I did not know this

[blue_healer_guy]

True story, heard it from person who got ticketed.  Two wheelhouses, using same generator 75 feet apart on red.  4 guys, two shacks.  One shack radioes other dinner is done.  Two from one shack go grab dinner.  gone 10 minutes.  Leave 3 lines down, 4th was a jigging pole reeled up to top of water.  Was at other shack for 10 minutes to eat, while walking back game wardens approach on sleds.  Ticket 1 guy for unattended lines, 130$  Rattle wheels.  Gave them a break for 3rd line at top of water..  I guess I thought the 200ft would have  counted for this but gw said that only for a tip up.  They said cuz its got a spool on a tip up so didnt count against the tip up line but not for lines in house.  Weird.  So everytime a guy leaves the house to pizz, go to truck etc, thats a unattended line...?  Weird

[leechlake]

that's lame and not the spirit of the law/rule in my mind.  Common sense interrupted by Barney Fife ticketing Gomer for jaywalking.

[timjones]

That's the way the law reads. If it is not a tip up you have to be in visual contact with your line. Same holds true if your fishing one line in your portable and have a tip up out. If you leave your portable to tend your tip up you need to reel up your line in the portable or it is an unattended line as soon as you go outside.

[elkrivermn]

That is the law for which I have broke   Sometimes you have to pretend to the Warden that you are very remorseful. If they feel for you you you might get off with a warning.

[ANYFISH2]

Leechlake, I kinda disagree,  the lines were in a different house, unable to attended to.  They would have had no idea if a bite occured.  Was Thier intent to do anything illegal?  I highly doubt it.  Could of a warning of sufficed?  I think so!

It sounds like unattended lines to me.

Edited March 10, 2016 by ANYFISH2

[blue_healer_guy]

I have no fight in this battle, it was a person I know, but to me a tip up is basically a unattended line that gets 200 ft.

[Boar]

tip ups are attended lines, cause your constantly monitoring them at then with in the distance allowed., line inside another structure, out of page, not being monitored is unattended. end of story. I also could see being in a house while your tip up is outside could easily be unattended cause your not out there monitoring it within the distance alloewd. and they wouldnt care if you can see it from a window.

[nofishfisherman]

In the situation that is described in the original post I can see this as being unattended lines.  Its 2 lines in an unoccupied structure with the 2 guys 75 feet away in another structure.  There is no way that the lines could be considered attended since there is no way to know if they got a bite.  Also the CO doesn't know if the guys have been gone 10 minutes or 10 hours.

With tip ups you don't have to be right next to them to still be attending the line.  You can see the flag from a distance and with the open spool of line they can run and often do need to run a way in order to get a good hook set. If the tip up was set up inside a house with no one there and not able to see it or if it was outside a house with no windows then I can see that being unattended as well.  The key being you need to have visual contact with it.

[eyeguy 54]

not that tough to reel the lines in for 10 minutes... 

[Hawg]

I got a warning for this a few years back. The house I was in was literally 10 feet or less from my door. We had moved together one night just for a party and here comes the CO. It was just a warning because he could see what we were doing and gave me a break but not all CO's give any breaks as you found out. I bet I could have even heard the rattle reel if it went down but couldn't see it.  

[Hoey]

Thanks for sharing your story here.  I learned something today!!!

[BobT]

On 3/10/2016 at 6:53 PM, timjones said:

That's the way the law reads. If it is not a tip up you have to be in visual contact with your line. Same holds true if your fishing one line in your portable and have a tip up out. If you leave your portable to tend your tip up you need to reel up your line in the portable or it is an unattended line as soon as you go outside.

This is how I have always understood the law.

Also, don't forget that this can also apply to summer fishing from shore for example. 

[Bass Thumb]

Good share. I didn't know about this. 

There were times I used a rattle-reel attached to a bucket as basically a tip-up. I was always within a hundred feet or so while hole-hopping, and I caught numerous pike with it; strikes were easy to hear/detect. 

Would this have been considered illegal? I was always within sight and ear-shot of it.