Don’t ya just love MN?

This whole thread is going sideways. The OP made the point of calling out Minnesota for it’s fishing laws. My point was it wasn’t a Minnesota tournament. The revenue went straight into the coffers of LaCrosse, the state of Wisconsin, BASS & the anglers themselves. Minnesota didn’t share in the cost or rewards.

After the FLW was on Minnetonka and faced the wrath over transporting fish all the way to Wal-Mart for the weigh in it was made pretty clear they would never return. So be it, don’t come back. Now BASS has the same opportunity. So don’t come back.

Sit on 35 anytime and watch the steady stream of trucks and boats heading North to fish. Many are fishing Minnesota, some going through to Canada. Sit on the 94 bridge and watch the same thing from Wisconsin. Point is lots and lots of people and money are coming to Minnesota to spend millions. They obviously are happy with the fishing here.
I understand why some want the rules changed, but don’t think for a minute that things are bad because the rule is the way it is. For everyone who has jumped on this thread and complained I would guess there are 2 guys ticked off over all the Bass boats on the river this past week.

Was there any AIS inspections on the river last week? Or isn’t Wisconsin as concerned as Minnesota?

OK, I’ve made my point and there isn’t anything else I could add so I’m out………..

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(Even Aaron Martens acknowledged that and the fact he did not fish on the Mississippi because of the culling law and the boundary line. The boundary line is just to hard too follow.)

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I disagree with this..
With today’s technology it’s real easy.
Even without it I could tell within a few yds-ft were the border was……
It’s fairly easy looking at a map to tell where it is so Brian is right….
Why should MN change it’s law?….

Yes rules are rules and they apply to all. But what he got caught up in could have been dealt with years ago (no cull on MN/WI border waters). The irony is that culling is permited on all State MN in-land waters and the MN/WI no cull is a left over regulation made to balance WI permiting 3 HOOKS on the WI side and 2 HOOKS on the MN side of the river. As a former Minnesota BASS Federation (now Nation) Conservation Director I tried to work on this. B.A.S.S. was asked to get involved; the problem is that unless a groups like the MN Bass Nation and B.A.S.S. makes it a priority to change the rule, all of us river tournament fishermen are stuck with it.I hope that rather then trying to address the no-cull rule,BASS isn’t trying to circumvent the rule by hinting to it’s anglers that it is OK to drive over to the Wisconsin side -cull- and then drive back to the MN side. In my opinion if this were true the DNR should look at future permitting of any circuit that tries to use trickery instead of integrity.

The Wisconsin bass anglers were recently successful in getting culling permitted in tournaments. This allowed tournaments like BASS to return to Wisconsin. How they went about this should be an example to Minnesota Bass groups. They brought their concerns to legislators, especially to those from the River Towns that were economically being shut out. They pushed a Bill through the process and were successful. If they had settled for contacting the DNR and asking for a rule change; it would have died right there. But going down the road of changing DNR rules using the legislative process isn’t easy, it would take time, effort and harnessing the type of support that Wisconsin anglers did.

And by the way culling on MN/WI border waters is about possession. Once a fish is put in the livewell it has to stay there until the weigh-in. It is not like MN inland waters were you can cull as much as you want until you put the sixth fish in the well.

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The irony is that culling is permited on all State MN in-land waters and the MN/WI no cull is a left over regulation made to balance WI permiting two rods and MN only one on the river.

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3 HOOKS on the WI side and 2 HOOKS on the MN side.

…Come together…right now…over me.

Tanks, I edited my post.

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This is why you will never see a big bass tourney in MN. Anglers are already teaming up to boycott fishing MN waters because of their stance on this. I have a feeling this will be the last big tourney you see on the WI/MN boarder waters, huge loss of revenue for the state/city and local business.

http://www.bassmaster.com/news/palaniuks-day-two-dqd

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Rules are rules.. Without rules we’d all be sitting in trees flinging our own crap at each other.

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Rules are rules.. Without rules we’d all be sitting in trees flinging our own crap at each other.

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as opposed to sitting at keyboards fli … aww never mind

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Rules are rules.. Without rules we’d all be sitting in trees flinging our own crap at each other.

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as opposed to sitting at keyboards fli … aww never mind

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so true

I will give you one reason that its important for the pro’s to be here.. TO SAVE OUR SPORT.. if this tourn causes one kid to be a life long fisherman, its worth it. One life long license buyer.. one life long buyer of tackle. because of the pros.. Some of you could say, well the Pro’s don’t come to Minnesota, well THEY DON”T NEED TO.. Minnesota has their own PRO TEAM.. THE LINDNERS, who probably sell more licenses for the state, more the any other reason combined.. oh and the Lindners fish tournys.. they also promote catch and release.. and selective harvest..

So the pro’s came to town.. and they did so and its to the benefit of the whole state.. because, trust me, we need and will need new fishermen.. and any way we can promote our sport to get them is a PLUS FOR ALL OF US..

Yes, the folks lining the shores of Lake Minnetonka, need the nickels from the PROS…

Some of this stuff in here is hilarious !!! The guy cheated, got caught and now everybody is blaming a LAW !!!

Any duck hunter knows the border line so I can’t see why a professional fisherman couldn’t figure it out. He made the mistake and it cost him and it has nothing to do with the MN law.
There’s so many bass in that pool, it should be no culling at all and daily limit 50.

