MONROE COUNTY, Fla.- A routine morning on the water turned into a trip to the county jail for a Maine man caught fishing with illegal bait in the Florida Keys on Wednesday.
Arthur Lane, a 44-year-old resident of Lebanon, Maine, was taken into custody on April 22, 2026, after a run-in with law enforcement near the Boca Chica Channel Bridge.
The incident began around 8:56 a.m. while Lower Keys Marine Deputy Luis Guiardinu was conducting a patrol of the area. According to reports from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the deputy spotted Lane utilizing an undersized mangrove snapper as bait on his line.
During the encounter, officials stated that Lane admitted to using other undersized fish as bait throughout the morning.
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Florida wildlife regulations strictly dictate minimum size requirements for mangrove snapper to ensure the health of the local ecosystem, and using them as bait does not exempt an angler from these legal limits.
Following the discovery and his subsequent admission, Lane was arrested on the scene and transported to the Monroe County Jail.
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