AGE?

What is the official age when you can legally have a line out for your kid or keep a limit for your kid?
Is there any exact age requirement? 4,5,6???

My understanding is if the kid can handle the rod and bring in the fish that’s it but I am not sure. It makes sense anyway

Good question that I’ll be keeping an eye on. Considering my son was born last June I won’t be happy with any answer older than 10 months

bigpike wrote:

My understanding is if the kid can handle the rod and bring in the fish that’s it but I am not sure. It makes sense anyway

We got stopped once when my son was 4. The dnr gave him a high 5 and said I hope you get em. I’m not sure on the correct answer

I kept a limit of eyes for him before my boy was walking…… warden at boat launch never commented. Ymmv

bigpike wrote:

My understanding is if the kid can handle the rod and bring in the fish that’s it but I am not sure. It makes sense anyway

I believe this is more or less correct. don’t think its an age thing but if the line is out the kid needs to be able to prove to the DNR agent that he is “manning the line” and can handle it.

I’ve never read of any age limit either, but morally I think once they’re old enough to fish is right.

My boys were catching walleyes, cohos and lakers on lead core at two years old, so it’s a pretty short window

It would be nice to have a solid answer, but I imagine your question of fishing and limits are two different ones. I had my kids fishing when they were 2. Often I had to help them reel in the brief moments I wasn’t untangling lines and such. Most times I can only deal with one line per kid, but sometimes I would have a bobber out for myself. We did not keep any fish, and I can’t imagine the dnr giving me trouble. If however I had a limit of walleyes for a two year old that needed assistance, I could see a grouchy guy giving me problems.

I concur with b-man 100%. I spoke to a warden about my 1 y/o on the ice about putting tip ups out for her. He said that they should be old enough to reel or pull the fish in by themselves to warrant a line for them or a limit.

However, in your home, you should be able to possess a limit for everyone.

biggill wrote:

I concur with b-man 100%. I spoke to a warden about my 1 y/o on the ice about putting tip ups out for her. He said that they should be old enough to reel or pull the fish in by themselves to warrant a line for them or a limit.

However, in your home, you should be able to possess a limit for everyone.

^^^ This is the best answer so far and with the added caveat regarding the possession limit at home.

I cannot find a specific regulation requiring a child can hold their own rod, but I don’t believe you can double your limit if you have a baby in a bassinette with you.

That which is a strange wrinkle is that once you leave with your personal limit, you can still have a limit at home for the baby and any other family members in the household.

Thanks for the info.
I read the Reg. book searching for an answer in the South Dakota regs as well as Minnesota couldn’t find anything on it either. I only fish Mille Lacs in MN so keeping fish isnt a issue for that situation. But It would be nice to throw couple extra bobbers out or a couple more trolling lines with out feeling like I was being illegal while on the pond. I got a 4.5 and 2 year old… so according to yours guys experience I shouldn’t have any problems.

4.5 year old is good to go in my opinion. 2 is pretty questionable.

If I remember correctly when I asked the warden, the term he used was participation or participate. If they can actively participate, they are ok.

This is all subjective opinion. I’d hate for you to find out the hard way.

It doesnt much matter, the amount of time the 2 year old will be on the boat is minimal anyways so its no big deal. But throwing a line in off the dock for a 2 year old seems like common place.
But Ive always wondered why not just say “3 you have to be 3” instead of the grey area. Interesting that a 2 year old couldn’t have a line out but is able to posses fish at home also.

biggill wrote:

2 is pretty questionable.

If the kid is interested and trying there is absolutely nothing questionable about it and I can guarantee any DNR in MN will agree on that.

My son reeled in his own limit of walleye @ 18-20months…

As long as you can prove it isn’t your extra line which means.

When asked by the CO which is his, he can point to it if he’s not holding it. (most cases this is enough)

Speaking from experience with two different MN CO’s.

Joe Scegura wrote:

If the kid is interested and trying there is absolutely nothing questionable about it and I can guarantee any DNR in MN will agree on that.

My son reeled in his own limit of walleye @ 18-20months…

I’m not sure why you felt it necessary to pull that part of my quote out when the rest of my post is in agreement.

sktrwx2200 wrote:

It doesnt much matter, the amount of time the 2 year old will be on the boat is minimal anyways so its no big deal. But throwing a line in off the dock for a 2 year old seems like common place.
But Ive always wondered why not just say “3 you have to be 3” instead of the grey area. Interesting that a 2 year old couldn’t have a line out but is able to posses fish at home also.

I’m thinking in terms of a trolling rod that a 2 year old is going to struggle with holding on dry land. How are they going to participate in reeling in a fish?

B-man showed pretty decisively that his kids can.

I think the Dnr leaves it grey so that it allows for all children that can participate to actually fish rather than waiting it out until a certain milestone.

I think the issue comes if you go out on Mille Lacs with 2 or 3 kids under 3 so you can troll with a bunch of extra lines.

BigGill- You mean to tell me a 2 year old cant handle a 12 ft leadcore rod with a planner board with a 27″ walleye on it going 2.5 mph in 3 foot waves????

Only kidding. SBC is rigging my new boat as we speak so I cant wait to get out. Thanks for the input gentlemen.

I called dnr and was told that I could put lines out for my 2 year old as long as he was paying attention/participating to what was going on. No sleeping in shelter, etc.

Joe Scegura wrote:

My son reeled in his own limit of walleye @ 18-20months…

That’s nothing…In WI this past fall, my 18 month old shot his second buck!

ClownColor wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Scegura wrote:</div>
My son reeled in his own limit of walleye @ 18-20months…

That’s nothing…In WI this past fall, my 18 month old shot his second buck!