Bullheads and Cheeseheads

Dirk,

You might be surprised how much pull you have. After all, when the MN DNR will not answer an emailed question. I will not pickup my gear and travel there. As, I figure it, I would have had to buy a Minnesota license, gas, food, lodging, and that revenue will now be spent elsewhere. I was going to fish the Minnesota river for a couple days decided I might get hassled and might go to pool 4 instead. The public has a right to know what laws they are held responsilble for in simple easy to understand language. If it is illegal it should be listed in the reg. I would be happy to sign any petition you circulate for DNR notice.

Yup its just screwed up.
I fished a small lake for musky.I did theresearch on the lake at the DNR site and it said there were a lot of musky.It also stated that the access was off a certain highway.Well thats were I accessed the lake.Then I got ticketed for accessing a lake with no access!!!
I brought a printed copy of the DNR web page on that lake that showed that they stated there was an access.The judge just laughed and dropped the whole thing.It would have been cheaper to pay the fine rather than missing a day of work but I was !

Any way I do think it wise when contacting the DNR or dealing with any officials to be as polite as possible.You just get a lot further in life that way.

Dirk did you get the entire rules and regs statutes?
Is that any clearer than the handbook?
I read some of them a few years ago…I think its what you posted on the minnows/game fish.

Fishead, I’ll e-mail you what I have.

Here’s a link to MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW about MN Statutes….

Chapters 97 thru 102 Game and Fish

OK so this how it all reads to me.You can use bullheads over 7″ but they must be taken from the water that you are fishing and may not be transported over land live.
You can transport bullheads under 7″ and suckers under 12″ becuase they are considered minnows and you can trasport live minnows.
You can use suckers over 12″ but cannot trasport them.

I wonder if I will get ticketed when I jump over sand bars with the River Pro?…Transporting “fish” over land?

I still think it best that all your clients and fishing buddies be lawyers!

There is one other thing that I have always tried to be carefull of when collecting bait. You cannot transport your bait in the water that they came from.I always fill my portable bait tank with water from my home.I carry a bucket with that water down to where I catch my bait so that I am not dumping the creek or lake water into the tank in the truck,or take out the bait one at a time and place the bait in the clean water in the tank.
I have always been worried about getting ticketed for that too!

Fishhead, that is about what I came up with…not sure about the RiverPro thing though!!! Are redhorses considered suckers??

I still want to know the rationale for the 7 inches though. And I wonder if we could convince the DNR to take a look at this??

For all you walleye guys that are shaking your heads and laughing at this I’m also going to ask the DNR that no nightcrawler over four inches or leech over 1 1/2 inches be allowed for the the fishing of walleyes on border waters

Dirk, you missed the big one….no Ringworms over 1.65 inches….

Iowa bait fish regs are just as vague for some reason. Though I have never heard of anyone ever getting a ticket for using something legally obtained. On the bright side, I was quite delighted when I found suckers in Lacrosse for 50 cents. Down here in Iowa I bet they would cost a buck. Now if someone would only teach the bait shop guy how to feed them so they didn’t look mostly starved, that would be decent.