L&D is located on Detroit Rd in Lakewood, just before the Metro Park entrance to the Rocky River. The Rocky River is rated in the "Top 150 places to fish in America".
Owner, Larry "Pete" Petersen, is quite the character and first impressions of him are usually not good. Over the years of going there, I realized it takes awhile for Pete to warm up to you. He strikes me as sort of dry, but being a nice guy.
Walking into the business, which is tucked in neatly with a coffee shop and little cafe, L&D seems out of place for this area. The first clue is a sign saying, PETA - "People Eating Tasty Animals." The second being his pet (caged) yellow Python in the corner and of course we can't forget the turtle walking around the shop either. The turtle has a reflector on his back to keep people from stepping on him.
On the walls Pete has autographed pictures of country music stars ranging from, Merle Haggard, David Allen Coe, Lorrie Morgan to name a few, but Pete got in trouble for the other things on his walls.... mounted fish!
All over the walls are mounted fish, mostly Steelhead from the Rocky River. Most are waiting to be picked up by customers but since having a fish mounted is costly and some of these mounts are fish that have been left by customers. Definitely not for a bad job though. I have had several fish mounted by Pete, his quality work was always done in a timely fashion with very reasonable prices.
In the mornings there would usually be a few guys waiting for Pete to open so they could buy thier bait. Being a fly fisherman, I would only stop if I needed split shot, maybe a float, or just to get a fishing report and an inside laugh at Pete with his warm & fuzzy self.
If you landed a big Steelhead, maybe an occasional stray Brown Trout or lost King Salmon (Chinook), you would just take it up the hill, give Pete a $25 deposit in 6-8 weeks your mount was done. Depending on the work done, a mounted fish can cost upwards from $7 - $10 per inch. The average Steelhead in the Rocky River range from 20" - 30" and weigh 5-6 pounds.
Pete is scheduled to be in Lakewood Municipal Court on Dec. 11th to answer these charges. As of now the store is closed and the phone number has been disconnected.
Which leads me to this question.... Is or should it be illegal for a taxidermist to sell fish left by customers?
As I understand it the law is meant more to prevent people (poachers) from catching game fish with the intent to resell for a profit. It is obvious that there was no criminal intent on Pete's part; the man was simply trying to recoup his costs of mounting the fish. If Pete was paying people to catch fish for the intent of mounting and reselling them, then he was wrong. But I do not think that is the case.
I am all for ODNR and Cuyahoga County Wildlife officers being aggressive in handling of all fishing or hunting violations, (like the case in this link), but I believe in Pete's case they went to far!
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