Never had much luck poaching fish, I had poached salmon once and tried poached eggs but I would rather fry or grill my fish. It has been said several times on this post ingnorance is no excuse if you are going to fish then know the rules simple as that. They should have released them even though they were dead but whne they decided to go ahead and keep them they broke the law period, actually when fishing Ky trout waters one should read the rules before going and if not sure, there is catch and release.