New Fishing Rules

This from the St. Paul Paper:

Pioneer Press Outdoors

I especially like the fact that I don’t have to license my portable any more.

Rootski

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I especially like the fact that I don’t have to license my portable any more.

Rootski

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Me too!!!

Too bad I already bought them for this year!!

For those of you who don’t want to create an account at Twincities.com:

Fishing And Hunting / Longer seasons, fewer licenses and other changes in the law
BY CHRIS NISKANEN
Outdoors Editor
Article Last Updated: 05/25/2007 12:18:20 AM CDT

Minnesota legislators have approved a long list of new laws benefiting hunters and anglers, particularly ice anglers. Here’s a breakdown.

Ice Fishing: Longer License Season /

Minnesota’s fishing license year no longer ends the last day of February. Lawmakers extended the date to April 30, giving anglers two more months to fish before they have to buy a new license. The rule also applies to permanent fish house licenses. Anglers often complained that year-round panfish season was still open in late winter and early spring, but they had to buy a new license in order to fish.

Portable ice fishing shelters that aren’t left overnight on lakes no longer require a license, saving owners the annual $11.50 fee. Portable shelter owners have complained for years about paying for the license since they’re not staying overnight on lakes. However, permanent shelters, whether with wheels or skids, still need a fish-house or dark-house license if they stay on the lake overnight.

There is a new three-year fish house license for permanent shelters.

Resident adults or guardians won’t need a fishing license if they take a youth (younger than 16) ice fishing during Take a Kid Ice Fishing weekend. A date hasn’t been announced. The program duplicates the Take a Kid Fishing weekend, scheduled for June 8-10.

Lighted fish decoys for spearing are now legal.
Other Fishing Laws /

Anglers who catch a fish out of season or outside other legal limits have a new definition for how long they can hold it before putting it back into the water. The new definition of “immediately released” or “immediately returned to water” allows anglers enough time to identify, unhook, measure and photograph a fish. It does not allow an angler to put the fish on a stringer or in a livewell, cooler or bucket.

Nonresident fishing license fees have increased, in part to cover the estimated $768,000 that will be lost by not requiring licenses for portable ice fishing shelters. An annual individual nonresident license costs $39.50, up from $34; three-day, seven-day, family and husband/wife nonresident license fees also increased.A $2 invasive species program surcharge also was added.

An angler in a dark house or fish house can fillet fish or possess fish fillets within size limits if the angler is preparing the fillet or fish for a meal. In the past, anglers could not possess fillets on lakes with special regulations because DNR officers have difficulty determining if the filleted fish were within legal limits.

Commercial netters can take up to 3,000 lake trout from northern regions of Minnesota waters of Lake Superior and sell them. Restaurateurs and commercial netters wanted lake trout available for consumption.

Anyone catching an Asian carp (bighead, silver or grass species) is required to report it to the DNR within seven days.

The DNR must study the diet habits of fish-eating cormorants on Lake of the Woods.
Hunting Laws /

Crossbows can be used to take deer during the regular firearms deer season, but hunters must use a firearms license. Crossbows are still illegal (with exceptions) during the archery season.

Novice hunters with an “apprentice” license won’t need a hunter safety certificate as long as they are with a hunter who has one. The idea is to give novice hunters some experience afield with safety-certified hunters.

The DNR is required to prepare a walk-in-hunting access plan and recommend options for implementing the program, which still isn’t funded. The report is due to the Legislature by Jan. 15, 2008. Hunters have longed wished for an access program similar to those in South and North Dakota.

The draw weight for bows used to take big game has been reduced from 40 pounds to 30 pounds, which makes bowhunting easier for hunters with disabilities and youth.

Hunters no longer need to possess the actual images of the pheasant and waterfowl stamps. They only need the electronic endorsement. Trout and turkey pictorial stamps were eliminated in previous legislation.

Smokeless powders are now legal for muzzleloaders.

Night-vision equipment is no longer legal for taking wild animals.

A new venison donation program will fund the processing of deer for food shelves.
What Didn’t Pass / A proposal to increase the daily pheasant limit from two to three cocks after the first 16 days of the season didn’t pass. The pheasant possession limit also remains unchanged.

Chris Niskanen can be reached at 651-228-5524 or [email protected].

More interesting reading from the press….

signed, sealed, but not delivered

The outdoors amendment is two votes from passage. Let’s not quit yet.

CHRIS NISKANEN

Article Last Updated: 05/24/2007 09:22:11 PM CDT

Minnesota’s historic outdoors constitutional amendment is only two votes away from passing the Legislature.

It is a deal that has been signed and sealed but not quite delivered. When lawmakers convene Feb. 12, 2008, it should be their first priority to pass the deal in the House and Senate.

Outdoors enthusiasts of any ilk, along with parks and arts enthusiasts, should especially pressure House members for their commitment to get the bill passed.

