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DNR Question


chisago_fishman

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interesting question....If you call the DNR, talk to several CO's, you will get different opinions, guaranteed!!!

I believe it IS NOT ILLEGAL to cpr after keeping your limit, because it doesn't say that it is illegal!......However "some" CO's like to "add things in" , and "look for" things to catch you on. (I won't get into their reasons at all) "Some fishermen"..."look for" ways to stretch the law. That is where things get interesting...... crazy

If you are a "stretch the rules" kind of guy...keep fishing cpr after keeping your limit...but be ready to answer to the "shrink the rule" kind of co, and take the consequences.

If you are like me, you can take the "aggressive" co out of the equation, by NOT keeping your last fish til you leave.

The same scenario is common for slot sizes....example: protected slot is 17-28 "....fisherman keeps 16 15/16 ".... CO measures fish "different" ,and says it is 17 1/8" illegal fish. Same fish..different view ,because they both want different results. My choice is to "take the co out of it" by NOT keeping anything over 16 1/2 ".

Your personality pretty much determines what you will do......... wink

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I think the CO's can generally write a ticket for anything they think is against the law. It is up to judges to interpret if the ticket was given justly.

While the CO should know every law he/she enforces, it sometimes is not possible to know how some laws should be interpreted.

I still think it is legal to C&R with a possessed limit.

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Dtro,

I agree...completely legal...BUT, the co the original poster saw obviously didn't agree. That really is my whole point....take the co out of it. What is he going to say...have to STOP fishing because "you MIGHT catch another one?" wink

Some of the enforcers don't really know what is going on sometimes, just like us in our own jobs. Hard to keep up to the minute on changes, laws, codes,etc. sometimes. Several years ago, opening of deer season, we pulled off the side of the road to park, very early morning. Another vehicle pulled up behind us....it was a deputy sheriff, who had NO CLUE deer season was opening that morning. I told him there would be LOTS of vehicles parking on the side of the road that morning....I say that, NOT to critisize the people whose job is enforcement, but to recommend we leave a little margin, for error.

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Props to you aanderud for giving this issue significant thought, transparent reasoning, and grounded thought experiments. Well written and presented.

That being said, the pragmatics of the issue are not as "rock solid". As others have mentioned, interpretation and enforcement of the law is subject to wild gradations. What is the original poster to do in his situation? Give the CO a lesson in the regs? Take the ticket, stop fishing, and battle it out in court? Take the ticket, continue fishing (confident he his right), and spend a night in jail?

This being a litigious society, it might take more than a few court cases to "clarify" the issue and change behavior.

Keep on.

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If chisago_fishman in his original post truly believed he was in the right then he should have done as Todd_J says. Take the ticket and prove the CO wrong. That's what I would do if I thought I was in the right. Take it through the courts, it's just time and money which is no big deal. I might think differently if it meant jail time but it won't, so challenge it. If you lose the first round you always have appeals. If your lawyer is worth the retaining fee your paying him he should be able to fix it so the DNR has to pay your court costs.

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Originally Posted By: Retired_on_OsakisThe definition is SPECIFIC to fishing. The definition applies to all wild game, and if you look up the definition of wild game you will see that it includes fish. Keep in mind that the Fishing Regulations Booklet you get with your license is only a snippet of the actual regulations put forth in the State Statutes and Rules. I'm not saying he can't accidentally hook a crappie, or you can't accidentally catch a walleye out of season and be in the wrong. That's not the intent of the regulation and will be brushed off by most CO's. Where he went wrong, if you read his post, is he admitted he was still catching and releasing crappies. This is illegal. It is done this way for your own protection because if you continue to fish after a limit you run the risk of having to violate a regulation even though you don't intend to. Using the previous example, he has his 10 fish but continues to fish for them. On the 15th fish he gut hooks it. Now he is stuck. He has no choice but to violate one of three regulations. If he throws it back knowing it won't survive, that is wanton waste. If he keeps it, he is over limit. If he keeps it and throws one of his other fish back so he is not over limit, that is culling. Take your pick, either way your BUSTED!

Retired,

According to your reasoning here, are you saying that if you keep one walleye over 20 inches you must stop fishing for walleyes at that point?

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Retired, According to your reasoning here, are you saying that if you keep one walleye over 20 inches you must stop fishing for walleyes at that point?

Great counter. Nicely played.

Just to add a bit more fuel to the fire... Is culling/sorting of possessed/caught fish allowed if one has yet to reach their possession limit?

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Originally Posted By: RiverFish
Retired, According to your reasoning here, are you saying that if you keep one walleye over 20 inches you must stop fishing for walleyes at that point?

Great counter. Nicely played.

Just to add a bit more fuel to the fire... Is culling/sorting of possessed/caught fish allowed if one has yet to reach their possession limit?

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I fought a ticket from the DNR in Wisconsin once. Its quite easy to do and its not a big ordeal at all. I won too, even though I was wrong. The campus police at UWRF tried to report me for fishing without a trout a stamp in the little crick in the back of the school. I got a ticket from the local conservation officer the following day. The law states that only an official government employed officer can report you to the conservation officer for a ticket, not some rent-a-cop campus police. I bought my stamp and fought the $150.00 ticket on this basis and won with no problems.

You don't need a lawyer to fight a minor incident like this, just like you don't need a lawyer to fight a traffic ticket or parking ticket. Most of the time they will overturn the ticket if you have solid logic/reasoning.

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