Anglers Continue To Catch Fish on a Hot Bite Once A Limit is Achieved

riverbassman wrote:

I talked with the Warden I work with and law in Wisconsin and as it is illegal to keep targeting that species once yu have a limit, it is extremely hard for him to present a case for the local D.A. to prosecute as how do you prove you weren’t targeting northern (assuming you have a limit of eyes). That being said, he looks at intent. If you are taking a picture of every walleye, holding it out of the water, measuring, etc. he would make contact with you and push it further (looking for self incrimination). he said if you simply caught another walleye, immediately unhook and threw back he would most likely look the other way.

I’d like to see in the regs where it states this. I can’t find it anywhere. What I can see in the WI regs is (per pg 16):

The total daily bag limit is the maximum number of fish that an angler may reduce to his/her possession in one day from all waters fished for that day.

KPE wrote:

Am I the only one reading the statement correctly?

“Caught limits AND released 100” is a whole lot different than “caught limits THEN released 100 more”. The author makes no indication as to having caught a limit then continued fishing. This statement is ambiguous and could simply mean it took them 100 catches to reach their limit.

Also even culling is legal in MN provided you aren’t already at your limit. See the current MN regs book, Page 32.

Nope.

Well, if the bite is that hot, maybe keep one less, until its time to go home.

Matt Moen wrote:

I was thinking more LOTW when guys are pulling them out of 35’. You don’t hear much about issues there.

I have fished in 33ft on LOW in the winter and can say it is an issue, reeling up super slow when you know it’s not going in the bucket is important but won’t completely stop it from happening.

John Rasmussen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>
I was thinking more LOTW when guys are pulling them out of 35’. You don’t hear much about issues there.

I have fished in 33ft on LOW in the winter and can say it is an issue, reeling up super slow when you know it’s not going in the bucket is important but won’t completely stop it from happening.

Just avoid those areas and the crowds that go there. I always wonder why the mass majority go so deep to catch 12 inch sauger and walleye.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Just avoid those areas and the crowds that go there. I always wonder why the mass majority go so deep to catch 12 inch sauger and walleye.

for a lot of the people on that lake (especially the resorts) its a numbers game. They’d rather catch 50 fish a day with most being small saugers versus fishing shallower and catching fewer but much bigger average size. Plus the big ones you get in shallow aren’t keepers and the resorts want their customers to bring home limits.

Gitchi, check out pages 10-11 for Wisconsin

You cannot cull in Wisconsin (with the exception of special permitted bass tournaments)

You cannot “take, catch, kill OR FISH FOR” (aka target) any variety of species after your daily or possession limit has been met (of that species).

^^^ again in Wisconsin

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Oh lord! We can’t have people having fun catching fish. Better contact your legislators soon, they could probably shoehorn in some more regulations into the book before session ends.

ajw wrote:

Oh lord! We can’t have people having fun catching fish. Better contact your legislators soon, they could probably shoehorn in some more regulations into the book before session ends.

No one has said people can’t have fun catching fish. Nor are we look to enact new laws. It is a open exchange of thinking regarding the sport of fishing.

My wife and I live on the West side of a decent multi-species lake including walleyes. Within a hour a dozen or so walleye panfish lakes that have had many good trips. Grew up in family that never wasted game and fish. Walleyes and crappies are what I fish close to my home. Fish caught in deep water are kept. If I get on a hot bite catch and keep the fish (we) want. I like to move catch a few fish at one spot move to another to see what the bites is on another spot also. Fishing to me is like hunting, very enjoyable. Most of my walleyes are 15″-18″ with an occasional 20-22″ walleye a perfect size for a couple of recipes my wife and I like. Hooking mortality waste is kept to minimum so sitting on a spot catching and releasing 100 crappies after a limit is kept is a practice will not do. I believe as we are better educated fisherman comes respect for the resource. As we see new tech comes responsibility. Harvesting fish and game is important to management of the resource. Certainly, released fish have a better chance of surviving but let’s not diminish the importance of harvest as we see more anglers becoming catch and release only. Stock piling game and fish has shown time and time again that it does not work. We need to listen to our fishery biologists for their lead. This may not sit or fit for you.

I usually stop if I reach my goal. On big trips like Red opener we cruise around 1 short until we are ready to quite just to be safe. Culling? Perhaps.

Gary Korsgaden wrote:

Hooking mortality waste is kept to minimum so sitting on a spot catching and releasing 100 crappies after a limit is kept is a practice will not do.

Is it fair to assume you would feel the same about sitting in one spot and releasing 120 crappies as you do about sitting in one spot and keeping 20, but also releasing 100?

Bearcat89 wrote:

Just avoid those areas and the crowds that go there. I always wonder why the mass majority go so deep to catch 12 inch sauger and walleye.

It was where the sleeper was parked that we rented, and at that time was not set up to be portable.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
Just avoid those areas and the crowds that go there. I always wonder why the mass majority go so deep to catch 12 inch sauger and walleye.

for a lot of the people on that lake (especially the resorts) its a numbers game. They’d rather catch 50 fish a day with most being small saugers versus fishing shallower and catching fewer but much bigger average size. Plus the big ones you get in shallow aren’t keepers and the resorts want their customers to bring home limits.

Oh no, we get all our keepers plus big fish shallower.
It’s just easier for the resorts to keep putting people deep and have a guaranteed bite. People pay 500 a day to catch 12 inch fish so why not.
Not my cup of tea but that’s fine. Only takes a little extra to find a decent bite up there.

