Thanks for the responses. I asked the question because a couple buddies of mine were down at red wing and saw a group of guys who had hit their limit and would then throw back their smallest if they caught a sauger that was a tad bit bigger. Seems to me like the proper thing to do is not to sort fish for the purpose of eating.
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If I remember correctly its not in the booklet, I heard it was up to the disgrestion of the co weather or not you got tickets for example 3 guys fishing in the same boat while 1 fish short of a 3 man limit, 2 guys are potentialy illegal and can get tickets or so I have heard
I believe party fishing is legal just like hunting.
From MN DNR Fishing Regs. – A party is defined as a group of two or more persons:
– angling from a single watercraft; or
– if not in a watercraft, maintaining unaided visual and vocal contact
with each other.
• The total number of fish possessed by the party may not exceed the
combined limits of the numbers of the party.
• Each party member may transport only an individual limit of fish.
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I personally think if you have to keep 14″fish instead of 15″ that’s pretty desparate !!
Really ??? What’s the difference ? If a 14″ sauger is legal it’s a keeper wether it’s a 8″ sauger or 24″ sauger it’s a legal fish. At what point does desperation become a factor ?
Jesse I think what he ment is desperate for fish period, you get what an extra oz. of meat off a fish an inch longer.
Your a stupid person if you trade your fish out of he livewell for bigger fish PERIOD!!!!!!!!! 
Thank you Walleyeben, That’s exactly what I meant, I’m not a proponent of keeping females either but I am in favor of releaseing all sauger under 15″.Just my personal belief.
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If you were fishing Red Wing and had a limit of saugers in the livewell all at 14 inches and you catch a 16 incher and put it in the box and throw one of the smaller ones back is this ethical?
I would be more worried about all the limits being taken from a congregated school of migrating/spawning fish.
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2011 MN fishing regs, pg 9
• Once a daily or possession limit of fish has been reached, no culling or live well sorting is allowed. No culling is allowed on Mille Lacs or Wisconsin border waters (see pages 25 and 58).
This is crystal clear!
YOU CAN cull if you haven’t reached your limit. You just can’t cull if you have reached your limit.
There is no law written stating you cannot fish or target a species of fish if you have reached your limit.
If this so-called “zero tolerance” for culling was true, no fishing tournament could ever be performed.
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2011 MN fishing regs, pg 9
• Once a daily or possession limit of fish has been reached, no culling or live well sorting is allowed. No culling is allowed on Mille Lacs or Wisconsin border waters (see pages 25 and 58).
This is crystal clear!
YOU CAN cull if you haven’t reached your limit. You just can’t cull if you have reached your limit.There is no law written stating you cannot fish or target a species of fish if you have reached your limit.
If this so-called “zero tolerance” for culling was true, no fishing tournament could ever be performed.
Gary did you read what you posted ?
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No culling is allowed on Mille Lacs or Wisconsin border waters
I think tournaments that get permits are allowed to cull that could be one of the permit stipulations.
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I think tournaments that get permits are allowed to cull that could be one of the permit stipulations.
No. Tourney permits do not allow culling. Tourney permits typically have a possession limit less than the state limit. A cull situation is never an isse.
But the point Gary is making is this. Any live release tourney is basically a cull. Meaning you took possession of a fish, carried it in your live well and after weigh in, the fish was released. On Mille Lacs and Border waters, once a fish is reduced to possession, you must kill it. That fish is not to be released.
-J.
So what happens in a catch and kill tournament? For the most part the fish are given away afterwards but the angler has not properly gifted them to anyone. Who ever is receiving them must be in possession of well over their limit. Do they address this in the permit for the tournament? It would be hard to believe there are not laws addressing this. We have laws for everything.
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Do they address this in the permit for the tournament?
Typically yes. The TD usually has a specific time limit to disperse fish. Many times fish are donated to local food shelf of old folks home.
-J.
It is either May 1st or June 1st where catch an kill is mandatory on the border waters of the Mississippi River
I think Jon and Gary have done a good job of explaining the application of the regulations at issue, as I understand them.
If you have a limit in your livewell and keep fishing, but don’t keep any more fish and don’t cull fish from your livewell, I really doubt you’d have a problem no matter what the law says on the subject. That question might even be up to the warden you run into, and the prosecutor and judge you get if you challenge the citation. I don’t see that specific issue as an ethical question either way, just a legal one. By the way, the legal limit on Pool 2 is zero, but you can still fish it.
I also think this discussion really points out the value/ethic of keeping only what you’ll eat vs. following the letter of the law. For a lot of anglers, these kinds of questions never come up because they don’t keep any fish beyond what they’ll eat in the near future. It’s situations in which a guy seeks to exploit the letter of the law that you get into the gray areas. Laws are simply words on paper, and it’s difficult if not impossible to write most laws without creating interpretation issues. That’s what judges are for.
