These are not gigged bass

[Chief Grey Bear]

39 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

Can you get me an official statement from the MDC regarding accidental misidentification?

An official statement??

 

[Mitch f]

4 minutes ago, Chief Grey Bear said:

An official statement??

 

Yes, a copy of the email, in a .jpg or .bmp file showing the response from your request.

[Chief Grey Bear]

My request?

[SpoonDog]

The Wildlife Code is prescriptive, you can't do anything which isn't explicitly stated.  Gigging sportfish is explicitly prohibited in the Code, there's nothing that excuses giggers from properly identifying their target, and I know I've read the blurbs in the little reg books about not gigging hellbenders and making sure you know what you're harvesting.  When agents are willing to issue citations to folks who don't know the difference between smallmouth and largemouth, or brown trout and rainbows, it seems unlikely they're gonna give someone who mistakes a smallie for a sucker a pass, and I've never heard an agent actually say that.  Have you?

[Mitch f]

3 minutes ago, SpoonDog said:

The Wildlife Code is prescriptive, you can't do anything which isn't explicitly stated.  Gigging sportfish is explicitly prohibited in the Code, there's nothing that excuses giggers from properly identifying their target, and I know I've read the blurbs in the little reg books about not gigging hellbenders and making sure you know what you're harvesting.  When agents are willing to issue citations to folks who don't know the difference between smallmouth and largemouth, or brown trout and rainbows, it seems unlikely they're gonna give someone who mistakes a smallie for a sucker a pass, and I've never heard an agent actually say that.  Have you?

Just one on one conversations with agents, I'm curious what their response will be. I would hope it's exactly as you are saying. 

[MOPanfisher]

While I agree that I would love to giggers who target illegal species  busted and hung out to dry, I don't think that it is a limiting issue for smallmouth bass in mo, any more than some harvest of bass in impoundment is a limiting factor.  I would love to see some giggers busted, I know several giggers who have been checked by agents but those never make the news.  Groups who set up on the gravel bar for a fish fry are very likely to get checked.  I know people who have been checked and had an illegal fish they didn't want to throw away so they kept it, boom, ticket.  I don't know any agents personally who would not issue a ticket for an illegal fish.  Heck just a couple months ago there was a bust publicized in Polk county, bass and catfish.

[Mitch f]

42 minutes ago, MOPanfisher said:

I don't think that it is a limiting issue for smallmouth bass in mo, any more than some harvest of bass in impoundment is a limiting factor.

 

  I don't know any agents personally who would not issue a ticket for an illegal fish. 

You don't know that it's not a limiting issue, but I've seen it with my own eyes, and I'm one of many.

 

They will for sure issue a citation if the person keeps the fish. I'm asking whether they would write a ticket for mistaken identity, when the guy throws the dead bass back and doesn't keep it.

[SpoonDog]

28 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

They will for sure issue a citation if the person keeps the fish. I'm asking whether they would write a ticket for mistaken identity, when the guy throws the dead bass back and doesn't keep it.

Yes, because whether you keep it or not you still gigged the fish, and gigging sport fish is illegal.

[Smallieguy87]

16 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Boy they're good at it too.  Stuck every one of them right on the dorsal.  

Whoever did that gets alot of practice, so he should know the difference between a sucker and a bass by now.

I used to gig the big river every season. I never had trouble telling the difference between what I should and should not gig. If the water is a bit to murky,silty, whatever you'd like to call it then you need to move a long plain and simple.

[Chief Grey Bear]

3 hours ago, Mitch f said:

Yes, a copy of the email, in a .jpg or .bmp file showing the response from your request.

I'm still not sure what you are getting at. 

Did I request something from the MDC?