duck opener

Has it been two years yet Dirk??

I still haven’t seen the wording in an official DNR document.

Actually, I’m very surprised that it didn’t get lost by now.

Thanks for the heads up.

I’ve come full circle on the whole bullhead length issue. The last couple of years I have had better luck with smaller bullheads so I’m not even sure I would want to use 8″ or larger bullheads. I do like cut bullhead for cut bait so if the rule change comes through at least I would have access to bigger bullheads for cut bait.

I think we’re going on three years now. Not sure if the glass is half empty or half full. If they put it in the book they have to be trying to get it through (I’m going for half full ).

Lots of good cat guys like the smaller bullheads. Not me. My preferred size – back when I could use them – was about 7-8 inches. 4-6 inchers caught fewer fish in my boat. Why? I have no idea.

There are lots of other reasons why the rule should be changed but I guess we’ve talked about them over and over. I just wish it would get done with so we can get on with changing the one line on rivers law for you poor MN river guys

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s the show was starting, I asked my daughter who would catch more fish, Steve or James. She picked Steve. I laughed cuz I had insider info on who would catch the biggest. Thanks for another informative and exciting show!!!

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Atta girl….Kooty, who do I make the check out to?

That sure was a fun day. That is one of my favorite ways to fish walleyes and we had a heck of a day without a doubt! Thanks again James for letting me be part of it!
My heart sank immediately once I saw how big that fish was at first glances and knowing that the cameras were rolling!

If that did not scratch cabin fever a bit….not sure what will!

They’ll be online here to be watched any time you want.

move to wisconsin Dirk! How are those little girls doing? not so little anymore?

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move to wisconsin Dirk!

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thats what I am trying to do! heck, I’ll probably be your neighbor!

Correct me if I am wrong, but the regulations you must follow depend on your state of residency. For example: a WI guy could use Bgills on the Mississippi boder waters, but the MN guy in a boat next to him cannot. Right?

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Correct me if I am wrong, but the regulations you must follow depend on your state of residency. For example: a WI guy could use Bgills on the Mississippi boder waters, but the MN guy in a boat next to him cannot. Right?

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Not exactly right… You can use those other baits on the WI side of the river(may be special restrictions, check regs)… if you cross the line you must use what is allowed by MN regs. (95% sure this is correct). You dont want to be approached by a MN CO on the MN side of the river with a sunfish on your hook.

Border waters regs are interpreted differently and are cause for extensive debate each year.

I have always used the approach that it is best to follow your own states rules when on border water. The only exception that I use on this is the multiple line law. Why not increase you chance at a fish with two lines in the water??

Here we go again…… I thought I was not allowed to use Sunfish being a Mn licensed angler.

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Here we go again…… I thought I was not allowed to use Sunfish being a Mn licensed angler.

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OK.. Here is the simple explanation…

WI RULES: WI SIDE OF THE RIVER
MN RULES: MN SIDE OF THE RIVER

SEE STATE RULES AND REGS FOR DEFINITIONS

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OK.. Here is the simple explanation…

WI RULES: WI SIDE OF THE RIVER
MN RULES: MN SIDE OF THE RIVER

SEE STATE RULES AND REGS FOR DEFINITIONS

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Lets see if it’s that easy.

Seriously
We gonna do this again?

Just in case there is a few newer folks reading this thread…

If your from MN, you might want to follow the MN rules no matter which side of the river your on…unless you have some extra cash.

Page 42 of the 08-09 MN regs:

O
ther Borders: Minnesota has a reciprocal agreement with each of its bordering states: Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Residents of Minnesota or a bordering state may fish throughout the waters bordering the two states only if they possess a valid resident license from their resident state. Lake Superior is not covered under this agreement (see pages 16-19). Nonresident anglers who have a nonresident
license from either Minnesota or the bordering state may also fish throughout the border waters between the two states. Anglers may launch and fish from either shore and may transport their catch by the most direct route to the state in which they are licensed. This includes children who are not required to have a license.
When Minnesota’s fishing regulations differ from a bordering state’s regulations, Minnesota residents and persons fishing under a Minnesota non-resident license must comply with the Minnesota regulations and may not exercise more liberal fishing privileges in the waters of the bordering state. Please check other state regulation booklets and the Experimental and Special Regulations section of this booklet (pages 20-41) for different regulations that might apply.
Unless otherwise noted, all general regulations relating to angling methods, licensing, seasons, limits, possession and transportation of fish, apply to border waters (see pages 8-15). While on or fishing these waters, all fish must be within the specified length limits regardless of where caught.