John Rasmussen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Bearcat89 wrote:</div>
Just avoid those areas and the crowds that go there. I always wonder why the mass majority go so deep to catch 12 inch sauger and walleye.

It was where the sleeper was parked that we rented, and at that time was not set up to be portable.

That’s why we never do rentals up there.

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I think I’m more confused than before.
If you happen to catch fish. STOP you shouldn’t catch a bunch. If I told my 8 year old he we are catching a bunch of fish we need to move to another spot. He would never fish again.

Bringing fish up slowly out of deep water improves the odds they will swim back down the hole faster than when they came up. That has solved our problem on LOTW on hot bite days.

I’m with ripjiggen here. Confused.
I don’t eat fish, I just catch and release. I see it as no different than all those people who play on grass and spend too much time on one spot and kill it. Primarily bass fish and never deep for what it’s worth. The biggest takeaway for me is being out and about in nature.
Interesting reading all of this.

Brittman wrote:

Bringing fish up slowly out of deep water improves the odds they will swim back down the hole faster than when they came up. That has solved our problem on LOTW on hot bite days.

Safe & Responsible Catch & Release Fishing

Umy wrote:

I’m with ripjiggen here. Confused.
I don’t eat fish, I just catch and release. I see it as no different than all those people who play on grass and spend too much time on one spot and kill it. Primarily <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass fish and never deep for what it’s worth. The biggest takeaway for me is being out and about in nature.
Interesting reading all of this.

Confused sorry this is hard to understand. Delayed mortality is a issue and comes up with walleye for the sake of discussion lets refer to walleyes Research has been done that shows using a live bait and a hook delayed mortality percentages goes up. Add warm water conditions delated mortality percentages go up significantly as high as 20%. So for the sake of easy math 100 walleyes caught and released could result in 20 fish not making it due to delayed mortality. Not talking bass or northern pike. Crappies are susceptible to barotrauma, caught in deep water as high as 100%
https://www.bing.com/search?q=walleye+delayed+mortality&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgcIARBFGMIDMgcIABBFGMIDMgcIARBFGMIDMgcIAhBFGMIDMgcIAxBFGMIDMgcIBBBFGMIDMgcIBRBFGMIDMgcIBhBFGMIDMgcIBxBFGMID0gEJOTMwNzhqMGo5qAIIsAIB&FORM=ANAB01&PC=ACTS

Ripjiggen wrote:

I think I’m more confused than before.
If you happen to catch fish. STOP you shouldn’t catch a bunch. If I told my 8 year old he we are catching a bunch of fish we need to move to another spot. He would never fish again.

I have worked on youth fishing programs both in and out of the classroom for 50 plus years. Some of the first ones at Camp Fish. Which were a mix of classroom and on the water. When kids realized the opportunity to move to another spot and try for different species or learn a different spot even while still catching. Were eager to do so.

So, if read you correctly, you’re ok to continue fishing after getting a limit example: deep water or if conditions increase delayed mortality or barotrauma and crappies through the ice caught out of deep water.

Catch a bunch of fish. Just trying to bring some awareness that dependent on conditions not all fish survive, and delayed mortality is real. Do you agree?

https://www.bing.com/search?q=walleye+delayed+mortality&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgcIARBFGMIDMgcIABBFGMIDMgcIARBFGMIDMgcIAhBFGMIDMgcIAxBFGMIDMgcIBBBFGMIDMgcIBRBFGMIDMgcIBhBFGMIDMgcIBxBFGMID0gEJOTMwNzhqMGo5qAIIsAIB&FORM=ANAB01&PC=ACTS

True, there are some that agree with you. A compliment to you for being aware and trying. Fizzing walleyes was a hot practice for tournament anglers, thought to improve fish released survival. Today some say it doesn’t work.

i try not to cull especially when fish deep water for crappie

Thanks to each of you for your exchange of ideas. We all enjoy fishing for different reasons and results No easy solutions or is there a perfect world…one size doesn’t fit all…

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Gary Korsgaden wrote:</div>
There is a certain percentage of fish that don’t survive due to hooking mortality and how the fish is handled before released and the length it is out of the water before released. Hard to determine as it depends on the situation again how its handled. This is called hooking mortality.

Hooking Mortality exists, obviously, but it does not have an impact on fish populations. There is a reason the DNR does not use it anywhere besides Mille Lacs and it’s boondoggle of “co”-management.

How about this Gary, my 7 year old and 4 year old catch sunnies off the dock all weekend long at the cabin, we keep some, sometimes even a limit, should they have to quit fishing? Or when they are only catching dinks, how many should they be able to CnR before having to quit? I think we probably agree on the answer to those questions. And the rules should not differ for anyone else imo.

How does hooking mortality doesn’t impact fish populations? If we reduce hooking mortality more fish survive, isn’t it like reducing limits? Help me understand.

Gary Korsgaden wrote:

#2316058
Thanks to each of you for your exchange of ideas. We all enjoy fishing for different reasons and results No easy solutions or is there a perfect world…one size doesn’t fit all…

Gary, thanks for your insight. I agree with all that you have said 100%.

nord wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Gary Korsgaden wrote:</div>
#2316058
Thanks to each of you for your exchange of ideas. We all enjoy fishing for different reasons and results No easy solutions or is there a perfect world…one size doesn’t fit all…

Gary, thanks for your insight. I agree with all that you have said 100%.

Thank you for reading….appreciate your support…Gary