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{clipped}
The Wisconsin bass anglers were recently successful in getting culling permitted in tournaments. This allowed tournaments like BASS to return to Wisconsin. How they went about this should be an example to Minnesota Bass groups. They brought their concerns to legislators, especially to those from the River Towns that were economically being shut out. They pushed a Bill through the process and were successful. If they had settled for contacting the DNR and asking for a rule change; it would have died right there. But going down the road of changing DNR rules using the legislative process isn’t easy, it would take time, effort and harnessing the type of support that Wisconsin anglers did. {clipped}

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Buzz,

You are correct. Unless we get MNBFN, BASS, FLW and other Bass Tournament Groups all on the same page going to the Governor and State Legislature, we won’t get any changes.

Got any proposals ready?

If I could make a suggestion here. Might want to check with the DNR Fisheries office in Lake City before going to the big guns.

If you need the contact info, shoot me a pm.

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Yes, the folks lining the shores of Lake Minnetonka, need the nickels from the PROS…

Some of this stuff in here is hilarious !!! The guy cheated, got caught and now everybody is blaming a LAW !!!

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Thank you. Someone who gets it. Simplicity is far too complicated these days.

Forget the tourneys. Its still a stupid rule if you can cull up to satisfying a limit.

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Yes, the folks lining the shores of Lake Minnetonka, need the nickels from the PROS…

Some of this stuff in here is hilarious !!! The guy cheated, got caught and now everybody is blaming a LAW !!!

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I fully agree that this is a stupid rule.
Having said that, I also think the Big G has hit the nail on the head with his statement above.

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This “kid” handled his DQ with humility which to me shows a lot about his character.

And that’s what being a sportsman is all about.

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I also admire the way this kid handled his predicament.
That was a great example of how to handle a tough situation with grace!

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Forget the tourneys. Its still a stupid rule if you can cull up to satisfying a limit.

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On the boundary waters you cannot cull period, regardless of how many fish you have.

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On the boundary waters you cannot cull period, regardless of how many fish you have.

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What boundary waters? Permitted WI tournaments can cull.

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Forget the tourneys. Its still a stupid rule if you can cull up to satisfying a limit.

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On the boundary waters you cannot cull period, regardless of how many fish you have.

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Wait, now you can cull up to a limit on inland waters? This gets better every time I open it. Why do I open it???

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This “kid” handled his DQ with humility which to me shows a lot about his character.

And that’s what being a sportsman is all about.

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I also admire the way this kid handled his predicament.
That was a great example of how to handle a tough situation with grace!

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FDR

To call him a cheater is a bit out of line there G…He made a mistake and fully owned it when it was brought to his attention. Be careful throwing labels around like that…I know you love stirring the pot on here and do so often with a smile and that’s cool….but don’t tarnish the kids reputation when it’s simply not the truth.

I guess you can call it what you want.. if telling it like it is, makes someone a pot stirrer, then I am proud to be a pot stirrer. If making excuses and deflecting from the incident, blaming a law, makes you a…. well, what would you call that ??? What do you call it when somebody fishes a tournament(with thou$ands of $$$’s on the line), goes outside the rules and is “leading” and then it gets brought to their attention and they are disqualified a days weight ??? An inconveinence ? A terrible mistake ? A bad rule/law ? (that’s what most are blaming) Not knowing you are breaking the rules, makes you the worst kind of cheater in my book. Many here post, “it’s not cheating until you get caught”… I say bull, it’s cheating if you do it, caught or not, knowingly or not. I didn’t say he was a bad person, maybe bad at follow/learning rules (which some stated were brought up in the meeting, this is why they hold meetings)he just got caught “cheating”… if he didn’t cheat I retract my statement, if he did “go outside the rules” or whatever you want to call it, I would certainly welcome your apology

BTW, only “you” can truely tarnish your own reputation…

From what I have heard of the guy mouth and his demeanor, I will draw upon my life experiences and give this guy the benefit of the doubt. I don’t think he did it knowingly. Cheaters know what they are doing. I think he made a mistake. We all make them, except G.

I think if he did this purposefully he would have not excepted the ruling so quickly. Most liars and cheaters like to fight when they are caught because they are delusional.

Does anyone know if he caught a majority of his fish on the Minnesota side?

So it was a “mistake”… ? And not knowing the rules of the tourney you are fishing with hundreds of others, vying for a HUGE purse, is also a “mistake” ? I have enough “life experiences” also, to know when someone cheated… did he accept his “punishment” with grace, yes. Did he cheat, yes or he would have been holding a BIG check smiling all the way to the bank. Again, I did not tarnish him, he did that by himself, not knowing the rules of the tourney he was fishing. Who said I have never made a mistake ?(show me where I said that) I sure as hell did not “cheat” in any tourneys… you now sound like Paula Dean Pug, “pick up that stone and hurl it at my head and kill me”… You can’t win this one guys…. are you telling me BASSMASTERS got it wrong ?

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So it was a “mistake”… ? And not knowing the rules of the tourney you are fishing with hundreds of others, vying for a HUGE purse, is also a “mistake” ? I have enough “life experiences” also, to know when someone cheated… did he accept his “punishment” with grace, yes. Did he cheat, yes or he would have been holding a BIG check smiling all the way to the bank. Again, I did not tarnish him, he did that by himself, not knowing the rules of the tourney he was fishing. Who said I have never made a mistake ?(show me where I said that) I sure as hell did not “cheat” in any tourneys… you now sound like Paula Dean Pug, “pick up that stone and hurl it at my head and kill me”… You can’t win this one guys…. are you telling me BASSMASTERS got it wrong ?

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Are you 7 years old or do you have some form of a learning disability?

Yes, insult my intelligence because some Bass fisherman got caught not following the rules. Now who is 7 ?

G, I think insulting you is more fun then blaming a law that doesn’t make sense.

But I’m guessing this thread has run it’s course.

Unless someone has something to add of value?

Who did the T-Wolves get in the draft last night.

Perfect!