On page 22 of my july-august Bassmasters magazine there is a statement that says Gov. Doyle signed legislation that allows culling for tournaments in WI. The tourneys have to pay out more than $500.00 and have more than 20 boats or 40 participants.
That’s Awesome!!! 
Not that I ever get too..lol 
What it did not say was that you have to apply for it for that tournament and that they are only allowing a certain number 
That’s not awesome and a whole lot of people around here are not happy about it.
I know this is a heated debate and will most likily cause some hard feelings however I am very happy this has been done. There have been people culling since day one in both walleye and bass tournaments on the river and a side note is that I have never seen it enforced on a lake system in either MN or WI. I would have been fine wither way all or none but prefer all. If there is a tragedy that is heading our way I just don’t see it.
jc
It’s for a trial period and rest assured it will not last.
Special privileges for certain groups of people is not cool in my book and alot of others.
No I don’t fish tournies and I’m not even a bass fisherman.
I agree w/ JC, this has been a heated discussion on an earlier thread, but i don’t see the problem…I’m sure you have your reasons,and i respect that, but nothing has concretely been shown to me to make me think culling is a bad thing.
You are correct, special interest groups should not get special treatment however if this does go well then open it completely up.
jc
I don’t want culling opened up for walleye.
I could care less about bass. They’re a dime a dozen here and can handle it better that walleye. But should not be only for some.
Ever see all the floaters after a walleye tourny? It’s bad enough without culling. Probably a big reason why I now have to tolerate an 18″ walleye limit here.
Nothing good comes from culling except to help inflate some egos.
Listen, those who are not happpy about this are NOT well informed!!! Look on any liciense and show me where it says you have kill what you catch. I am sick and tired of this debate! Wisc. finally realized what they had enbarked on( a long trail of lost revenue) I am glad they put a price tag on this. Simply put this is what it has been about all along. How many weekend anglers cut the heads off of nice Bass and Walleye, never to swim again. Fancy boats and tow vehicles started the show fast boats with poor judgement drivers fuel the show and fancy lake assoc. home owners found a legal way to slow down the tournament growth. Create a movement that seemed to have a legitament concern and stall. Make it seem as though it is a natural resource problem, shake some bushes, bring awareness to the public, mix in politics and WAALAA!! Issues!!! I applaud Wisc. use of the states power. PAY to PLAY. This will remove the riff-raff now. 
Did I mention I don’t like tournaments either.
Keep you money to home. We don’t need it.
I know you will never again see a tournament here.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to fish MY RIVER.
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Did I mention I don’t like tournaments either.
Keep you money to home. We don’t need it.
I know you will never again see a tournament here.Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to fish MY RIVER.
Ray I take it you don’t like your job. I say that based on the info you put in your profile. “A fishing resort and baitshop manager.”
I’m sorry but your j.o.b. depends on our $$$. We do as much as we can to keep fish and the fishery thriving.
BTW, I hate to burst your bubble, but it’s NOT YOUR river. 
I hope you enjoy your day.
Ray,
what makes any body of water more YOURS than MINE? Cause you own a resort? doubt it. I live in WI, pay Taxes in WI, and have the right to fish anywhere in WI i choose. You’re being selfish in my mind.
Question on culling. I assume the law reads that you can return living fish and if the fish was dead it must be counted as a daily bag and not “eligible” to be culled?
Mossboss, I believe you are 100% correct on not being able to cull a dead fish and this is usually made very clear if culling is allowed by that peticular tournament.
MossBoss, this is the question that turned the tide toward culling. Remember culling has been associated with tournament fishing where as catch and release is for the sophisticated weekend angler. There is no specific reg that details releasing a fish after posession alive or dead. When speaking to the lawmakers in the great state of Wisc. the realization of posession limits and creel limits were to vague. I pointed out what should you do if you had your legal limit in the boat (let’s say, Bluegill) do you stop fishing or do you release everything else??? The dilema will always exist!! until the entire code is rewritten 
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Nothing good comes from culling except to help inflate some egos.
This is where your Way off…
Yes culling would make our tournament more competitive and even the playing field, but lets take a look at the BIG picture.
What this will ultimately do is get a major FLW or BASS tournament up north here where our fisheries are seen by outsiders as “Walleye” waters. We will be on center stage and people all around the country will get to see how great the fishing is up here. This is exactly what we need to open the doors to unlimited possibilities.
In 10 years when people are talking about bassfishing the may be saying; Texas, Florida, Alabama, Minnesota and Wisconsin?
JHall
Thanks. I think it would be a good clarification to make, as it is much tougher to make an argument against letting a live healthy fish go than it would be against dumping a stone dead fish over the side. I would also say competative bass anglers are THE most careful people around when it comes to keeping their catch alive and well.
The only argument that makes much sense to me against culling is that someone keeping a limit of fish for the pan would keep “upping” the size of their fish if they caught more. If these fish were kept alive in a livewell through, not hung on a stringer or flopped in a cooler, I don’t really see a problem with that either I guess. And violaters will violate regardless.
I would like to hear the arguments on how culling would be so detrimental to a fish population. What did the people against the issue have for reasoning at the hearings you went to?
you guys need to lay off ray. He’s entitled to his opinion too. I can understand where your coming from, but if your just gonna knock on the guy, he’s only going to not want to hear and understand your side that much more. It’s his river, and it’s yours also. Resort owners don’t have it as easy as a lot of people think. If your old enough to remember the start of the spearing in Vilas county, Wi., and what happened with the resorts up there when the bag limits decreased, you might be able to understand his concern. I used to fish that area a lot, and a good number of resorts are no more or are struggling. If you want to get him and others on your side, take the time to listen to them. Hear and try to understand them. Think about what you say to them and how you’d feeel if someone said that to you. He won’t change his ideas if you attack them or him. If you beleive what you say, tell him why you think your right in a way you won’t offend him, providing thats possible.
