What's the Point?!?

[muskieboy46]

Last Monday I was drowning fatheads on Lake Independence when up pulls a guy who starts tossing a big bucktail and leaning down and figure 8'ing after every cast. I proceed to call the DNR tipline who transfers me to the CO for that lake. I receive no answer from the CO. I proceed to call the 3 other DNR CO's that I have in my phone for other lakes. All with no answer. I then call the number that their voicemail says to call if need immediate assistance. I believe the person answered saying they were a State Trooper or Patrol (It was hard to hear what she said). She was confused at why I would be calling her and then said no DNR people were on duty and that there is nothing that can be done except leave a message.

What is the point of having seasons and a tipline if no one cares or will do anything about it?

p.s. the guy what in a black lund, sorta bass boat style, with an inboard/outboard and large GPS unit in front.

[PurpleFloyd]

Sounds like he came up with an innovative new Crappie technique.

Not sure why a guy would take that sort of a risk but I guess it takes all kinds.

[reinhard1]

he could of said he was fishing for pike and may have gotten away with it anyway. i find it hard to believe that no dnr CO's were on duty. that would make the title of this thread accurate for sure. with all the new regs in place as far as minnow buckets and invasive species everyone would have gotten a pass. not even a county sheriff? well they cant be all over the place. i think if you had gotten through that would not be a priority for them with everything else in enforcement taking priority. i know it's frustrating, but with pike in season he would have gotten a pass in my opinion. good luck.

[RumRiverRat]

Take cell phone video and pictures and get clear pictures of the License Number on the boat.

Send the info to the local CO.

[10,000 Casts]

The tip line and 4 CO phone numbers, wow... you sure take your fishing out of season seriously. I would have just written down his lic # or let him know politely that the season is closed and been on my way.

[RumRiverRat]

The tip line and 4 CO phone numbers, wow...

Fishing out of Season for Muskies is Serious Business!

[Jmeyers]

Did you attempt to the guy that it was out of season? I hate how frustrating watching people fish musky out of season is...Bummer the CO wasn't reachable but I agree with reinhard that he more than likely would have gotten away with saying he was fishing northern. I hate when people say that..especially friends and then 4 hours later they put up a picture of a musky... All you can really do is call them out on it and hopefully they catch on.

Nice try though, I would have called tip as well next time just get his plate or boat numbers. Only 5 days left!

[goblueM]

i mean what do you expect... there aren't very many COs and they have to cover so much water...

[muskymaniac4ever]

what? there is a goverment shutdown already, Well, two years ago i noticed a guy fishing with two extra lines, he was casting and he had two sucker rigs down i tried to call TIP and no one answered, so i just trolled up by him and asked him he was having any luck since you have two extra lines with a few cuss words and as i drove away he just reeled up his lines and he left the lake

[Jmeyers]

i just trolled up by him and asked him he was having any luck since you have two extra lines with a few cuss words and as i drove away he just reeled up his lines and he left the lake

that's the way to do it

[PropsterII]

We saw two guys on Forest Lake Saturday throwing bigger baits and figure eighting. Since you can never prove for sure whether someone is intentionally targeting muskies out of season (though you usually have a pretty good idea), as we drove by fairly close I shouted out "Getting any muskies?". There is usually one of two types of response - 1) we're not fishing muskies, we're fishing for pike (usually accompanied by a very defensive attitude) or 2) nope, not yet, just a few follows. It's that second group you can educate and be polite to and all usually turns out well. These guys were in the first group. I then asked how many pike they get, or have ever gotten, on figure 8's. They just packed up and moved. On the one hand illegal, on the other hand with the funding shortage in the DNR and the fact that they do have bigger things to deal with usually it doesn't surprise me that there wasn't anyone available to respond to the situation you had. Don't give up and turn the other cheek though.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

solid effort at alerting though muskieboy

[H0LE HOPPER]

Im not trying to say it was right or defending the person ...But this whole talk is over a technique? I mean i never fished for muskies but i do use big baits and have used the figure 8 method to catch so big pike... Does that mean i was fishing illegally?

