Bad League Etiquette

[jigginjim]

while fishing leagues this year we were notified by the DNR that once a fish is in your live well it is in your possesion and illegal to release. so if you are thinking of bringing the fish in to measure and then release thats a no-noFor our league now use a digital and a bump board release all fish immediatly except a few here and there for a meal.

I guess some people didn't get the meno, or read the Fishing reg's Page72 Catch And Release

[eyebjim]

As it was stated in a previous post they are getting permits to release the fish after being in the live well. Personally I do not think they should issue these type of permits. All should be catch and immediate release IMO.

[kg2]

Let me see. Some catfisherman and some guides are holier than thou?

How many times must this be hashed over on these forums? Too much disinformation.

It is perfectly legal to livewell sort up to your possession limit. So as long as you don't have your MN possession limit, you can sort and/or release livewell fish. People that work for the DNR fish both leagues and contests. Page 9 of the Mn fishing regs.

• Once a daily or possession limit of fish has been reached, no culling or live well sorting is allowed.

Jim, page 72 in the regs is just info about C & R. It states not to plan on releasing fish after they have been in a livewell. It is a recommendation. You missed the meno! lol

The guy that did this should be booted out of the league.

[PierBridge]

Well said!

[JakeJ_Mn]

Anyone who has total disregard for fish or wildlife should be turned in and have their priviledges revoked.

As far as tourneys, they can be alot of fun and a learning experience, but I cite walleye tourneys held last year on Cass FLW - where the fish on the final day were hauled all the way to the Walmart in Bemidji(around 25 miles) just to show off the weigh in and this year on Leech FLW where the final day fish were hauled to the Northern Lights casino( about 6 miles ) for the weigh in. I'm sure this was not good for the fish.

I believe many of the tourneys go to great lengths to insure the safety of the fish, but have seen on occasion the waste of dead fish hauled around all day in livewells or the deep hooked fish when the person jerk-baits out the ten cent hook instead of cutting the line when they know they aren't keeping it.

Walleyes will travel sometimes back to where to were caught on smaller lakes, but seldom do on big lakes. Bass will normally only go from where released only to where they find cover. So when hauled many miles from where caught they most likely will never return.

The tourneys need to find a solution and move towards immediate catch and release systems.

[danfall]

OK, but in all sincerity, has anyone been over a honey hole before?

I've been fishing more than 1x and caught a limit in minutes and we just kept on fishing because it was so darn fun. I've had to make the executive decision to pull my fellow fisherperson's off the location cuz we are killin' fish.

The bass guy really ought to have reduced the dead fish to his possession and had a fish fry, no doubt.

Ontario regulations on Conservation licenses are 1 fish per person for lakers. It is hard to get a fishing crazy old guy like my uncle off a great spot after he boats one fish, and if it gets gilled and floats, how many people really stop fishing if its an early fish?

Too tight a regulation is also a problem.

But it isn't easy to catch one fish in the morning at 8 am and stop fishing for the day. This is a whole entirely new line of thinking for fishing people, myself included.

Personally, I flatten barbs, and reduce trebles to singles if things are too hot.

[Sandmannd]

danfall, you can't get your limit and keep fishing. That's illegal. You can keep one shy of your limit and keep fishing.

[311Hemi]

danfall, you can't get your limit and keep fishing. That's illegal. You can keep one shy of your limit and keep fishing.

You can get your limit and fish other species however.

[fishdale]

Ontario regulations on Conservation licenses are 1 fish per person for lakers. It is hard to get a fishing crazy old guy like my uncle off a great spot after he boats one fish, and if it gets gilled and floats.

In that case just go the extra 20 bucks and get a regular license and skip the conservation license?

[vikingmeatwad]

Thanks for reporting this, not fun to see this type of thing happen.