Limit Question?

[walldoggie]

This maybe a stupid question or i may get yelled at by all the catch and release guys but its my question non the less!!!

If i have a full season wisconsin license and a resident minnesota license, and i am fishing in wisc and catch my 25 crappies and then the next day catch 10 crappies in minn. Am i over the limit?

[howwedoin]

I never keep my fish nor do I know much about limits but I'd think it depends on which state you're in with possession. If you have 35 crappies in possession in MN and the limit is under that I'd say you're illegal. There wouldn't be a way to prove the fish were from MN and WI?

Something to chew on.

Good question.

[JP Z]

I don't believe so as you have the 2 licenses to prove the seperate limits. I believe you may need to bag the filets with your license from WI so that you have "proof" but don't take my word for it.

[Mudcat21]

If you have your two licenses and are within your limit of each you have done nothing wrong including keeping some fish to eat!

[vitalshot5]

yes you are in violation.....you can only have in your possesion the limit that is called for in that state you are fishing.....and how do you end up with resident liscences from 2 different states....this doesn't sound real leagal either.

[JP Z]

vitalshot5,

I believe Students can have a res. license in there state of schooling as well as home state...

[walldoggie]

vital- miss type sorry, but by your logic i am not doing anything illegal (all hypothetical) as say sunday i was in wisconsin fishing crappies and caught my limit of 25. i left went home bagged them and put my license # and quantity and what type of fish on the bag. Then tuesday went to a local lake caught my 10 fish cleaned and did the same thing. According to the limit laws of both states am i not legal?

[eggdish]

if fishing limits are anything like hunting limits, which i believe they are, you would be legal. you can have in your possession, the combined possession limits for the states you currently have a license in. if someone wanted to get real technical, i supposed you would have to prove which state the fish came from, but it would be equally difficult to prove that you were wrong.

[peerchking]

Walldoggie

I never gave it much thought, But I'm with you on this one. I get my mn license every year and also a S.D. license.(brother inlaw lives in webster) I guese I will ask the C.O. the next time I see him.

[vitalshot5]

according to my neighbor who is my local CO here says when it comes to fish, your posession limit in your freezer does not matter what state you caught them in....they have no way to prove it like big game where it needs to be registered before processing.

[hanson]

I believe it is Legal.

I would also make sure, besides having a license, to have proof that you were in that state at the time the fish were caught (gas station, bait shop, restaurant receipt). Keep that with your license.

So here's a question than, what if I went to Devils Lake, ND perch fishing a few years back when the limit was like 100 per person. We all know that that is over the MN limit. So if I bring these fish back to MN, I'm breaking the law? No! It would have been perfectly legal for me to have those fish.

I don't see how that scenario is any different.

[nofishfisherman]

Quote:

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according to my neighbor who is my local CO here says when it comes to fish, your posession limit in your freezer does not matter what state you caught them in....they have no way to prove it like big game where it needs to be registered before processing

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Aren't you innocent until proven guilty? Shouldn't the burden of proof be with the CO? If you can prove you have licenses from 2 states that should be enough evidence for him unless he or a witness saw you catch and keep 35 crappie from the local MN lake.

[metrojoe]

I think vitalshot5 has it right. The CO's have no way of proving where you caught the fish once your on shore.

[walldoggie]

vital- your neighbor the CO needs to back to CO school then.

As i called the minnesota dnr and the wisconsin dnr fish and game division and asked them this same question and there answers were the same.

As long as you bag and put your liscense # with the quantity and what type of fish. You are able to legaly posses a wisconsin limit, and a minnesota limit.

This was a debate we had over x-mas, I at first thought as vital did, but i guess i should have listened to my elders as sometimes they do know best

I just wanted to get a debate going, sorry if i sounded harsh vital.

[metrojoe]

Maybe I read vitals post wrong, but if they can't prove where you caught the fish then how can they ticket you?

