IA boat / invasive species law takes effect 7/1

Reminder for people fishing in IA. New law goes in to effect 7/1.

HF 522 updates Iowa’s aquatic invasive species law based on the suggestions of the aquatic invasive species task force. The bill changes current law to allow the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to determine by rule what qualifies as an invasive species, rather than having them stated in Iowa Code by the Legislature; requires the draining of water from equipment to prevent the transfer of invasive species from one waterway to another; and permits DNR to deny a watercraft entry to a waterway if its owner refuses an inspection for invasive species by a DNR officer HF522

I’m sorry fellow fishing Iowigens.

Fishing as you know it…is over.

what are they going to do to the ducks and geese that spread the seeds–I like to bring my fish home in the livewell alive to clean

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I’m sorry fellow fishing Iowigens.

Fishing as you know it…is over.

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Why do you say that?

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I’m sorry fellow fishing Iowigens.

Fishing as you know it…is over.

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Why do you say that?

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^ don’t forget your drainplugs

I wonder if this pertains to rivers too, anyone know, probably does. I’ll have to check out the rules on what I’m supposed to do when fishing two or three different spots on the river, driving from spot to spot, and still keep my bluegills alive that I’m using for bait.

just put your fish on ice in a cooler. they are much easier to clean. just my $.02

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I’m sorry fellow fishing Iowigens.

Fishing as you know it…is over.

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Why do you say that?

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It’s just the first step in a long line of taxation.

Mandatory boat wash stations at launches.
Limited access to lakes via gates and lake shore owners.
Limiting how you will be able to catch and use bait.
Figuring out how to transport your bait home and back again for the next days use without breaking the law. That includes figuring out what “depose of properly means”.
Special bait catchers regs.
New fees and fines to enforce the new regulations.
AIS on-line tests and certificates.
Electric and bubble barriers…at the very least “feasibility” studies.
You’re bait prices will go up because of VHS certification and the other bait dealers fees. This will effect availability of certain baits as well.

Oh yes, don’t forget to take the plug out of your boat while transporting it to the water…no matter if there’s water in your hull or not, no matter if your boat only sees one body of water.

I can go on, but if your really interested just search the ido pages. There’s plenty here.

Excuse me now, I have to find my microscope to check for villagers.

I can see what your saying now about taking those, hard to sometimes find bullheads, back home to put back into your bait tank. Whats a guy supposed to do, just put them in the water where your fishing? What if that water doesn’t have bullheads in it, now your breaking the law for stocking a new fish to a body of water and if you kill them its wanton waist of a fish, so what do you do? not use live bait.

At a buck or two apiece you’ll either have to let them die on the way back home or hope they make it long enough to put back into the live well at your house. Wait a minute isn’t that illegal now too taking bait back to your live well, because the DNR doesn’t know where the water came from in your livewell at your house.

I know what I’m going to be doing, and that’s becoming good at launching my boat in areas where there’s no boat ramp, like right over the side of the bank. If I have to become sneaky because I don’t want to waist my bait it isn’t my fault because I’m still going to use live bluegills in the river to fish for catfish, either that or the DNR’s going to get a bill for the expense of the bait, or end up in small claims court…Maybe thats what we should all do is send the DNR the hundreds of bills for the bait we couldn’t transport back home. Awww heck I’ll just become sneaky because it makes me feel better anyway, now THAT’S a positive attitude and now sometimes a necessity.

This is like the third time they’ve tried to mess with transporting bait. The other options were worse. I wrote Martin Konrad who was the guy you were supposed to write about the proposed changes before and he assured me a guy could put his bait in water from home. Well, here is what he wrote.

Mr. Bjork, When transporting live fish to be used as bait, the fish must be transported in freshwater water (water taken from a treated water source). Fish must be transported this way to and from the fishing location. I would use a large container located in the transport vehicle. A smaller container to keep the bait in while fishing. If you have left over bait; water from the large contain should be use to rinse off the fish. Once rinsed you can place the bait fish back in the large container for transport back home. When leaving your fishing location all water-related equipment needs to be drained of water. Water-related equipment is portable bait containers, live wells, ballast tanks, bilge areas and water-hauling equipment. MARTIN KONRAD Iowa Department of Natural Resources P 515/281-6976 | F 515/281-8896 | [email protected] 502 E 9th Street | Des Moines, IA 50319

This winter they were proposing basically limiting to bullheads and bluegills and the current bait. They dumped that plan. There was no comment period for this one that I know of.

What troubles me, is I put my drain plug in at home so I don’t sink my boat.

I’m also worried that an over zealous DNR guy would write a ticket for bait water no matter what you do. I do hear of a few reports of questionable tickets. They interpret the law how they feel like to some extent, at least that is what it sounds like.

On the flip side, I was never checked last year. I don’t see DNR unless I go to a lake on a week day and they have the patrol boat. There are only 50ish officers. I assume they will try to enforce these laws in lakes with zebra infestations and such which I think includes clear lake which is a lot of recreational boats.

Iowa DNR law is weird. They enforce so little, it is hard to tell their intent.