Culling rule for those who don't know.

[Dirtracer35]

From July 1 through Aug. 31, no angler in Missouri may release bass after putting them in a live well.

JEFFERSON CITY-If you think summer is uncomfortable for you, put yourself in a fishs place. Your home heats up, oxygen gets scarce, and there is no air (or water) conditioning or fans to turn on. That is why Missouri fishing regulations prohibit anglers from culling during July and August.

Culling is the practice of releasing one fish that was caught previously so you can keep a larger one. When anglers put the last fish of their daily limit in a live well, they no longer can keep any fish of that species that day. However, under certain conditions, anglers fishing in tournaments can continue to fish if they stop one fish short of a limit and release a living fish from their live well before replacing it with a fish they just caught. This allows them to trade up, replacing one fish with a larger one.

Tournament bass anglers may cull live bass from September through June. July and August are the months the no culling rule applies. The rule is meant to reduce the number of tournament caught bass that are subject to higher mortality during the hot summer months. The rule also heightens tournament anglers awareness of the factors that influence fish mortality.

Missouris limit on black bass is six per day. This includes any bass that are not released immediately, whether they are in live wells for one minute or for eight hours. Once you placed a sixth bass in your live well you may not replace any of the bass with another. However, if you are fishing in a tournament in which the limit is five bass, and you have five bass in the live well, you can replace one fish, one time.

If a bass dies in your live well it cannot be replaced with a live one, any time. If you have caught your sixth legal bass and have placed all six fish in your live well for any length of time, you can continue fishing but you must release any bass caught immediately, regardless of size.

[fishinwrench]

Clear as mud.

[J.M.]

Why do tournament fishermen get to cull and the rest don't?

[Quillback]

Need to call an attorney to explain that rule.

I believe the one fish can be culled in a tournament only is in effect for tournaments with a 5 fish limit.

[zarraspook]

Why do tournament fishermen get to cull and the rest don't?

Because 99.999999999999% of all bass tournaments can only weight in 5 fish ( one fish below the Missouri daily limit ) ..

Therefore, if they NEVER have 6 fish in their live well -- and they are with the tournament and Missouri legal limits......

[fishinwrench]

Cracks me up that they open up by saying....

From July 1 through Aug. 31, No angler in Missouri may release bass after putting them in a live well.

"No angler"? I think that needed a *

And you can only cull ONCE ? That one I did NOT know. Really ?

[jbeenemd]

Why do tournament fishermen get to cull and the rest don't?

The way I understand it the culling rule is for EVERYONE during July and August. Both sport fishermen an those in a tournament.

[MOPanfisher]

Why would it need an asterisk since during the month of July and August it applies to every fisherman, tournament or not. And I did not know you could only cull one fish either. But I don't fish tournaments.

[fishinwrench]

It needs an asterisk because there ARE exceptions. And because there is a PERIOD at the end of the statement.

The "live well" terminology is sketchy also. Can't release from a "live well", but a bucket is OK ?

Yeah I get it....but not everyone that fishes knows what a livewell is, do they?

[MOPanfisher]

Out of curiosity what are the exceptions as I didnt see any listed.