When I was a kid……………….

OK I have to ask this. When I was a kid my father and everyone else I knew used to throw the rough fish on shore to get rid of them. (sheep head, carp, suckers,ect) I was talking to some friends about it and was told that it is illegal to throw any fish rough or not on shore to get rid of them? Just thought I would ask. Troy Pike <~~~Yes thats my real name..lol

Yup…. It used to be illegal to throw them back, that law changed, and now it is illegal to wantingly waste fish, it’s right in the regulations. Heck I know we’d toss them back back then anyways, there was no reason to just kill them, that you were suppose to throw them in the trash and not leave them on the shore, that has never been legal. AFAIK

Yep, a change in the value of all fish.

Good Fishing,
Mike

I never thrown dogfish and sheepies on shore

Or run them over w/my truck at night

Troy, your last name fits you perfect. It appears you are a good pike fisherman by the size of that gal you caught. Way to go! Even rough fish have value it has been found and honestly they are fun to battle. Kids don’t care so much about what kind of fish is on the end of their line. They enjoy plain o’l catching fish. After all, who doesn’t enjoy the battle of a 20 lb carp on the end of your line or the battle that a 2 or 3 lb. white bass puts up. We adults can learn something here from our kids. In fact, even In-fisherman has realized the fish catching value of rough fish and are doing articles in their magazine about them. ”We” are the ones who puts the name of rough fish on them when really they are just ”other” fish. Carp are ”the” big game fish over in Europe, a prize fish , that they have special rods built for and contest for catching them like we do walleyes, bass and crappies except they are fishing from shore. We need to get back to the basics of ”good o’l fishing” and enjoy ALL the fish that the good Lord put into the waters for us to catch. We miss out on so much when we don’t appreciate everything that swims in the water. Thanks, Bill

I was about 13 when I saw my first carp. A friend and I were sitting on a dock with our feet dangling in some pretty green water. We were fishing with night crawlers when my partner hooked something very big. We had no idea what was at the end of the line, but you never saw two kids jump up so quick as we did when this ugly pair of lips came up out of the murcky water. In hind site, it was probably 3 to 5 lbs, but it was all ugly. It’s one of my early fishing experiences I will never forget.

Lew, you reminded me of my experiance that I won’t ever forget. Hooked into a carp with my fly rod. It was amazing! 3lb test tippet on a 8 weight rod. My line was going out to the left and I could see a swirl 30 feet in the other direction. After 20 minute I got her in. I had tears running down my cheeks cause I was laughing so hard. Course my dad wasn’t helping matters. 22 lbs. This kid didn’t care that it was a carp…I was 29 years at the time.

Yeah my buddy use to do that. Each rough fish he caught, he’d pull their gills with his finger and throw them back. One day I got a Walleye, who swolled my hook, so I was gonna keep him, and I pulled his gills and my buddy got pissed, so I told him you do it, then I do it. Ever since, when Ive been with him, he has not done it.

A bad day of fishing is always better than a good day of school or work. [gee, did I say that?] My youngest son Nate use to skip school to go fishing both with me and without me. He owned his first 2 boats before he bought a car. When he got his license he use to wait til I went to work and then would tow his boat to the river with my tow vehicle and I always heard about all the days I was spending at Red Wing fishing cause my tow vehicle then, a blue Ford Tempo, was always seen at Colvil Park ramp. Then one time, back when Steve Vick [Everts Resort Manager], worked for the DNR he saw me pulling my boat out of the water one day and said ”I see you are using Nates car” when I was really using my car. I had a deal set up with the teachers that every Friday they would send home a report that all Nates work was done or else he wasn’t fishing that weekend. Nate spent alot of time fishing instead of hanging around with his ”old” friends who were drinking and using dope so as long as he chose to stay away from them [he even switched schools to get away from them] and was hooked on fishing only and his school work was done I never complained too much about fishing on school time. Maybe not the best thing for a Dad to do but it kept him out of trouble and besides his Dad was hooked on fishing too so I couldn’t help myself. Fishing, the best darn addiction around. And ya know, when it comes to fishing I’m still a kid. Still spend alot more money on boats than I do cars, more on fishing equipement than on household things, all vacation days are fishing ones. Will I ever grow up? NOT!

Thanks, Bill