Culling

[Phil Lilley]

Our MDC agent confirmed.  Here's my email to him:

Culling.  I know it's illegal with trout.  I know it's illegal for bass unless you're fishing in a sanctioned bass tournament.

How about crappie, whites, walleye and such?  All game fish, culling is illegal, right?

 

Once it's in your livewell, it counts toward your limit.  You can release any fish out of the livewell but you can't replace it, right?

 

His reply - "Correct".

[DADAKOTA]

If you don't have a limit in your well you are releasing not culling.

[lmt out]

 

Our MDC agent confirmed.  Here's my email to him:

Culling.  I know it's illegal with trout.  I know it's illegal for bass unless you're fishing in a sanctioned bass tournament.

How about crappie, whites, walleye and such?  All game fish, culling is illegal, right?

 

Once it's in your livewell, it counts toward your limit.  You can release any fish out of the livewell but you can't replace it, right?

 

His reply - "Correct".

That's good to hear cause we released 3 of our 8 walleye limit yesterday and took 5 home.  We had 11 keepers and took 5 home at the end of the day.

[fishinwrench]

Clear as mud.   

So as long as you end the day with one fish short of a limit, you can do all of the culling you want ? 

Otherwise once you release a fish from your livewell you shouldn't put another one in there for the rest of the day.   No way to enforce that unless an agent is in the boat with them all day, so it's kinda redundant I guess.

[Old plug]

I cannot remember the last time I put a fish in a live well. If I want to I will take a picture of the fish. 

[Phil Lilley]

Just saying... that's what the code is.

An agent would have to be watching... and counting, yep.  That's what they've done here on Taney. 

If you put a fish on a stringer, in a basket or in a livewell, it counts toward your daily limit.

[fishinwrench]

I get a kick out of these bad-to-the-bone crappie guys around here that say they won't keep a crappie unless it's 12".

The funny (to me) part is that once filleted and fried there isn't a 3rd of a bite difference in the size of a 12"+ crappie fillet and the fillet from an 11 incher.  The 12+ just has a bigger head & tail.

[nomolites]

6 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I get a kick out of these bad-to-the-bone crappie guys around here that say they won't keep a crappie unless it's 12".

The funny (to me) part is that once filleted and fried there isn't a 3rd of a bite difference in the size of a 12"+ crappie fillet and the fillet from an 11 incher.  The 12+ just has a bigger head & tail.

I agree Wrench; the beautiful thing about LOZ is you CAN catch a limit of 12" or better crappie from now through June if that is what you want to do.  For my part if a crappie is over 11 it's usually going in the box and when I hit 15 I just change gears and go look for walleye or hybrids.

Mike

[Old plug]

 

I will second that. I just had a ball this evening with 10 inch males. Only 1 female and she was 13. When the mamas come in it is not hard at all. Live boxes have not had anything in them in year. Though I do have a live bo ,I do not keep more than a dozen at the most anymore over the whole season. I like them cleaned and fried within hours. So all Take are a  for lunch now and then. That practice has taught me what fressness is. Do not go for them after they been frozen

. 

 

[Ketchup]

They say if you have nothing good to say, then say nothing at all.  I will keep that quote in mind as I respond with my take on this "culling" thread.  

 

Culling has been around I'm sure as long as tournament fishing has been a sport.  Is culling detriment to fishing as a whole? I would say it has very little impact as a whole.  Is culling detriment to tournament bass fishing? Again I would so no. Yes it has an impact on a small number of fish, But the reality is that many bass are taken out and eaten every week on this lake and others like  it by the thousands of anglers out to catch food, and still they continue to produce. Catch-and-release has done wonders for this fishery and many like it. So has culling fish for the table.  

 The best measure, instead of listing that you hate culling, or tournament anglers in general, is to maybe spark up conversation about livewell care, handling fish even if you plan to return them within seconds with wet hands instead of dry hands, using a rubber net instead of a mesh net, using additives in the livewell to help with stress, only keeping what you can eat that day instead of bragging about your "limit" of big walleye or crappie you caught. These things not only apply to bass tournament anglers, but anglers of EVERY type.  You hooking an 8" bass down deep and yanking that hook out while he bleeds as you throw him overboard is no better then a tournament angler loosing a fish in the livewell.  

 Out of our 9 tournaments last year, I only know of 2 bass that were weak after weighin to where I wasn't certain they would make it, but yet they swam off.  Now what happens hours or days after I'm not sure, just as the non tourney guys aren't sure about the fish they release the days they fish.  

 This topic will be a debate amongst anglers as long as fishing is allowed.  Again, use your vast knowledge of fishing, and spread it in a positive manner by giving known facts about how to help fish "tournament or non-tournament guys" better care for what they catch.