LINCOLN PLANTATION — The Maine Warden Service is seeking the public’s help to learn who put an illegal gillnet in the Magalloway River, a “premier trout” stream, in the northern Oxford County territory.

Maine Operation Game Thief is offering $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible, Mark Latti, communications director for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, wrote in a news release Wednesday.

Wardens were notified Monday by a concerned angler who noticed the net along the banks of the river at the bridge on Route 16. Wardens located the net and found two large dead brook trout entangled in it, along with several other species of fish.

It is unknown how long the net had been there or how many fish may have been taken before it was found, according to Latti.

The net was about 36 feet long and 9 feet deep, large enough to stretch across a significant portion of the river. It created a wall of netting that hung in the water with floats on the top and weights on the bottom, Latti said.

The Magalloway River is one of Maine’s premier native brook trout fisheries, Latti said.

Wardens and MDIFW “fisheries staff are alarmed by this illegal net set, and the risk it poses to trout in the Magalloway River,” he wrote.

Anyone with information about this crime is encouraged to contact Operation Game Thief at 1-800-ALERT-US. They can also submit a tip online through the Maine Operation Game Thief app “Tip 411” or through the website at www.maineogt.org.

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