QUEENSBURY -- Plans for a benefit fish fry at a Glen Lake Road bar were dashed Saturday when the state Department of Health determined state regulations were being violated in the way the fish was being prepared and stored.
Organizers of the event at The Full Moon Bar & Grill voluntarily threw out 45 pounds of perch filets and scrapped the event, said Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman for the state Department of Health.
An inspector for the department determined the fish was being prepared at a kitchen off-premises and it was being stored in an area that did not have sufficient refrigeration, he said.
No citations were issued, no penalties were assessed and the bar owners were cooperative, Hammond said.
The benefit had generated some controversy because organizers had initially circulated fliers indicating money was being raised for four men who were fined $250 apiece for taking hundreds more yellow perch than legally allowed from Lake George last month.
When that plan to reward lawbreakers generated media attention and hard feelings among many anglers, organizers told the Albany Times-Union newspaper last week that it was a "joke" and the money was really to go to a charity, The Open Door Soup Kitchen, in Glens Falls.
The fliers advertising the event, which were posted on vehicles at ice-fishing access sites in the region, made no mention of any charity that was to benefit from it, though.
Attendees were to pay $5 a plate "to benefit the ill-gained booty of our brave ice fishermen. They share their catches year round so let's help pay the fine," one of the fliers said.
And the director of the soup kitchen said Monday he knew nothing of the event until contacted late last week by someone from the bar offering to make a donation.
The first media attention the event got was in a Post-Star outdoors column Wednesday that was critical of raising money to help anglers who broke the law.
Bruce Hersey, director of the soup kitchen, said he went to the bar Saturday afternoon to find the event had been canceled because of the Health Department visit. He said he did not receive a donation, but was told by the bar staff they would try to take up a collection.
Hersey said he had not heard anything from the bar staff since his visit there.
The Full Moon's Web site, though, on Monday said the event was "a great party" that "raised a bunch of money for The Open Door Soup Kitchen." A man who answered the phone at the bar Monday would not discuss the matter, telling a reporter "I wouldn't tell you anything" and "it's none of your business" how much money was raised.
He hung up the phone when a reporter told him the soup kitchen's director said the charity had not received any money. Jeff Goldberg, owner of the Route 9 bait and tackle shop Fish307.com, said he believes organizers changed their plans only after they learned many were upset about the cause.
The bar's Web site was shut down for several days last week, replaced by a message that referred to an apparent cyber attack.
"They backpedaled after a lot of people got upset with them," Goldberg said.
Health Department spokesman Hammond said the inspector went to the bar shortly after noon, before the fish fry had begun, but he would not say how the inspector learned of the event.
Hammond said it would have been legal for the restaurant to serve locally caught perch, had it been cooked there and stored properly.
The legal fees of two of the wayward anglers got much steeper last week after they were allegedly caught for a second time greatly exceeding the 50-perch-per-day limit.
This time, the men were cited for violating a law on illegal commercialization of wildlife, which brings a minimum $500 fine and also could result in a fine of $100 per fish over the limit.
Police said one man had 195 more fish than the law allows, while the other man was 138 fish over the limit.
