Tying up Walleyes

Randy Wieland wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>shamus wrote:</div>
Why are we referring to the them as “a guide service“? Name names, if I ever decide to us a guide service on the waters in Wisconsin and/or Minnesota I sure has hell don’t want to be using the guys that are involved in this practice. Disgusting.

I would be cautious with stating names at this point. I don’t believe in it, and i think there is a very unethical abuse of a resource when these fish are abused in this manor.
BUT who has witnessed this? Can you prove they did it? Are you posting a name on hearsay?
I also question the “make a law”. Again, be careful in what you ask for. I agree having a fish tied up and unattended for multiple days is not ethical. However, what about the guy that goes up to a resort or his/her cabin and has a fish basket or crate at the end of his dock. Puts fish in there over the coarse of a day and intends to clean them that night. Leaves for a couple hours and the game warden happens to come by and take a peek. Did the guy really do anything wrong???But a lw to cover one mis-hap can have crappy circumstances when applied across the playing field for all. Or how about the guy that puts a fish in the livewell to get pictures later that day or to keep the fish healthy while getting his camera out? We just need to make sure we don’t turn everyone into a criminal

These are some good points and I’ve witnessed use of a large fish basket and a live well to keep fish alive for extended periods of time. Reasons: for consumption (wait until they get their limit so they can clean them all at once) or for the accumulation of fish for pictures. However the issue is in all these cases the fishes mortality rate goes up vs. an immediate release. Personally I think people keep to many big fish. Sometimes I feel like I’m wasting my time releasing walleyes over 22″ and pike over 30″, when I see others going out of their way to keep the biggest fish possible.

big_g wrote:

What a joke, if you did it and it is legal and you are not ashamed, admit. If you are ashamed, deny and threaten people that expose you…… which comes back top my first thoughts…. “What a joke”

I have stayed out of this conversation since it came up weeks ago and will not post on it again. But–I will say a couple cents worth. as my tongue is bleeding from biting on it so long…

I don’t necessarily agree with tying up fish for weeks in public waters etc.–for any reason.

The fact is, there are DNR permits issued for “holding”/transporting fish for photo/media/promo endeavors for entities or the like to do related business activity. Ethical or not–permits are there for anyone who meets a certain LEGAL criteria.

I have been hired to do photo shoots in the past–fishing related–by various publications and or fishing industry related companies. To get photo’s of an acceptable quality to be published as a cover shot or featured photo in an ad or article, the best of the best in the photography business have to be hired. We have a “shot sheet” (script of sorts) to get done per the job at hand.

So, if I am paying around $500-$600 per hour to get that shot sheet done at the quality level I need and in a timely budget related fashion, I WILL have the fish in the live-well BEFORE the camera guy or gal get’s there. Most of the time, we will fish earlier in the day, stock pile the fish we need ( if we are lucky to get them) and then call the camera’s in to do the job.

I’ve taken two days or more to get enough quality film for one TV show or the like–22 minutes of edited finished product. Sometimes you get lucky and get the shots the first hour–but as is very obvious/common sense, you are not going get 22 minutes of perfect usable film in 22 minutes ever. Hunting shows must be even harder to get done.

In the real world, MOST advertising is staged, scripted, edited or the like. Be it 4×4’s going through deep snow/climbing hills or whatever…even when, in fact, they get stuck sometimes during the shoot–edited away from the public/consumers eye. Right or wrong–ethical or not–that is the real world of creating sales impacting advertising. It is all about getting the best shots for the least amount of cost–that will sell–as that is name of the game–like it or not.

Tying up fish in a public waters ( not in boats live-well or private holding tank)? I don’t like that…and will leave this at that. I will not debate my thoughts here. They are what they are–right or wrong in others eyes…

Fire away! lol

Doing photo shoots, to me, is different than parading/representing big walleyes as a fresh catch… or posing them with 3 different people, like they caught them to further their business. If one is not ashamed and above board so to speak, they wouldn’t have to threaten others when confronted about it. I could hardly compare a hunting show, even with a high fence on private property, to tying off walleyes in a public lake. Many times, I have heard the analogy, “they always get the deer on the last night, at the last minute”…. of course, because after they harvest, that “becomes” the last day…

Greed and money can and do ruin just about everything!

I find this disgusting.

But legally, is it different than keeping fish in a live well for 2-3 days? We frequently do this on lakes with narrow slots so that we can just clean the fish once.

Are you leaving fish in your livewell and only cleaning whatever fish you are able to keep, and then eating them that night? Then the next day fish and add to to your fish in the livewell to hopefully limit out?

DaveB wrote:

I find this disgusting.

But legally, is it different than keeping fish in a live well for 2-3 days? We frequently do this on lakes with narrow slots so that we can just clean the fish once.

Who says this is legal? Is the theory here that a fish on a line under the ice has been reduced to possession, so it’s the same as a fish in the freezer? Even when the guy is nowhere near the fish on the line? Has that theory been challenged in a court? Sounds pretty far out there to me if the guy is leaving them out there when they’ve left the body of water entirely — it’s obviously a different deal than taking the fish home. I would think that applying the unattended line or wanton waste regs to this situation would make more sense than allowing it under a possession theory. Regardless, I’ve got a pretty low opinion of this kind of behavior.

john23 wrote:

Who says this is legal? Is the theory here that a fish on a line under the ice has been reduced to possession, so it’s the same as a fish in the freezer? Even when the guy is nowhere near the fish on the line? Has that theory been challenged in a court?

Was wondering that myself-fish on a string or in a live-well, or a freezer for that matter are under possession and subject to daily bag limits and possession limits. Are they not?

To me at least, it’s not ethically acceptable to make my fish “suffer” any longer than necessary; no different than the desired “clean kill” ethics applied to any game species we hunt. Different/same, I believe that-even if it’s “just” a fish. We all have different levels of ethical comfort.

Randy is right. BE VERY careful what you ask for. Do you really think a handful of fish are going to make a differance anyways? In my opinion there are too many laws now, just because of 1 or 2 problems.

I do and will continue to keep fish in a live basket until the trip is over if I’m staying over night or multiple nights. Not for culling, for ease of cleaning and transport of fish.
Its to bad like always the few unethical ruin it for everyone else!

tso wrote:

I do and will continue to keep fish in a live basket until the trip is over if I’m staying over night or multiple nights. Not for culling, for ease of cleaning and transport of fish.
Its to bad like always the few unethical ruin it for everyone else!

I have done this twice on a farm pond in Iowa. The first time I had them on a stringer around the dock (when I was probably 10 years old) and an hour later there was nothing left but their heads on the string. The second time I put them in a wire basket and at the end of the day there was a hole in the basket and no fish. I’m assuming a turtle ate them the first time, and a turtle bit through the wire to get to them the 2nd time.

If a guide is worth his salt, his integrity shines over and above his big fish photo shoots.
I’ve hired a bunch of guides in my life. I can honestly say that I’ve had some of my best times talking with the guide as opposed to reeling in the big one or worse yet having the big one suddenly appear in the boat.
IMHO a guide’s first priority is safety, but after that it is to impart knowledge and tactics to make me a better fisherman on that body of water.
I want to catch big fish, but I want the experience to be genuine.

(this is in absolute conflict with my philosophy on fake boobs , just sayin…)

I like turtles

desperado wrote:

I like turtles

LOL

desperado wrote:

I like turtles

Not if they eat the fish off your stringer!

Even then

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yep

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Motor boats ?