My last response was in response to the brainless post about “weeding out the riff raff”.
What makes you think you’re any more special or any better a fisherman than anyone else? Because you fish for money?
I hate to break this to you but my business has absolutely nothing to do with tournament anglers nor does it depend on you in any way, shape, or form. In fact, you would hurt my business.
How would I benefit from your tourny?
By you buying your tackle at the bass pro shops and coming here to fish and cull on top of it?
I don’t think so. The locals here would run you out of town. If you’re lucky they’d let you hook your boats up first.
Have a nice day.
Oh yeah, you think too highly of yourself if you think by you coming here and catching fish will influence people any more than the average fisherman catching fish and posting reports.
Most of my guests would not appreciate one bit you coming here and racing up and down the river to see who can catch the biggiest fish first. Quite the opposite.
there are advantages of getting a bass or a flw tournament in your area but there are dis advantages also
first the advantages from what i seen over the weekend at pdc motel rooms up there arent cheap but with the amout of fishermen that this area brings in we still pay the rates to stay there
also every one in our bass club usually goes to cabelas and starks on our journeys there so the bait shops benefit from bass fisherman also
then you add in the resturants and the gas stations and tournament anglers are a very lucritive to a towns economy
now for the bad things i believe the year was 1993 there was a superstars bass tournament out of peoria illinois and again in 94 before these tournaments the illinois river was a little known to people not from the area well not afterwards more and more tourneys were held and the fishing has went way down hill
some of this has come from land owners blocking off there back water lakes others have came from fishing pressure that was never seen before
in illinois there seems to be 2 diffrent sets of rules some for the illinois river and some for the mississippi river this has brewed alot of contraversy
now for the culling thing acording to the head of the illinois dnr iowa is also a no cull state but no one knows it cause its not inforced its an old law that dates back to the days of stringers where just about all fish on stringers were thrown back dead for a bigger one
some one said illinois is a no cull state unless in a permited tournoment
just a little info
dusty taylor
cooker,
I am willing to listen to anybody who has true information to back up their statements. Spearing is not the issue here but I can see why Ray is upset about it cause it all goes back to “a seperate set of rules for a seperate group of people. If Ray would just do a little research instead of just shooting the idea down because “he dosent like tournaments”, he would see that this is clearly not the same as spearing. Im not attacking anyone but feel that Ray is attacking me as a tournament angler without any real reason why eccept he thinks we are wrong. This is my last post on this subject.
JHall
Come on Ray, slow down and take a deap breath….A fishing tourny would not hurt your buisiness, if you had open cabins at the time of the tourny they would fill’em (unless you would discriminate against them soley on the fact that they are tournament fisherman and turn away buisiness) and probably spend money on food, drinks, etc… Also I would bet that those fishermen and women at your resort also cull (or should we say catch and release for more or bigger fish). I see on your website there are some nice pics of big fish from fishermen staying at your resort (were they released, eaten, or mounted) if they were brought in for pics and then released I bet they were not in tanks or bags or possibly even in a livewell. And lastly would the good citizens of Sauk City really run you out of town or maybe “pick a fight” (are we in 1rst grade here)because you get in a few tournys here and there and one just happened to be on the Wisconsin River. Also the pics of the boats used by your clients are as big or bigger than mine so I’m assuming they can race up and down the river just as I would do. Most tournament anglers are conservasionist first and tournament anglers second, they have the fishes best interest in mind…a dead fish only hurts them ask JC. Lets discuss this logically and not make comments based on emotion. 
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The locals here would run you out of town. If you’re lucky they’d let you hook your boats up first.
WOW! WHO’S BASHING WHO?
The next time I take the boy out for the weekend and he says, “I bet I catch a bigger one than you do”, I’ll remember to say, “AT LEAST NOT AT RAYS RESORT YOU WON’T”!
RELAX! Life is short.
– d-nort
All,
This post has been diverted several times based on our opinions of tournaments and the heat of the moment. I don’t want this discussion to further polarize groups of sportsman. We all are entitled to our views but we all are outdoors advocates who’s numbers are shrinking. The day may come where resort owners and tournament fisherman have to unite to fight a much bigger battle. Lets not let this discussion get out of hand.
Hey!cowboy, understand the nature of the POST! I spend alot of $ in the state of Wisc. I enjoy it because the people of this state still seem to care about where they live and what it looks like! All tournaments are not the same, The “riff-raff” I referred to was those organizations who could give a crap about Wisc., it’s citizens or the resourses that make this state great. I would like to humbly suggest you find your establishment a P.R. director that can relay the numbers to you. You will find considerable revenue increases to your business and surrounding business. If you would like to learn more about how to make money in the fishing industry talk to J.C. he is one of the most knowledgable individuals without true bais. 
Hey cowboy. I pay taxes and I bet a lot more than you.
Everyone here spends money and pays taxes.
What makes you so special that you shouldn’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else?
Now sit down.
JHall your right. Ray, take a deep breath and listen to what they are saying. You could all win.
It’s not that I don’t necessarily like the sport of tournaments. I’ve fished a few walleye tournaments back in the day just for the heck of it.
I don’t like the attitudes I see go with it far too often. I see it here on this thread right now.
I don’t need it here.
You are no better than the average fisherman to me.
Had a couple tourny guys pull in a couple months ago to “practice”. Asked if they could launch which I let them do free of charge I might add.
One of them had the nerve to tell me he could by this or that cheaper at Gander.
Almost told him to go launch his boat at Gander too.
Everone knows the depth of a shallow stream!!! Making assumptions is a very fruitless endeavor especially when anonymity is invovled. good luck in your pursuits!!
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