To recap:

Around 10 p.m. Monday, a bipartisan, House-Senate conference committee put the final touches on an agreement that sets the ballot language and divvies up the money into four pots. It is the farthest the bill has ever gotten in the Legislature.

The agreement puts on the 2008 ballot a question asking voters to approve a three-eighths of 1 percent sales tax increase, which would generate about $292 million annually and about $7 billion over the 25-year life of the legislation. The money is split thus: 33 percent for fish and wildlife habitat, 33 percent for clean water, 19.75 percent for arts and culture and 14.25 percent for parks and trails.

Loud applause erupted in the room after the agreement was reached. Joe Duggan of Pheasants Forever said it was “potentially a dream fulfilled for the outdoors.”

Gary Botzek of the Minnesota Conservation Federation called the deal “monumental,” adding prophetically, “This is the first half of the game. We still have another half to play.”

Lawmakers still had two hours left to pass the bill in the House, then send it to the Senate for final approval.

But as the night dragged on, chaos broke out in the House as Democrats and Republicans fought like children on a school ground. Democrats accused Republicans of filibustering; Republicans accused Democrats of stifling discussion. It was an embarrassing moment in our democracy.

PROMOTION PLANS

As far as the outdoors amendment is concerned, House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, should shoulder most of the blame. He publicly declared his intention to kill the outdoors amendment, telling one bill supporter, Lance Ness, earlier in the week, he intended to “throw the bill under a bus.”

And that’s what Seifert did.

But we still have a signed House-Senate deal. It remains intact in the House until February. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher said Tuesday she would schedule a vote within the first week of the session. Final passage in the Senate is virtually assured.

In the meantime, amendment supporters are correctly laying plans for promoting and fundraising for a publicity campaign to get the measure passed in 2008. A formal fundraising group, Great Outdoors Minnesota, is registered with the state and can begin fundraising for the $4 million to $5 million needed to pass the ballot measure.

While that figure seems high, last year’s transportation amendment cost at least that much, without garnering much political opposition. Outdoors amendment supporters expect some organized opposition, though polls show the majority of Minnesotans support the idea.

“It will be difficult, but not impossible, to fundraise for it,” said Ness, co-chair of the Rally for Conservation. “The (Great Outdoors) Minnesota crew is ready to go.”

Garry Leaf of Sportsmen for Change, who lobbied for the bill but didn’t support arts funding in the package, was upbeat about the bill’s progress.

“It’s not a perfect bill,” Leaf said, “but there’s $100 million for wildlife habitat. That’s huge. Over 25 years, it’s $2.5 billion. That’s huge. For sportsmen, this is it, this is the bill.”

Steve Morse, executive director of the 80-group Minnesota Environmental Partnership, was positive as well.

“We have a deal,” he said. “We’re moving forward and putting together our campaign infrastructure.”

CITIZENS’ COUNCIL

There is other unfinished business on the bill as well.

Lawmakers didn’t address the need for a citizens’ council to oversee the wildlife habitat portion of the bill, formally called the Heritage Enhancement Fund.

This is a critical need for the bill because Minnesota’s hunters and anglers no longer trust lawmakers to wisely plan for and fund our natural resources. The constitutional amendment is needed precisely because the Legislature has failed time after time to adequately fund and strategically protect our natural resources.

“The critical missing element is the citizens’ council,” Duggan said.

The challenge of convincing lawmakers a citizens’ council is needed waits until February. An independent and bipartisan task force, the Minnesota Conservation Legacy Council, already has outlined the need for a citizens’ council. Its report should frame next year’s debate.

I haven’t been a fan of the arts and culture aspect of the constitutional amendment, believing Minne-sota arts and culture don’t face the crisis that our environment does. But the amendment would not have gotten to this point without its arts supporters, nor without the ardent support of environmental groups.

Those interests now join Minnesota’s hunters and anglers in an unlikely coalition to pass the most important piece of natural-resources legislation of my generation.

Chris Niskanen can be reached at [email protected] or 651-228-5524.

Thanks Jon..

Did anything happen on the two line proposal?

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Portable ice fishing shelters that aren’t left overnight on lakes no longer require a license, saving owners the annual $11.50 fee. Portable shelter owners have complained for years about paying for the license since they’re not staying overnight on lakes. However, permanent shelters, whether with wheels or skids, still need a fish-house or dark-house license if they stay on the lake overnight.

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This will cause some confusion unless it is reworded to say portables left overnight unattended

Thanks for the updates!

Thanks Jon.
Thanks, Bill

I suspect this one was being broken already on a regular basis, but at least they are recognizing that most fisherman can be responsible before returning an out-of-season fish to water.

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Anglers who catch a fish out of season or outside other legal limits have a new definition for how long they can hold it before putting it back into the water. The new definition of “immediately released” or “immediately returned to water” allows anglers enough time to identify, unhook, measure and photograph a fish. It does not allow an angler to put the fish on a stringer or in a livewell, cooler or bucket.

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