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Posts: 141
Location: Minnetonka | So, I recently heard about a group of people in the TC Metro who scout the shallow weeds at night with a spotlight. They throw baits at the big ones only and have some impressive catches. This may be old news to some, and please no names, just wondering what your thoughts are on this. Apparently, it's legal? Do you think it's ethical? Don't shoot the messenger. |
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Posts: 1168
| I’ve shined fish but rarely when they were in season and I never had any fishing gear in my boat. These were basically spawning surveys either endorsed by the DNR or for my own personal curiosity. For years I’ve shined for pike right at ice out on a specific lake to learn more about the population dynamics in that body of water.
I’ll also admit to shining shallow muskies while they were in season but again I’ve been very intentional about not having any rods or baits of any size on my boat when I’ve done this. |
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Posts: 8782
| I used to do this a lot as a kid. I'd quickly scan the area with a spotlight, wait 10 minutes and them cast in the area where I saw fish. It was very effective. Legal? Not sure on that. Ethical? I guess it's not much different than casting at fish when you see them during the day. If it's unethical to find them with a spotlight, is it unethical to find them with your electronics? |
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Posts: 2327
Location: Chisholm, MN | Same thing as going to look at them during the day. Shinning them doesn't mean you can go back and catch them later either. |
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Posts: 68
| It's great for location fish and schooled shad. Did it all the time on Kinkaid. Definitely need to kill the light and give them a few minutes tp adjust to the dark again. |
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Posts: 343
| We have some locals who shine spawning walleyes and begin dragging swimbaits with lots of jerks through the area the fish are located at. They post some impressive photos of their "catches" online. I'm not sure all the muskie shiners are ethical either, so I'm not a fan. |
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Posts: 815
Location: Waukee, IA | Legal? Check local listings.
Ethical? No, but that doesn't stop people from doing it |
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Posts: 141
Location: Minnetonka | Update to this...It is most definitely illegal in MN |
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Posts: 1000
| Using a light to spot fish is illegal in MN as of a couple years ago.
https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/rlp/regulations/fishing/fishing_regs.p...
Page 33.
There's a guy who does this on Lake Minnetonka. Based on his lunge log entries, he must do pretty well...
Edited by tolle141 8/3/2018 12:04 PM
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Posts: 1000
| ulbian - 8/2/2018 2:27 PM
I’ve shined fish but rarely when they were in season and I never had any fishing gear in my boat. These were basically spawning surveys either endorsed by the DNR or for my own personal curiosity. For years I’ve shined for pike right at ice out on a specific lake to learn more about the population dynamics in that body of water.
I’ll also admit to shining shallow muskies while they were in season but again I’ve been very intentional about not having any rods or baits of any size on my boat when I’ve done this.
I'd say there's a difference between shining for curiosity and using it to actively target fish. MN DNR specifically prohibits using it as a tactic when fishing conventionally (not archery) |
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Location: MN | Minnesota...the land of too many silly fish and game laws. |
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Posts: 897
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The regs book says this, the statute I found does not. The statute is the law, not the regs book. Unless I'm missing another statute or rule, it is legal to spot fish using a light unless you're spearing.
97C.335 USE OF ARTIFICIAL LIGHTS TO TAKE FISH PROHIBITED.
(a) A person may not use artificial lights to lure or attract fish or to see fish in the water while spearing, except that while angling or spearing, a person may:
Edited by whynot 8/3/2018 1:17 PM
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Posts: 1168
| tolle141 - 8/3/2018 1:25 PM
ulbian - 8/2/2018 2:27 PM
I’ve shined fish but rarely when they were in season and I never had any fishing gear in my boat. These were basically spawning surveys either endorsed by the DNR or for my own personal curiosity. For years I’ve shined for pike right at ice out on a specific lake to learn more about the population dynamics in that body of water.
I’ll also admit to shining shallow muskies while they were in season but again I’ve been very intentional about not having any rods or baits of any size on my boat when I’ve done this.
I'd say there's a difference between shining for curiosity and using it to actively target fish. MN DNR specifically prohibits using it as a tactic when fishing conventionally (not archery )
That’s why I leave my rods on shore. Then it’s pretty black and white. Someone could shine fish, have rods in the boat, and cast at those fish but when questioned they can play the “uh, I wasn’t fishing for them” card. That card is dealt from the the same deck that the pre-muskie season “pike” fishermen throwing 10 inch baits is from. No rods in the boat, no need to explain that a gray area is ok. |
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Posts: 20219
Location: oswego, il | I have read on another site where people have done it on a lake in SE Wisconsin. Site seeing they said it was like looking in an aquarium. |
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Posts: 155
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I've seen A LOT of guy's fishing with there head lamps on, on Minnetonka at night, but I've never seen a boat with an actual spot light searching for fish(I'm not saying that its not happening).
I wonder if fishing with your head lamp on would be considered illegal then??
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Posts: 1000
| T.Carlson - 8/5/2018 6:18 AM
I've seen A LOT of guy's fishing with there head lamps on, on Minnetonka at night, but I've never seen a boat with an actual spot light searching for fish (I'm not saying that its not happening ).
I wonder if fishing with your head lamp on would be considered illegal then??
Headlamps is for clearing weeds, changing baits, moving around in the boat. I'm not describing that. I'm talking about the guy who moves around the shallows with a powerful hand-held and doesn't cast unless he sees a fish.
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Posts: 1828
| flashlight and eyesight - "unethical"
Side imaging or 360deg sonar - "smart fishing" |
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Posts: 504
Location: Ludington, MI | I like it. I may try it this week. Temps are borderline high for casting, so probably just a scouting trip. I know the bowfishers in Michigan see them from time to time. |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | jaultman - 8/7/2018 12:18 PM
flashlight and eyesight - "unethical"
Side imaging or 360deg sonar - "smart fishing"
'Shining' has a social negative attached due to hunting that has the tendency to transfer through to fishing regs, I believe. |
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Posts: 3868
| I agree with Eaddict above. Did a lot of night fishing on a certain small muskie lake in SW MI, and if the water was flat always shined the water after I finished fishing and was on the way back to the landing. Saw a bunch of fish every time, mostly low 30"s. Had one fish chase the light beam, no kidding, as I move the light it followed and quickly stopped again in the light spot. Never shined before or while fishing, tho, cause it didn't feel right to me on such a small lake. Fair chase issues, I guess. On the other hand seeing the fish encouraged me to come back and try again but with presentations different from what didn't move those fish. Plus, saw some tanker walleye slinking along the bottom that I didn't know were so prominent in the lake. The walleye changed my approach such that I would hit the water around 4am and fish walleye till first daylight then switch over to muskies for a few hours. Helped me land on better numbers of muskies and for the first time I was occasionally boating 4-6# walleye, like one big eye per 10 hours or so. Never would have learned to refine my approach without shining. |
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Shining Fish at Night?