[BobT]

I believe the possession limit is similar to having deer in your freezer. If you have the appropriate registration tags, the meat is legal. If I have a non-resident license from ND and a resident license from MN, I would be inclined to believe my in possession limit is defined by the combined total of the two licenses.

I waw a bit quick on the clicker. Another thought. I would assume the above would hold true so long as both licenses are valid. At the moment one of them expires, the amount in possession best be legal as defined by the active license.

Bob

[Guest]

I think it has been clarified enough that you are legal to possess a limit of fish from whatever state you are legaly fishing(have a license for that state).. you can take fish home up to the limit of that state and they are supposed to be properly labeled.

I think that is along the line of common sense.. I am not going to avoid fishing/keeping fish here in minnesota if I just got back from Missori with a limit of crappies on vacation. I paid the license dollars to fsh another state, and my license here at home covers what the regulations allow me to keep.

I really dont see the point of having a stockpile of fih in the freezer unless you have the entire family over for a fish fry.. if thats the case,knock yourself out.. If they are going to get freezer burned before eating.. Be sure to eat some fish before you bring too many home.. still fun to catch when you dont have to clean fish and you can have a meal from what is in the freezer.

It all sounds like a legal way(jumping through hoops) to stock the freezer to me.. I feel more proud oer a pile of fresh cooked fish than I do pointing out bags of fillets in the freezer myself!

[ozzie]

Legal as long as you are licensed in the states you caught the fish and abided by both states laws!!!!!! Otherwise going to ND cathching a limit of walleyes and coming across the border with said limit then I would be illegal if pulled over and searched or if they searched my freezer....No way is this the case....

[Sandmannd]

Along those lines, if I shoot a deer and give my parents who don't have a license some steak and other meats, are they in a violation? I know of a ton of people who do that.

[Cheeser]

Excellent topic. What if I (a resident of MN) go to Michigan for the free fishing weekend, catch a bunch of fish and bring them back? I don't need a license in MI, but then I have no way of proving that they were caught in MI?

--Mark

[hartner62]

I look at it like this. I'm at my home in MN and a CO comes over checks my freezer and I have 25 crappies in there and MN limit is 10 period. How many are in your possesion? If over 10 no matter where they came from you are over the limit. There is no way to prove you got them in WI.

[vitalshot5]

well i just got emailed back from the dnr and they have the same story as the CO I know....I think you should check it out again on the minnesota side here because according to 2 authorities on this subject they say only one posession limit in the freezer. no matter how many or where your other licenses are from. you cannot have 2 seperate limits from different states because there is no way to govern this.

[PerchPounder]

so after reading all of these. and there being no limit on bluegills and crappies in iowa. i could just freeze all of my fish with my iowa license number on them and keep as many as i wanted???

[hanson]

Quote:

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so after reading all of these. and there being no limit on bluegills and crappies in iowa. i could just freeze all of my fish with my iowa license number on them and keep as many as i wanted???

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Thats sort of the point I was trying to make.

If I buy a license to fish in a neighboring state, I'm bound by the rules and regulations of THAT state, not my home state of MN.

You are correct in that Iowa does NOT have any limit on bluegills or crappies. When I fish in Iowa, I can keep as many crappies as I want and bring them back to MN. There is no way I am bound by Minnesota's 10 crappie limit when I am fishing Iowa, I follow Iowa's regulations.

Like I said in my earlier post, ND was promoting that with their perch fishing and hundreds of out of state anglers were flocking there to bring home buckets & buckets of perch due to the liberal limit.

But like I mentioned before, I would have my Iowa license number, a receipt of some sort to prove I was there, and the packages of fish labeled and dated accordingly.

[Guest]

Yeah.. now I can go out and get a 1 day Iowa license and have a way to legally avoid athorities no matter how many crappies are in the freezer as long as I dont bring more than 10 more at a time.

Boy, am I glad that got pointed out to the public. If even 1 person acts on it and has a good hole....