Fishing with your limit

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

Speaking of targeting out of season fish. The occasional accidental catch is fine but if you are reasonably sure your going to continue catching an out of season species while you supposedly pursue another then you are breaking the law. Unethical too. You know who you are.

[Grainbelter]

Hey duck, so if I take my 3 year old with me I can keep 2 limits then........he he just kidding......

[Muddog]

If you have a limit of lets say Walleyes. You can still fish for Perch, Crappies or even the lowly Drum. If a walleye were to bite it would not be breaking the law....

I, myself find that fish stay much more fresh in the lake.

[LoonASea]

It makes sense to me that if you already have a limit of one species of fish ,,,continue to fish and hook another of the fish you have limited out on,,,common sense tells me to release it at the side of the boat ,,dont even net it and bring in in the boat ,,,I have to side with duckslayer here ,,,it seems greed has pushed some fisherpersons to the grey areas of the law ,,,Oh and I do drive the speed limit and get to my destination typicaly early ,,and if you are behind me ,,well thats poor planning on your part

Good luck this opener

Randoid

[Walleyes4Matt]

So can you cull as long as you have 9 fish in a pail or 8? Not that I am a big fan of culling but I think culling should be legal even if you have a limit and the fish you release is alive.

[Muddog]

Once a fish has been counted as part of your limit it can't be culled. That dosen't mean you can't let them all go later!

[riverrat56]

Culling IS allowed if you are under your limit. If you have 4 walleyes, and number 5 is bigger than number 4 then you can let number 4 go and keep number 5.

[BobT]

I wonder...do tournament fishermen/women cull and how closely are they monitored for this activity? After all, it is far more in their best interest to do so, isn't it?

Bob

[mnfishman]

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I wonder...do tournament fishermen/women cull and how closely are they monitored for this activity? After all, it is far more in their best interest to do so, isn't it?

Bob

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Most bass tournaments here are two person teams and you can only weigh in 6 or 8 bass. Because there are two licensed people in the boat the tournament limit is less then the possession limit which would be 12 for the boat. So they can cull without an issue.

What I wonder is how they deal with a person that decides to fish in the tournament on his own. They must have to have rules in place that only allow 2 person teams especially if the tournament is 8 fish.

That is probably the reason why we will never see a bass tournament up here for the FLW or Bassmasters series because they fish by themselves in the boat and they wouldn't be able to cull.

I know that Wisconsin has a no cull rule for the entire state. Once it is in the live well it stays.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I would say that most bass tournaments are not team formats and they only weigh in 5 fish, the same as the FLW and Bassmasters... And with out state having a 6 fish limmit your then ok...However, in WI as stated, you are not allowed to sort/cull at all.. You decide once you catch a fish if you are going to put it in the well...

[papabear]

I wonder what the survival rate is for fish that are culled out of live wells. If the DNR doesnt allow tournaments to release fish at certain times because the fish are less likely to survive what are the odds a fish rlaeased out of a live well by a fisherman will survive. just my $.02

[TNFL]

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However, in WI as stated, you are not allowed to sort/cull at all.. You decide once you catch a fish if you are going to put it in the well...

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Do WI tourney strictly enforce it or is it a wink wink if you get caught it your fault kind of thing?

[Long Gray Line]

Everyone take a look at the regs again, it seems to me the key phrase is "reduced to possession". "In hand" is not "in possession". Once an action is taken (put in the livewell, on a stringer, in a bucket...) showing intent to keep the fish, it has been "reduced to possession". Any shade tree lawyer would be able to argue this one. Of course, would it work out on the water.......

[nofishfisherman]

Quote:

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Daily and possession limits are the same unless otherwise noted. Fish

are in an angler’s possession whether on hand, in cold storage, in

transport, or elsewhere.

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This is word for word what the regs state. Seems kind of vague to me. "On Hand" (In the boat) is considered possession but it doesn't say whether "In Hand" is also considered to be "On Hand".

It then goes on to say the following.

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Once a daily or possession limit of fish has been reached, no culling or

live-well sorting is allowed.

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It says no live well sorting or culling after a limit is reached so that would seem to indicate you can still fish for walleye if you already have your limit as long as you release them. If they would go so far to put that section in the regs why wouldn't they also just say once you have a limit you must stop fishing for that spieces if it is in fact illegal.

[MikeYager - Suzuki]

CO's checked us with a limit of eyes fishing this weekend and never said a word about stopping. We kept catching and releasing.

[Scott K]

I think culling is wrong and should be illegal. If you thought you were going to keep it , and put it in your live well and its been in there for 2 hours then catch one 2 " bigger,you then throw out the half dead one in your livewell to make room for the 2" bigger fish. Sounds stupid to me! You pretty much gave that other one to the birds!

[nofishfisherman]

If its in the live well or on a stringer it should stay there for sure. If you catch on fish expecting to catch more and at the end of the day you still have just that one fish don't just release it becuase you don't want to clean it. Most likely its not going to make it, even if it looks strong it doesn't have alot of hope left. Ususally I will either just clean it and make a meal for one, or I will see if anyone around me is interested in taking it assuming they don't have a limit. Most of the time if you are not catching alot neither is any one else so they might be grateful to get another fish to help make a meal for the family.