MN inland waters, Walleye Opener, How many rods?

for MN inland waters Walleye Opener,
How many lines are you allowed to have in the water?

Sunday May 12, 2013 …
the answer to that question was a little different than usual

Never expect the usual when Don and his Wilcraft are involved.

Did I hear right? You caught the only eye??

Ya, of all the things I’ve ever been accused of being … I don’t think usual has ever been thrown into the mix

the above photo was taken Sunday on Cass Lake

My son Ritter got a Walleye there and Bro got three

BUT On Saturday, I got an ‘eye outta Leech Lake

there was one boat working the open water by the bridge just north of Walker; so unless they got into ’em . . .

there’s a good chance I may have pulled the only wally outta Leech on opener day

(although on Sunday in the Federal Dam area, the channel from the dam to the main lake was of course open water and we were hearing reports of people catching eyes that had just moved into the channel)

I applaud your good natured fun, but is this legal?

I honestly dont know. My gut says the spirit of the 2 lines when ice fishing expires when the ice season ends, but you can still use 2 lines for panfish after that.

What defines ice fishing? Can you cast 2 lines into open water if you are standing on a frozen shoreline?

Do the regs clarify it or is it up to the COs and courts to figure out?

I would think if you are standing on ice you are good to go for two lines. Never heard of two lines ending at the end of game fish season. Like last year when the lakes opened early just because part of a body of water was open for boats didnt mean the guys ice fishing had to limit to one line. Would imagine if we happened to see fishable ice in July the two line rule would still be good to go. That is until the DNR saw some reason to change or modify it. With all this global warming going on dont think there will be any need for that.

I could be wrong but I think if you’re fishing through a hole in the ice you made you’re good to use 2 rods, standing on ice fishing open water I think only 1.

My information might not be credible though – heck – I didn’t even ice fish once this year

Regardless – Cool Post!

Just thought of a million dollar idea. And ICE BOAT! 2 lines for everybody!

A quick call to the DNR last friday around the fire ring, got the answer. 2 lines “through” the ice is OK any day

Or, freeze a 5 gallon pail, drill a hole through the middle, run a line through it and fish 2 bobbers till it melts (ok, that is similar to an ice boat, just more realistic).

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I applaud your good natured fun, but is this legal?

I honestly dont know. My gut says the spirit of the 2 lines when ice fishing expires when the ice season ends …

Do the regs clarify it or is it up to the COs and courts to figure out?

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So when does “ice season” end ?

I would say when you can’t stand on it, fishing through a hole in the ice. For little guys, they get an extra couple days.

I honestly look at it this way
there’s nothing that says you can’t use two lines through the ice before Dec 1, or before Thanksgiving Day, etc
as soon as you can get out and poke a hole, you can fish two lines for FIRST ice (and noone would even think anything of it)
since the regs are silent on this matter, why would it be any different for LAST ice (the only reason anyone even thinks of it in this situations is because, as Brian alluded to, IT’S UNUSUAL)

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Never expect the usual when Don and his Wilcraft are involved.

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^ a lesson that BK learned “early on” *

… and one which evidently is not to be soon forgotten

* <– not you’re “normal moon emoticon” usage; this one signifies “pucker factor”