Here is the answer I got from Rick Nelson…………….
It is illegal to cull on the Wisconsin-Minnesota border waters, and it
is illegal to do so both at bass and walleye tournaments on the river.
Once a fish is reduced to possession, e.g. put in the livewell, it
cannot be released to replace it with another fish. Each permit we
issue on border waters explicitly prohibits culling, as does current
regulations.
Regarding possession limits during tournaments, the DNR can stipulate
more restrictive limits than the current water regulations, but we
cannot liberalize them (e.g., removing the 15″ minimum). Since the
walleye-sauger possession limit on the river is six fish per angler,
but
the tournament rules (and permit) stipulate a lower limit, e.g. five
fish, possession of more than five fish in this case would be an
over-limit violation since the permit limit supersedes the water limit.
In some cases, we have permitted tournaments to have a boat limit
larger than the number allowed for weigh in. The example was given of
a
walleye tournament that allowed possession of seven fish, but the
tournament stipulated only five could be weighed-in. This does not
conflict with the culling rule, since once the anglers have reduced
seven fish to possession, they cannot cull. They are going to
live-release all seven fish, but only weigh five. I hope you can see
the distinction.
Any permitted Minnesota tournament on the border waters in which the
tournament director is telling the anglers that culling does not apply
is in violation of their permit, and could be subject to denial of
future permits.
Thanks,
Rick
Hope this helps Mike.
