ethics

Recently found a tip up set from the day before 500 yards from shore. The flag was up and after looking around there was no one around. So I pulled up the tip up and to my suprise was a 2lb crappie. The tip up had a name and phone number on the flag. My questions is what would you do?
a Keep the fish and the tip up.
b Let the fish go and keep the tip up.
c Call the guy and tell him you have his nice crappie and tip up.
D turn the fish and the tip up to the DNR

Looking forward to your response.

Kurtkid
his tip up.

The gentleman in me says to call the guy from my cell and let him know he has a fish on his tip-up. If he doesn’t answer, take the whole works. Leave my number. When he calls back, tell him what he is doing is illegal. In summary, try to help educate him. If I see the same thing again, call TIPS.

However, the in me says to keep the fish, probably gonna die anyway. Leave a note on the tip up that says we are watching you. Don’t let us catch you doing this again. If we do, you will get a ticket!!

DNR

I am with the devil!!!!!

Just kidding….call the number on the flag and let him know about the illegal activity just as a warning…cause they are ruining it for all of us!!!!!

let the fish go if possible!!!!

Answer C

why is it unattended ? I would want to know.

big g

The in me has all kinds of thoughts……..
However, please call TIP.

Call TIP and turn it over to the DNR…….Let the owner of the TIP justify to the DNR why he did what he did……Never know what happened, could have been all kinds of things:
1) Fell on the ice, had to be rushed to the hospital.
2) Somebody else fell on the ice and he took them to the hospital.
3) He is swimming with the other crappies right now….
4) Had too much Chinese hot sauce and made a mad rush to a local gas station…….
5) Had too much Chinese hot sauce and DIDN’T make it to the gas station on time……..

Let the fish go! He doesn’t deserve to have it being as he wasn’t there to reel it in. Then, call the guy to give him his tip-up back and kindly remind him of the law. If he gets beligerant or sassy tell him you will give the Conservation Officer the tip-up and let him decide what to do with it!

Seems wierd to me that he would have his name and number on the tip up.
There isn’t some special regulation for the handicapped or something is there? Was this in MN?
Just trying look at it a bit differently. But if it was me I’d take the tip up and the fish. And then call to let him know to be more careful and that what was doing was illegal.

thanks for the input

Let the fish go if it will survive and call the tip line. Or call the number and say it is illegal and next time you will call the tip line.

I would call him..the problem with turning it directly to the DNR is …if hes smart… hed say..”I sold the tip up at a garage sale last year” or something like that…he would get a chewin from the dnr but it would be hard to prove in court…so I would call him and ask him what the heck happened…..please let us know what you do…jay

Most of us assume that he left it there as an unattended line.

There are many reasons i could think of that if was left there by accident…it may have been there over night and the group thought they got all the lines out but left one behind.

I would call the fella and ask if he’s missing a tip up. I believe in people, I believe in mistakes. On the other hand if I knew or thought through conversation with him, that he knew what he was doing…I wouldn’t have a problem turning the tip up over to the local CO.

But that’s just me.

I’d give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he left in the dark and forgot it was out there. I did just that on Mille Lacs at last January’s GTG. I was looking forward to a warm meal at Hunter’s and the opportunity of carrying Sliderfishn’s new TV out to his truck. I tore down, loaded the sled and completely forgot about the tipups. Thanks to Bobber and Hooks I got them back.

So I’d let the Crappie go and then call the guy and give him his tip-up back.

Rootksi

I forgot one once so that is a possbility. In my case it was way below zero overnight so I had to destroy the tip up to remove it the next day. No fish on though….

Heck, call the guy, let him know that you found his tip up and there was a 2lb crappie on the end of the line (that you just delivered to the taxidermist) and find out why he left it. But remember to thank him for allowing you to catch that wall mount crappie on his tip up!! Chew his if he doesn’t give a logical answer and also thank him for the tip up!!

i was wondering about this myself. I know a guy that a little while back used to put tip ups out and go back into his cabin to get warm and then come and check em after a while but he used to sit in the house where u could see them. One time he put them out and went inside, once he got in the house the game warden came to the house and told him that he would be issuing a citation for unattended lines, then this guy asked why there was a problem, had the game warden come to the room where you could see the tip ups, and after all of this the game warden didnt give a ticket and said see ya later.
This is a true story,
but i thought you had to be with in a certain distance of them

The in me says mount the crappie, keep the tip up and wright “thanks” with yellow snow, but in me says, keep the crappie,(probably dead anyway) rebait the the tip-up, drill another hole and see what ya catch

I would call the guy and let him know that I owned a new tip up and a nice fish unless he gave a really good reason for leaving it behind.

I have lost 2 tip-ups over time due to forgetting them on the water. One time I turned around and it was still there 30 minutes later, and the other time I didnt realize it for a week and ran into the person who recovered it. Its easy to forget a tip up when your closing everything down at dark and its cold… but that in itself isnt a good excuse to get your tip up back.

Quote:

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3) He is swimming with the other crappies right now….
4) Had too much Chinese hot sauce and made a mad rush to a local gas station…….
5) Had too much Chinese hot sauce and DIDN’T make it to the gas station on time……..

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Yuck!!!
That would warm his shorts !!
And that would be justice !!!!!

Give me a call, the numbers on the tip-up? Was it an orange flag or green? Now I know where the crappies are biting!

If it were me, I would try to release the fish (heck I don’t want it on my wall, i didn’t “catch it” then I would call the dnr and forward the information….I don’t know cold it could be for me to leave things on the ice like that…if it were an emergency, let the DNR handle the situation.

I’m willing to bet the tip up was stolen by a cormarant or eagle that learned to set them. Without the open water they need some means of getting fish.

Innocent until proven guilty. That’s the American way. Call the guy and see what he has to say.

None of the above; I would let the fish go and leave the tip-up on the ice.

I have done this before. PAcking up in the dark after a long hard day of fishing……….with my memory……..I can see it happening………no need to get out the whippin stick………and calling the CO leaves a lot of grey area for him to decide on what to do…..