Something worth mentioning, I think: natives are allowed to harvest a quota every year. The natives follow the letter of the law just like anglers do — there are examples of anglers violating the laws, just like there are examples of natives violating the laws. Both situations are ugly, unsportsmanlike, unethical, etc. Waste and over-harvest/damage to the resource should be the points of concern in both cases. It’s hard for me to understand a position that says individual anglers should be allowed to keep a legal limit every day all season long, but native spearing/netting should stop. Both are supposedly managed by the law according to the harvest tolerance of the fishery at issue.
It’s my opinion that both native and angler harvest can be excessive and unethical when individuals exploit the letter of the law rather than harvesting fish in a very conservative/reasonable manner.
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If this so-called “zero tolerance” for culling was true, no fishing tournament could ever be performed.
In tournaments you dont have to cull because you can have a two man limit and only weigh five or six fish
As I explained to my daughter and I keep explaining to my FW, just because the speed “limit” is 65 does not mean you have to drive 65, you can go slower/keep less than a limit (that’s just as legal as taking home 6 fish). 
“Catmandoo”
I won’t say when but I took a couple of people fishing that were from out of state and they really are counting on catching a couple limis of walleyes for a fish fry for there extended family, the problem is the fish for the most part were to small, after trying several areas I then find a school of larger fish with the avg. size being 22″ and there biting like crazy, havin tossed several back, the guys wanting to bring home fish we started putting them in the livewell and before you know it we had 12 walleyes all over 20+ with the biggest one 26″, the guys were very happy and proud of there catch, a stringer like that doesn’t happen very often but when it does I feel bad and ashamed, If I fish with family or friends 18″ is the cut off, nothing over goes in the box unless its hooked deep, I prefer under 17″ myself. It just seems when clients are paying I let them keep what ever size they want long as it is legal, what is the right thing to do in that situation?
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I won’t say when but I took a couple of people fishing that were from out of state and they really are counting on catching a couple limis of walleyes for a fish fry for there extended family, the problem is the fish for the most part were to small, after trying several areas I then find a school of larger fish with the avg. size being 22″ and there biting like crazy, havin tossed several back, the guys wanting to bring home fish we started putting them in the livewell and before you know it we had 12 walleyes all over 20+ with the biggest one 26″, the guys were very happy and proud of there catch, a stringer like that doesn’t happen very often but when it does I feel bad and ashamed, If I fish with family or friends 18″ is the cut off, nothing over goes in the box unless its hooked deep, I prefer under 17″ myself. It just seems when clients are paying I let them keep what ever size they want long as it is legal, what is the right thing to do in that situation?
Encourage releasing fish over 20. If the customer caught it, it really is their decision, you can only advise.
Set the expectations before the trip, maybe even at time of booking. Even when I take people with me just for fun, they know in advance what the expectations are.
On the other side, I don’t make a living doing this so I may not be the one to speak for everybody. All I know for sure is, I set the rules for my boat regardless of who’s in it. I took the VP of a customers company out last year, and he knew what to expect before we took off. He released a 22″ that I know he probably would’ve liked to eat, but he released it without confrontation because I explained what we were trying to do before that fish ever got to the boat.
Had a guide in Florida tell me if I wanted fish to eat he would take me back to the dock and get me set up with someone else. Told him that was all right I wanted big fish. We caught huge Redfish that day and I was more than happy.
Guess what Im saying is if you are not into keeping those bigger fish putting your foot down ahead of time is what is needed. Not getting those guys out in the boat and then having to explain this to them I think you could be getting into a bad situation.
i agree with Mike W and it’s what i’ve done both as a client and a guide. When in FL, it’s hard to pass up a few meals, so we came off of our big fish-release time and went to a ‘eater’ hole and i went home with some grouper and ???, happy as a clam.
I think Mike is right on. Musky guides are a great example. These days, it’s hard to find a decent guide in MN who will let you keep a muskie. I applaud your efforts to release fish over 17-18″. I wish all walleye guides imposed rules like that!
I just read a post about how the fishing is “too good” on Mille Lacs. Maybe the 18″-28″ slot limit has something to do with that?!? If you couldn’t keep fish over 28″, it might be even better! Kills me to hear that the resort owners want to exceed the quota.
Release all the big ones, and tell anyone who comes in your boat “these are the rules” before you leave the doc.
Thanks guys, just going to set the rule before the trip and not waver!
I have mine posted mine on my website…yes there are people that want to keep cats.
After explaining “why” we want to release the fish over 10 pounds, no one asked to keep a fish.
We did keep a 15 pounder because it was hooked in the gills and it was going to die anyway.
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