new Bait Bucket regulation

[GlassEyeangler]

make sure to read the new regulation carefully. i would post it; however, i'm not that smart...hopefully someone will.

for me...i have decided to s@*$ can my bucket. the regulation states i must wash it out with tap or spring water prior to leaving any infested body of water. knowing the DNR will not supply it to me at the water access - no more buckets will be used in my boat!

i'd really like to see how much $ the DNR makes off of "educating" us fisherpeople. i do know know their preferred method of education comes via "enforcement" which equates to $, and $ i don't have to spend. i do realize why this reg was created, but i do not believe it needs to become a new revenue stream for the DNR - they have enough $$$ in my opinion!

[knowsnothing]

I remember opener last year at the Malmo boat launch. If you did not have a gallon of water to rinse your leeches off they made you dump them.I was doing the math while waiting in line thinking how many $$$ of leaches laid on the black top. Now keep leeches in the cooler instead of the tamer. The only funny side to it was they were having you dump them when you pulled out, but the sign at the access clearly said to dispose of you bait properly and not just dump on the ground. Becoming a bigger and bigger fan of Gulp!!

[OnAFly]

I doubt the DNR makes or enforces regulations in an attempt to make money.

If they wanted to do that, they could sit on shore with the binocs and nab the litterbugs coming off the ice one after the other.

[JakeJ_Mn]

The minimal cost of some water to rinse out your buckets doesn't compare the the damage done by people carrying unwanted things to other lakes. We as sportspersons need to do whatever it takes to keep our water clean and fishable.

I always carry a 5 gallon jug of water in the truck to rinse out my buckets and livewells. It's not a hard thing to do.

[reinhard1]

on page 12 of the regs it says "you must exchange water in bait buckets with tap or spring water prior to leaving any infested waterbody to prevent the spread of invasive or fish diseases". then on page 15 under "required actions--it's the law!" it says " drain water from boat, livewell, bilge, and impellor by removing drain plugs and open water draining devices before leaving any water access. also, portable bait containers must be drained when leaving designated infested waters. if you want to keep yourlive bait when leaving infested waters, you must replace water in bait containers with tap or spring water."

so on one page it says to rinse bait buckets with tap or spring water before leaving infested waters and on another page it just says to drain them. it says nothing about cleaning out the livewell with tap or spring water before leaving infested water. doesn't make much sense. it does say before you go to another lake to make sure you spray out your livewell before heading out to another lake along with the outside of the boat. the second part make sense to me. clean everything when you are at home when you have the equipment to do so. in the first part you have to take a jug of tap water with you for the bucket or do you? which page do you follow? be on the safe side and carry a gallon of tap water with you. good luck.

[itchmesir]

the DNR has a ton of money?.. when did this happen?

[LakeDocktor]

the DNR has a ton of money?.. when did this happen?

As soon as they started making money off enforcing laws!

It's really not all that hard to follow the laws and bring some water with to rinse off your bait and transfer it to clean non invasive water.

[GlassEyeangler]

my main issue is the fact that if i don't rinse out my bait bucket with tap or spring water it could be subject to a fine which equates to $$$ out of my pocket.

really when you break it down it's a matter of discipline...which the DNR doesn't trust we have anymore. sounds like we're in a foreign country now?!? this is nothing more than a speed trap via highway patrol. personally, i have more than enough knowledge to do what's right for the environment...i don't need to be monitored by others like i'm in kindergarden.

last year...the drian plug must be pulled before leaving...this year i must wash out my bait bucket...what's next, is my point!

as far as the DNR having enough $$$ it's cleary my opinion, which everyone is entitled to.

[Chris Haley]

It also states "Designated infested waters" DNR Designated waters None of my lakes are on the list. My bucket stays.

[OnAFly]

GlassEye - You are correct. You are probably responsible enough to do the right thing and clean your stuff out in order to reduce the chances of spreading invasives. The problem is the 5% that doesn't think they need to. Therefore to get them to, the DNR must tell everyone to do this or face punishment.

If a million people use a lake a without transporting any invasives, the one guy that did still ruined the resource.

[LakeDocktor]

"my main issue is the fact that if i don't rinse out my bait bucket with tap or spring water it could be subject to a fine which equates to $$$ out of my pocket."

If you don't put your seat belt on it could subject in a fine that equates to $$$ out of your pocket as well. How is this any different? A law is a law and the laws need to be backed with consequences for breaking them.

Speed traps save lives! Rinsing your bait bucket saves lakes!

[pulleye16]

I'm not against this by any means but what sense does this make? Do we rinse off our anchors, drift socks, trolling motors, fishing poles, fishing nets...heck our boats??? Why not make it illegal to transport "water" from infested lakes (which it already was) but to rinse off a bait bucket? Yeah-pick the weeds off and inspect it like the trailer and motors. What do bait buckets/live wells have that all the others don't? Am I missing something here? I want to protect our waters like most everyone but this seems like it's only stopping or helping the cause by a very minimum. Is that because this the only realistic way? I can't see everyone washing their entire fishing rigs at the landing...I guess maybe it's a good start and maybe the only "realistic" way without completely causing problems for us fishermen by washing everything before heading out of the landing...it just seems pointless though when so many other things are "in the water" while fishing!

[MichaelSwan]

If Chicago doesn't do something about their canals, the Asian carp will decimate the great lakes. 7 billion dollar industry gone, and no more fishing. Then we'll sue them after its too late.

