Culling laws..

Can anyone point me to the actual regulations on culling in MN and WI. I can’t find the actual law nor the definition anywhere.
jc

See Page 47-48 of the Minnesota Regulations. The link here will take you to the Mn DNR site. You can view the reg book there. You will need Adobe Reader.

Minnesota DNR

Of course, I’m referring to the Minnesota/Wisconsin border water rules that apply to the Mississippi River.

Jon J.

Direct from the MN and the WI border laws…

“It is illegal to cull fish that have been reduced to possession.”

My favorite…

“Fish hooked in any part of the body except the mouth must be returned to the water immediately.”

So much for throwing my muskie gear with teh large treble hooks at those bass you can see in the spring that won’t bite…

JC,
I think that WI just has a possession rule that is in the general fishing regs at the following link. http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/water/fhp/fish/regspdf/hook03/hook03.pdf We don’t have a specific culling rule that I know of, we simply cannot cull legally.

Well,
I just pent the better part of 3 hours going over all the available data and have come to the conclusion that…
As the law ready, You can cull until you have reached you possesion limit. the law if very vague in many aspect which would make this enforcable either way in the eyes of the person doing the inforcing however the MN dnr regs define culling, define possesion, and define tournament regs clearly and in doing so state that culling is defined as upgrading or sorting through your limit. Limit defined as having the maximum number of fish being caught. Thus us you do not have your limit you can toss smaller fish back when larger fish have been caught as long as at any time you do not have in your possesion the maximum number of total fish. I know this seems to defeat the purpose of the laws in my opinion but the lowers that wrote this were either wanting to allow you to toss small fish back and wrote the law to allow this or were catering to tournament fisherman. I think (my opinion) that itr was written to allow you to toss back small legal fish but in specifying this as part of the culling regulation have allowed us to cull as many fish as we want as long as we only have 3 currently in the livewell.
I would sure like to hear from someone who is either enforcing the law or has extensive experience in its interpretation.
jc

I’ve seen it interpreted in the following… if it hits your livewell it counts against your limit in MN. You can cull it out if you want, but it still counts towards your limit. Every fall I see guys get it for culling walleyes up to Red Wing and they get hammered for upgrading. I’ve gone over this with CO’s and they tell me that at the strictest level, even that big fish I put in my livewell long enough only to ready the camera counts towards my daily limit even though it is eventually released. If that’s not the way it reads in lawyer-speak, well, the guys on the water calling the plays certainly don’t see it that way.

That is how I read it but if you are culling before you are actually full are they still calling it culling since it is defined as upgrading after you have reached your limit?
By definitions standards it is not but I am guessing you have seen much more first hand regulation that I.
Thanks,
jc

I guess I didn’t know of any difference between culling and upgrading. Thought they were one and the same. The next time I see a CO on the water I’ll run the scenario by him / her to see what, if any, difference there might be.

Thanks James..
One note I did see is that on the official tournament permit they define culling. They define it as as soon as the fish hits your livewell its in. This would make perfect since in a tourney environment. Maybe this is how they are choosing to regulate it. This way regular anglers that don’t get enough fish for a meal can put back the one or 2 fish they have caught in there efforts.
Thanks again James.
jc

The way I read the laws is that you can place 5 bass a day in your livewell, and that’s it. So, if it is a 6 bass tourney, with two guys, to me you should, legally, be able to “upgrade” 4 times. Right?

Now, the tourney rules would supercede that if they define culling differnetly.

I’m not sure how the bass tourney rules are written regarding possession of fish as it relates to this issue. With many walleye tourneys on the river, it’s often laid out that only 5 fish may be placed in the livewell, no culling, sort or upgrading of any kind. Once 5 fish have been committed to the well, our day’s done. Or on occassion, 6 fish may be allowed in the livewell, with the option to weigh the “best 5.” Once 6 fish are in the livewell, we’re done fishing. No fish that has been placed in the well may be removed.

There’s so much grey area regarding the interpretation of culling that it makes my head hurt just thinking about all the possibilities for mis-interpretation and confusion.

This is how they do the “NO CULL” in Minnesota Bass Tourney’s

From experience

You decide when you catch the fish if you want to keep the fish. You can throw it back or put it in your livewell. You can not however, have more in your livewell than the tournament limit. When you keep your last fish, all rods get put away and your done. Sometimes they will let you take your possession limit, if more than the tournament limit and “live release” the one or two extras but your still done fishing when you do that.

Stop at the DNR office on Mormon Coulee RD in Lacrosse. It is across the street from the southside Burger King and also Family Video and ask the wardens to explain their interpetation and rules for enforcement. It would probably be wise to talk to the warden for the pool or pools you will be fishing and if they aren’t out of that office they will direct you to the right office. 608-785-9000

From the WI regs book: “It is illegal to sort fish. Any fish you take into possession which you do not release immediately is part of your daily bag limit even if released later.”

From the MN regs book: “It is illegal to cull fish that have been reduced to possession” (MN/WI border waters).

Elsewhere in MN, fish may be replaced if a daily limit has not been possessed.

Also on the MN side of the river: once a fish is in possession (in the livewell for instance), it may not be legally released. That means that if an angler has only one walleye in the livewell after their outing and would like to throw it back, the law says they have to keep it. Tourney permits allow for release of fish.

Do you guys think the Indians aka the meat hunters caused this problem!!

How in the world could the Indians cause the culling laws?

Indians? Problem?

Color me confused. What do you mean Pitbull? I’m sure you weren’t making the HUGE mistake of pointing any fingers at a particular group being deserving of a broad stroke label like “meathunter” so maybe you should clarify.

Quote:

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Do you guys think the Indians aka the meat hunters caused this problem!!

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I know this Indian(ME) is a meateater and is always causing problems, but I think the troublemaker part of me is really the Irish part. Oh that’s right you were asking if the culling laws were caused by the Indians. No it was probably a conspiracy that was caused by Steinbrener and the Yankees.
Sorry you didn’t get the reponse you wanted PITBULL LOL