I hope those special regs mean 2 lines for us Minnesotans.

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move to wisconsin Dirk! How are those little girls doing? not so little anymore?

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You got that right. A freshman and a 6th grader. How about you? Going for a third? Fourth? It’s been a long time…

Border Reg thread “Steve D”

….I guess I could have mentioned I was specifically talking about Mississippi Border waters (between the rail tracks). Not any arbitrary water in WI or MN.

thanks for the link guys.

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move to wisconsin Dirk! How are those little girls doing? not so little anymore?

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You got that right. A freshman and a 6th grader. How about you? Going for a third? Fourth? It’s been a long time…

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we have 3 boys and a baby on the way… Jenny has her fingers crossed for pink…. due in august

Dang!! You’re gonna have to get a bigger cat boat…

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move to wisconsin Dirk! How are those little girls doing? not so little anymore?

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At this point, with the VHS rules, catfishing is darn near illegal in WI.

You can’t remove any live fish from any waterway. So catching some bullheads or bluegills for live bait out of the little farm pond behind your house is illegal. Having a bait tank setup with live fish is illegal.

The only cutbait or live bait you can transfer is store bought, certified VHS free minnows. And then even that bait can be used one time. Once you put it in your boat and go out on the water, none of that bait can be removed from the waterway. So you can’t take any leftover cutbait home to freeze. Can’t take any minnows home to put in a tank.

You pretty much have to catch your bait from the same waterway and use it all up before taking you boat out of the water.

Right now, I’d love to be in MN where I can just buy bullheads and go fishing.

Rich – what’s up with the VHS stuff and no live bait tanks? Does that include aquariums too?

Maybe you need to move to IL where it’s basically legal to catch any baits via hook and line and use for baits (as long as you observe any site specific regs. where they were caught and where they’re being used). And I thought the MN guys had it tough not being able to use sunfish/bluegills….

Shawn

so boys, how’d ya do?
i didnt make it out on saturday, cuz i was in a wedding in owatanna. but i made up for it on sunday. got up early with my dad and uncle – and his buddy kirby (pictured) and we hit our favorite woody hole. 20 mins after legal shooting we each had our limit of woodies within 2 passes of birds. not wanting our hunt to be over so soon, we opted to sit and watch the birds work for a couple more hours and hopefully see some greenheads or possibly teal. well no luck… so we ended up with 6 woodies, 2 hens, 2 immature drakes, and 2 really nice looking drakes.

kirby had a ball!!! 4 of the 6 were blind retrieves. my dad and i managed to pick off 2 birds while he was out retrieving our first ones! they wanted into our spread bad! there was a lot of booming around us as well.. hopefully everyone had a great weekend, but this one was a fun one for us! the birds cooperated nicely.

cant wait for duck fajitas this week!

It’s amazing how our hunt mirrored yours. If it wasn’t for wood ducks Sunday morning we would have gone bust. We could have counted the number of Mallards seen on two hands.

The bag was mostly immature drakes so I’ve got to believe the wood duck hatch in the state was excellent by any standard. Too bad MN didn’t go for the 3 woodies per day limit as the flyway council allowed, eh? Shooting was light on Saturday and moderate on Sunday but never heavy in the Upsala area.

I would expect that what’s left of the wood ducks will be hunkered down deep in the backwaters as the rain of late has overflowed many banks of sloughs and creeks.

sweet!!!

you are right, that mn woodie hatch was awesome! i know we had our 3 woodie boxes at the cabin chalk full of lil ones this year. i should have taken a couple pics this summer, but i was too busy fishing!!

yeah im pizzed about the 2 woodie limit too ..

mallards? what are those?! i saw a grand total of 3 yesterday morning! but to offset that, we seriously had no less than 2 dozen woodies splash down in our spread after we shot our limit!!

a few small (10 birds or less) flocks of geese flew overhead as well, but i dont care for eating them so i dont shoot em. if a stray one manages to fly into the spread, its dog food!

saturday, we ended up with out 12 for two guys, sunday was a different story, all the retards were shooting at birds 100 yards up so nothing would work. ended up with one teal. found a little slough in some recently opened area tht evidently didnt get hunted. ended up with 12 mallards 5 woodies and a teal this morning