Tournament daily bag limits vs possession limits

First of all this is not an anti tournament post, however I am curious about how the Millerville Sportsman Club ruling is viewed. For those who are not familiar, Millerville Sportsman Club had an annual fish fry as a fund raiser. The premise for supplying the panfish was that limits were gifted to other members relieving the angler of their possession limit. This was done with the approval of the local conservation officers (See Letters, Outdoor News June 1, 2007). A judge in Douglas County ruled that gifted fish remain in the catcher’s possession until they are either consumed or destroyed. During the PWT, even with the co-angler, 5 fish were caught and presented each day, which is technically under the daily legal limit. How is the possesion limit dealt with? How do tournaments deal with this issue in light of this recent ruling?

Thanks

I assume you a referring to multi day tournaments. Most f these tournaments are catch and release. Once the fish is released it is not part of your possession limit any longer.

If it were a multi day kill tournament I suppose you would have to have a fish fry each evening.

Also the fish that are not releasable are donated to the locals, or they have a fish fry typically for elderly people in the area!
You do have a right to keep your fish in some tournaments if you choose to!

I fished a tournament this weekend where the fish are either released or donated to a fish fry for senior citizens. This year as in years past I signed a slip of paper with my license number so the club could hold on to the fish. They usually ask a bunch of people to do this every year. After reading about the Millerville case, I am thinking this was a bad idea. What if I go out and harvest my limit of fish tonight and the fish I donated are still sitting in a freezer somewhere?

Is the daily bag limit and possession limit the same I think here the possession limit is 2 daily bag limits.Different in each state Iam sure.A possession limit and bag limit being the same would make no sence to me at all.

Welcome to MN Jon. Not a lot makes sense to me.

The daily and possession are the same in MN.

Yes, the top guys had 15 fish for the 3 days. Seems kind of technical but I would assume someone has to keep track of who released what vs dead fish vs what was kept vs what was given away vs the Douglas County ruling to stay legal.