[reinhard1]

if you read the regs as i pointed out in my first post, on one page is says you have to rinse out the bucket with tap water and two pages later it says you just have to empty it, but if you want to save your bait then you have to put tap water in it to transport the bucket. one law would have been less confusing. i would have just said empty the bucket and all the water from the boat and clean everthing when you get home. read the regs and you will see two different rules for the same thing with that bucket issue. good luck.

[slipperybob]

All I have is a bag in my bait bucket that never gets mixed with the lake water. What now?

[pulleye16]

if you read the regs as i pointed out in my first post, on one page is says you have to rinse out the bucket with tap water and two pages later it says you just have to empty it, but if you want to save your bait then you have to put tap water in it to transport the bucket. one law would have been less confusing. i would have just said empty the bucket and all the water from the boat and clean everthing when you get home. read the regs and you will see two different rules for the same thing with that bucket issue. good luck.

I did read and you will see two different CO's ticketing you interpeting two different laws from two different pages...go with the most stricted (rinsing out the bait bucket) and you will be okay. that whats brings me to my rant above, why just rinse out the bait bucket when everything in the boat has lake water on it: anchor,nets, fishing line, jigs, rapalas... Like I said in my first post, it's probably easier and more realistic to only have people rinse out a bait bucket, but that doesn't accomplish anything to any large scale what the DNR whats to accomplish.

[reinhard1]

i'm going to call them next week about the two different choices the angler has to make. i agree, with you believe me. i talked to the person in charge of enforcement in the anoka area regarding another matter and he is aware of grey areas in the regs. he also wishes everything would be clear. and he also told me regardless what regulations are put forward it will not stop invasive species but it will curtail some of it. that's all i can hope for also.

practicly all of the metro lakes have some form of invasive speicies. i hose down my boat good before i go to the lakes up north were there are none or few everytime and everytime i'm done down here as well.. regardless of how i feel about certain regs, i follow them, then no problem. good luck.

[pulleye16]

Let us know what you find out..I'm sure the gray area will have to last this season but hopefully they can have it straighten out by next year. I agree we need to follow the laws (even if we disagree with them) and I think we as sportsman have done a pretty good job as a whole considering all thats out there. And people need to also remember, just because it's NOT a law, we should always look over anything that was infested waters like anchors, ropes, nets...it's only there to protect what we love!

[reinhard1]

that's right. we have to set a example to others, especialy our kids and grandkids. that's the only way to slow this thing down. good luck.

[curtistodd]

Fargo tap water kills minnows! Im basically just a shore fisherman, but i now fill up a bucket or cooler with water at a lake that doesnt have invasive species so that i can put my bait, and my catch in a cooler filled with legal, non-killing water.

[south_metro_fish]

Why do they have to make this so hard. Wouldn't it make sense to have a faucet at infected boat launches that has tap or spring water that people can use. I am sure a lot more people would follow laws if they made it easily assessable to follow them. With this money they take out of peoples pockets enforcing the invasive spices laws I would think that they might be able to fund this kind of project at ramps of infested lakes.

[GlassEyeangler]

great posts...thanks to all of you who took the time to share.

after reading over the regs on two different pages i can see the gray area as well. i cannot wait to be inspected this year...bring it on!

you know i also couldn't find anything about BWI in the book this year...maybe i missed it?! i do realize this is about fishing regs and not boating, but i've always seen an ad or verbiage focused on alcohol and boating don't mix inside the fishing regs book. (it was there last year...hmm) maybe it's ok for us to be drunk as long as we wash out our bait buckets...ha ha! have i gone to far now...yes, i can admit it - so can the DNR and drop this stupid regulation.

[reinhard1]

it would make more sense if they scrap that law and just have people dump all the water from the boat and bucket and have them clean up at home. i do that all the time. takes 10 minuts to spray the boat down inside and out. what sense does it make to dump out a bucket of water and rinse it out, while the exterior of the boat, trailer, livewell, and any water in the interior of the boat just has to be drained. on a busy day on a popular lake having a hose there would create lines and cost the taxpayer money that could go to enforcement. good luck.

[hawgchaser]

I'm trying to get hold of the hardship this is imposing on us fisher-people. A gallon of water is 128 fl. oz...a 12 pack of beer is 144 fl. oz. If space & weight is such an issue, leave the beer at home. A large bag of ice weighs 10 lb. ... a gallon of water weighs just over 8 lbs. . If space/weight is the issue, forget the ice & drink tepid soft drinks/beer. I agree (in part) that one could (and should) more easily and effectively rinse at home, but seriously guys/gals. Is it really such a hardship to drain/rinse/refill a minnow bucket. The mystery to me is more why anyone would object to this law. I'd like to hear a logical argument for not taking this simple step in an attempt to reduce the spread of invasive species.

BTW, the last well I drilled cost over $7,000 and I already had power to the site. I don't want my license/fee dollars going for this kind of expense.

[reinhard1]

nothing wrong with bringing a gallon of water along. i often bring a galon of spring water along frozen so i drink it as it melts. look fine, it's the law. do you find it interesting however that on one page in the regs it says to dump the water out of your bait bucket and rinse it out with tap water and two pages later it say's to just dump it out [it's the law} dont have to rinse it. why two different angles on this, why not one? which one will the CO go with if you pointed that out to him?

i just dont see how the bucket is the problem and the rest of the boat isnt treated the same way. i'm as carefull as anyone who cares about the environment but i want clear, to the point laws, not grey lines. good luck.