[rymcneil]

Im not trying to say it was right or defending the person ...But this whole talk is over a technique? I mean i never fished for muskies but i do use big baits and have used the figure 8 method to catch so big pike... Does that mean i was fishing illegally?

I also have cought pike on the figure 8 and have cought them using muskie lures

[shortfatguy]

I use the same tactic for pike also. Why is it so many people feel they have the right to call tip over carp like this? If you see an actual violation then by all means call it in. If you see someone fishing with a lure or technique that could catch a fish that is out of season I would keep an eye on them and see what happens. Maybe the COs were all out on other frivolous tip calls like the ones you made?

[cbrooks]

Not looking to make an argument about the severity of the crime but what if there was actually a "violation" in your/anyone's opinion. There's no one answering the tipline...whats the point of the tip line. They should always have someone answering the calls or atleast screening them IMO.

[DTro]

Catch and Release all year long (no harvest)...problem solved.

I’m still waiting for someone to show me a conviction of fishing out of season without having a fish in possession. Heck, I’ve never even heard of a ticket being wrote.

[TruthWalleyes]

Catch and Release all year long (no harvest)...problem solved.

I’m still waiting for someone to show me a conviction of fishing out of season without having a fish in possession. Heck, I’ve never even heard of a ticket being wrote.

+1

I'm still on your bandwagon for this topic...It's not enforceable, why have a season.

[mainbutter]

I don't get people who toss blades and figure 8 for muskies pre-season. I only seem to have any luck when I'm pitching senkos for bass, lol.

Can't keep the darn things off my line when I'm not looking for em

[mrklean]

Catch and Release all year long (no harvest)...problem solved.

I’m still waiting for someone to show me a conviction of fishing out of season without having a fish in possession. Heck, I’ve never even heard of a ticket being wrote.

+2

[JimBuck]

I do appreciate the honest effort at notifying the proper authorities. It frustrates me to no end when people think they are above the law. Having said that, trying to prosecute someone who is targeting fish out of season is such a difficult thing to prove that they really should think about opening a year-round C&R season.

I heard last night that they plan on cutting 200 jobs between CO's and state troopers.....it's a losing battle.

[Slabasaurus]

I do appreciate the honest effort at notifying the proper authorities. It frustrates me to no end when people think they are above the law. Having said that, trying to prosecute someone who is targeting fish out of season is such a difficult thing to prove that they really should think about opening a year-round C&R season.

I heard last night that they plan on cutting 200 jobs between CO's and state troopers.....it's a losing battle.

was the cut in staff planned for the shutdown, or permanent? I thought I heard this today on the way into work but wasn't paying close enough attention to be sure.

[Shawn Kellett]

I don't get people who toss blades and figure 8 for muskies pre-season. I only seem to have any luck when I'm pitching senkos for bass, lol.

Can't keep the darn things off my line when I'm not looking for em

No kidding. I've already got a mid 50"er on a 20" pike and this weekend they were coming out of the woodwork! I'm sure they're just torturing me and will evaporate in another 72 hours...

[thatoneguy]

@Slab - that cut is just related to the budget shutdown.

[Musky Buck]

Cheaters cheat just like they likely did through junior high and high school and cheating is somewhat accepted in many families, aint really hurting anything so it's justified and this has gotten worse in the last decade, funny how the pikie minnow,daredevil,johson silver spoon,rapala's,beetle spins often used by pike anglers have been replaced with twin 10's and cue sticks for rods. Lets call it what it really is fishing muskie out of season, don't see many figure 8's on non musky water. Of course you catch some figure 8ting, pike hit everything at times, we typically pull our 30 dollar bait away before they can attack it right. Those defending this musky chaser are part of the problem not the solution, blind to the obvious, defending someone fishing musky out of season, some people can be hit right between the eyes with the truth and they still won't believe it or they'll take the other side of the fence with any issue. Big pike lol cmon now really, if there weren't musky in the lake these big pike anglers wouldn't be there either. Now someone can bend the truth to their liking but anyone with common sense can read between the lines. It is what it is, my favorite musky lake has already received a lot of big pike angler pressure lol, the only way to level the field is open it with walleye season from here on out, bet these big pike anglers lol would be mad most likely, their loss.