Culling Legality

[ikeslayer]

i was told the other day that culling is illegal in mn. So my question is how/why do we do it in tourneys all the time. I am not sure how the law reads but some of you do and is this a shady area or would you do it with a warden in your boat and if so how. thanks

ike

[Bobb-o]

I believe (but am prob wrong) that since tourneys are ultimately catch and release they are granted special privilege to cull fish?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Culling is illegal in MN.. but the rule is written in such a way that its only illegal once you have a limmit of fish. So, lets say you have 3 bass...and you catch one, you now have 4 bass, you can still take one fish(as long as its alive) and put it back in the lake. Now you have 3 bass again.... HOWEVER, lets say you have 5 bass... and you catch number 6... you now have your limmit, and are done!!! if you put one back in the lake you are now illegal.

I have talked to DNR prople about this... So, there are quite a few people who are illegal during bass tounaments in MN.. I really feel they should drop tournament limmits to 4 so that you are never breaking the laws.

[RK]

Hiya -

Well...to clarify what Deitz said a little...

Culling and livewell sorting is not allowed once a limit of fish has been reduced to possession. So if, for example, you're walleye fishing, you have your 6 fish, and you catch an 18-incher. You can't replace the 15-incher that's already in possesion with the 18-incher. That's 'livewell sorting' which is expressly forbidden in the statute. You can keep fishing, you just can't reduce any of the fish you catch to possession. In a tournament setting however, once you reduce your limit to possession, you're done.

This is why tournaments like the PWT have 5-fish limits even though there are two anglers in the boat. Since they're under the possession limit, they can continue to cull.

Personally I'd like to see them do away with culling altogether. I.e., once a fish is reduced to possession by putting it in a livewell, it's yours - no livewell sorting allowed. Lots of fish get 'culled' after bouncing around in a livewell all day that don't make it as a result...which is a total waste. But that's just me.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Deitz Dittrich]

Thanks for the clarification RK... you rock dude!

[bender24]

i may be wrong, but once you have a limit of a certain species you are no longer supposed to target that species? Am i wrong on that one?

[RK]

Hi Bender -

I just called someone I know in Enforcement at the DNR to double-check that nothing has changed... Here's the deal:

As long as fish you catch are 'immediately released' you can fish all you want, even AFTER you have reduced a limit of a particular species to possession. What you CANNOT do is a.) reduce a fish of a species you already have a limit of to possession by putting it on a stringer, or in a basket or livewell or b.) cull or livewell sort fish that have already been reduced to possession once you have your limit of that species.

The meaning of 'immediate release' has always sort of been a gray area (for this and other issues) but that turn of phrase is being given a statutory definition during the current legislative session. Basically it is going to be defined as the amount of time necessary to unhook, identify, measure, or photograph (nice of them to put time for a photo in there) and return a fish to the water. Putting a fish on a stringer or in a livewell, or otherwise containing it, would be considered reducing it to possession.

So to Deitz's point made earlier - in a bass tourney, if you get your limit then go looking for a kicker, you're technically culling, which is a no-no. But you can catch and immediately release all you want...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[LipRipper49]

In a team tournament where a 2 person team we can weigh 8 bass, we can catch our "tournament limit" of 8 and still go looking for a kicker, and sort out a small fish if we catch one. However if we put your "legal limit" of 12 bass in the livewell at one time we would not be able to sort any further. Sidenote: in most tournaments it is against the rules to have more than the "tournament limit" in your livewell at one time.