removed the Styrofoam line indicators from Davenport’s poles before calling into the tent.

When Simmons admitted to sleeping, they issued him a summons for using a set line. That carries a $100 fine.

Maine open fishing regulations forbid using a line attached to a fixed object on shore or floating on the water to catch fish if the rig is not personally attended. That’s designed to keep the fish from dangling on the lines for hours or days waiting for the fisherman to check his rigs.

Neither Stone nor Simmons could be reached for comment Friday. Warden David Chabot said rules are designed to protect the fish.

“You have a duty to catch that fish and keep it as part of your bag limit or release it,” Chabot said.

But Davenport argues his lines were never attached to a fixed spot. They were attached to poles, which were leaning against a log. Friend Tom Dube, an avid sportsman, advised Davenport to fight the charges.

“That’s just the way people fish, and they have done it for a hundred years,” Dube said. “There’s nothing wrong with it, and there never has been.”

Davenport agreed, and is challenging the charge in court. He’s scheduled for a jury trial on Aug. 28 at District Court in Lewiston.

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