Last Sunday I watched four different boats do some pretty good damage to the flatheads in one of their winter holes. They were working about a 75 yard stretch with jigging spoons. I saw about 6 fish get caught in a half hour. Here’s the question. One of the guys was using a red and white daredevil spoon. Since that is a “lure” do you think its legal to use? Some of the fish I saw were snagged, some were hooked in the mouth.
Looking at the regs, it’s illegal to intentially take a fish by snagging on inland waters. I would sure support that rule on border waters!
Jon J.
It is illegal to intentionally snag any fish. The problem is it’s very hard for the DNR to prove that the fishermen were intentionally snagging them.
I would call the authorities if I saw that. The wardens have a way of convincing people that this is something that they should not be doing. 
Gator Hunter
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Looking at the regs, it’s illegal to intentially take a fish by snagging on inland waters. I would sure support that rule on border waters!
Jon J.
It is illegal to intentionally snag fish on all Minnesota waters including border waters.
Gator Hunter
Dirk, were they keeping them? I don’t know how many people were in the boat but out of the limit of 5, only 2 can be flats (I know, I’m preaching to the choir).
I guess it’s a moot point, if you’re snagging fish, why would you care about a limit…
If I couldn’t talk to them myself because of distance, I too would consider calling the DNR.
Whether intentionally or accidentally snagged, no snagged or foul-hooked fish can be kept. (The exception being where there are special snagging seasons for salmon, etc.)
If they were keeping the fish, I’d report them.
Normally I hate cell phones but this would be case where I would use one. 
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It is illegal to intentionally snag fish on all Minnesota waters including border waters.
Gator, I don’t see where where that is written in the rule book. It’s only listed in the Inland Water section, not border water section.
It only states you cannot keep a snagged fish. It does not say you can’t intentionally snag fish however….
J
People who snag fish like this are poor sports and probably root for the Yankees. What kind of joy can you get from snagging fish that are inactive? Why not just try to pull snags out of the river as it is basically the same thing.
I believe what these guys are doing is perfectly legal. Though snagging is illegal, because they are using a “lure” is becomes legal. These guys may not be intentionally trying to snag these fish, they are probably trying to “catch” them. I do not condone what they are doing at all. I would never participate in such an act. I don’t think the DNR can do anything about it either. One way to protect our beloved flathead is through educating anglers about flatheads and their vulnerability during the winter. The ultimate solution would be to have a closed season on them during the winter when they are vulnerable in their holes. If the season was closed right now, then the people catching these fish would be able to get fined. Slowly but surely more and more catfish regulations are coming up around the country and hopefully a closed season on flatheads will come soon too.
Mike T.
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It is illegal to intentionally snag fish on all Minnesota waters including border waters.
Gator, I don’t see where where that is written in the rule book. It’s only listed in the Inland Water section, not border water section.
It only states you cannot keep a snagged fish. It does not say you can’t intentionally snag fish however….
J
If you look on pages 15 and 16 of the Mn regs you will find the General Regulations section. It is written “The following regulations apply to all Minnesota waters unless noted otherwise in this booklet.” If you scroll down to the very end of this section, the last thing that is written is “It is unlawful to intentionally take any fish by snagging”. This is a wide sweeping reg. that covers all species of fish and all Minnesota waters.
Gator Hunter
Gator, that’s where the confusion comes in. I don’t think the Mississippi is considered Minnesota waters unless you are above the confluence with the St Croix.
J.
None of the fish I saw caught were kept. I didn’t say anything because I felt what they were doing was legal because they were trying to catch, not snag the fish. This snag vs. catch controversy is a no win situation. The gurus of this winter fishing will tell you that they can entice the fish to strike, though some will be inevitably snagged. But a daredevil spoon, my God.
My worry is that no one knows what effect catching these fish in the winter, when they are dormant, does to them. Sure they swim back to the bottom. I want to know if they survive the stress of it, what damage it can do, etc. No one that I know of at the DNR seems too interested in this, at least that I know of. If this gets to be a popular thing there is going to be a whole lot of flatheads being caught. If I (or anyone else) fished these areas during prime times and did it often a single person could easily catch 100-200 fish each winter season. It just doesn’t seem to be a good thing. I could live with jigging for them early in the winter season, say through November, but after that I wish it was closed, because we just don’t know enough about the effect of this kind of fishing.
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Gator, that’s where the confusion comes in. I don’t think the Mississippi is considered Minnesota waters unless you are above the confluence with the St Croix.
J.
In the Minnesota Statutes & Rules of the DNR, The Minnesota State Statutes 2003, section 103G.005, subdivision 17 defines the waters of the state of Minnesota as “Waters of the state means surface or underground waters, except surface waters that are not confined but are spread and diffused over the land. Waters of the state includes all boundary and inland waters”.
Gator Hunter
Gator,
That’s good to know. Thanks for digging that up. It would be nice to have the “No Snagging Allowed” rule listed in the border water section of the rule book as well as the inland section.
J.
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Gator,
That’s good to know. Thanks for digging that up. It would be nice to have the “No Snagging Allowed” rule listed in the border water section of the rule book as well as the inland section.
J.
The only regulations listed in the border waters sections are those that diifer from the rest of the states regs. All of the regs. listed in the General Regulation section are in force throughout the state unless otherwise listed.
Remember also that the Reg. booklet is just a simple reading of the laws of the state. You can find the actual reading of the state laws by checking out the Minnesota Statutes and Rules of the DNR.
Gator Hunter
I plan to put the dnr phone number in my phone this year. just to keep people honest. turning people like that in would at least bring their actions under scrutiny. It might prompt some action eventually.
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Last Sunday I watched four different boats do some pretty good damage to the flatheads in one of their winter holes. They were working about a 75 yard stretch with jigging spoons. I saw about 6 fish get caught in a half hour. Here’s the question. One of the guys was using a red and white daredevil spoon. Since that is a “lure” do you think its legal to use? Some of the fish I saw were snagged, some were hooked in the mouth.
I was doing some perusing of history here, and came across this post. The is a very important topic to anyone interested in trophy Flatheads. The WIDNR will no longer tag fish in the winter, because mortality is so high…so these guys might as well be killing almost every fish they catch. The WIDNR also has a closed season on Flats below the Prairie du Sac dam from Dec. 1st through opening day for this very reason…I wish it was statewide, but it isn’t…yet. Please stop this ridiculous “fishing” and educate anyone you know or see doing it…as it is very damaging to the fishery.
Jason.
Jason, Do you have any idea on their logic for not closing the whole state?
The lower Wisconsin, below Prairie du Sac, seems to have several regulations that are specific to it. Not only fishing regs but others from shoreline development to glass on the river and so on. Also, that is one of the few areas of the state that seems to be interested in flatheads. Although, there is now a program to promote limited harvest of flatheads from the Wolf River. But I’ve seen tv shows and articles PROMOTING winter flathead “fishing” on the Fox river near Green Bay.
From what I’ve heard the management units are like little kingdoms and what one group of fisheries biologists/managers believe is important may not garner any attention at all statewide…The office that handles that area has two great fisheries biologists working there, Gene VanDyck abd Bradd Simms…they recognized the importance of protecting those Flatheads…and got it done!! And this was before a few mainstream media sources thought it would be alright to publicize this so-called “fishing” method, thank god the reg was in place before that sh!t hit the fan. What a disservice to catfishing. Wisconsin is tightening up big time on catfishing regs…I couldn’t be happier.
Jason.
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