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Location: NE Wisconsin | Read last paragraph!!
NRB approves putting motor trolling compromise on spring hearing ballot
News Release Published: August 16, 2013 by the Central Office
Contact(s): Mike Staggs, DNR fisheries director, 608-267-0796
MADISON – The state Natural Resources Board has approved placing on the 2014 Spring Fish and Wildlife Hearings a compromise engineered by the Conservation Congress that would allow anglers statewide to use a fishing technique called motor trolling, in which anglers drag a line and bait behind their boat while it is under power by a gas or electric motor. Motor trolling with up to three lines per person is allowed in many areas of Wisconsin but prohibited in many others.
Under the proposal, anglers in 56 counties could troll with up to three lines per angler behind a boat. In the remaining counties, anglers could troll with one line per angler except on those lakes where trolling with three lines is already legal and would remain so.
“DNR will be asking anglers to weigh in on the Conservation Congress compromise next spring,” says Mike Staggs, Wisconsin’s fisheries director. “Because it’s different than what was on the 2013 spring hearings, we want a chance for everyone to get a look at it and tell us what they think.”
Conservation Congress members working with DNR fish biologists developed and adopted the compromise measure at their annual May meeting after a split vote at the April 2013 Spring Fish and Wildlife Hearings on a DNR-proposed trolling rule that would have allowed trolling with three lines on all waters statewide. Voters in a majority of counties approved the DNR proposal but the measure was defeated in the statewide count. The Natural Resources Board initially approved the Conservation Congress compromise proposal in May but decided instead to place it on the 2014 Spring Hearings after hearing concerns that the proposal needed additional public input.
Staggs reminded anglers that with this action, the state’s current trolling regulations will remain in effect for the 2014 season with many waters remaining closed to motor trolling. “We know that some musky anglers would like to troll a sucker or minnow behind their boat while they are using a motor to position the boat for casting. That is still a form of motor trolling and will remain illegal in waters close to trolling.” Anglers should check the current regulations on trolling for the waters they plan to fish. |
WI DNR News Release on Motor Trolling (last para)