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| Jump to page : 1 2 3 Now viewing page 3 [30 messages per page] Muskie Fishing -> General Discussion -> People trolling suckers behind the boat |
| Message Subject: People trolling suckers behind the boat | |||
Guest |
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| To follow the letter of the law, you should stop your trolling motor before casting, and only start it again after you've completed your retrieve. This is the letter of the law!! For those of you who think it's OK to cast while the trolling motor is propelling the boat, could we avoid "trolling" by jigging the sucker? What if we employ a repeating cycle of very slowly retrieving it and letting line back out? Should we all keep our trolling motors stowed while fishing in WI? As PointerPride told us, they're called TROLLING motors after all. What else could they possibly be for? | |||
| Anonymous |
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| No point anymore. Edited by Anonymous 11/5/2012 2:31 PM | |||
| Matt DeVos |
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Posts: 580 | Yep, this discussion comes up every fall. Fun stuff. I'm not vouching for the veracity of the quoted text. It's just what I've found--but it does make a whole lot of sense given the way the definitions are written. But based on the above interpretation, clearly you are allowed to use your trolling motor and slowly move around structure while fishing a line vertically, e.g., hanging a sucker over the side of the boat. Edit to add: Based on what the original poster said he was doing, I'd say that he was legal within the interpretation quoted above. Edited by Matt DeVos 11/5/2012 4:43 PM | ||
| sworrall |
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Posts: 32884 Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | 'DNR Law Enforcement policy is that some movement under power while position fishing will be acceptable and occasional deviation from vertical lines is expected. How much movement is some? Movement for up to several minutes may occasionally be necessary to reposition a fishing boat. Trailing a sucker or minnow behind a boat while casting an artificial lure with the use of a motor would not be authorized. Wardens should consider the totality of the circumstance in determining whether a violation has been committed.' Yep. That's the law and has been. Pulling your suckers along behind the boat/along side in the case of the rods in a rod holder over the side while casting and moving down the structure is not position fishing. That's moving down an edge or shoreline where the sucker is moving along at a speed (and distance) that's obviously not position fishing, which is what every single boat I have seen fishing suckers this Fall is doing. Drifting at the speed of the wind and adjusting very slowly to stay on a contour line is different entirely, that's legal and is under the position fishing definition. Slowly fishing around a structure is also OK, obviously, that's why the position fishing reg was drafted...mostly for vertical jigging for walleyes. THIS is legal: ' Using your motor to move around a structure, weed edges, rock bars, drop offs, while vertically jigging. Using your motor to slowly move around structure fishing with a bottom bouncer fished in a vertical or near vertical presentation- Operating your motor to maintain position.' Notice the lack of an additional rod trailing along behind the boat verbiage? Key to this is the paragraph describing what 'most of us' (whomever THAT is, Guest) actually do when sucker fishing while casting: THIS is illegal--'Trailing lines with live bait or artificial lures while engaged in casting and immediate retrieval of a different bait, lure or similar device while the motor is running.' I notice you didn't highlight this: 'Trailing a sucker or minnow behind a boat while casting an artificial lure with the use of a motor would not be authorized.' Says it's illegal clear as a bell, so how does one arrive at this: 'But based on the above interpretation, clearly you are allowed to use your trolling motor and slowly move around structure while fishing a line vertically, e.g., hanging a sucker over the side of the boat. ' Unless one is using a bottom bouncer or jigging the sucker, and NOT casting another lure or device and immediately retrieving while the motor is running...are you? There's your sign. Note the 'trailing lines' part. Note the reference to 'bottom bouncers and vertical jigging' in the position fishing reg. That's what I see is so clear, if you are obviously moving along structure under power casting and your sucker rod line isn't pretty consistently vertical (and it won't be if you are using your trolling motor to move along, and you are not holding the rod), and you are doing this:---'Trailing lines with live bait or artificial lures while engaged in casting and immediate retrieval of a different bait, lure or similar device while the motor is running.'-- You are trolling and that is what Muskie anglers fishing with Suckers DO, almost all the time. The main argument I have seen here mostly an attempt to subvert the law using weights to hold the line vertical, and/or comments from those who choose to ignore or continue to 'misinterpret' the regs. As I said...come on, you know if you are trolling or not. The warden won't watch your line, he will watch where your casts are landing and by that, even at quite a distance, can tell how fast you are advancing. Just trying to help keep anyone from getting up to a $350 plus ticket bending the regs to cover more water; but if you want to bend or break the law, heck, knock yourself out. People pass me all the time doing 80 mph on the 4 lanes, too. Bad law, and it needs to go, trolling up here should be legal. Not everyone living in the north woods agrees with me on that one. | ||
| Cowboyhannah |
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Posts: 1451 Location: Kronenwetter, WI | DeVos--thanks for that. Printing and keeping in my glove box. That's about how I understood it. | ||
| Guest |
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| Thanks, Devos. That's the way most of us understand it. | |||
| casting? |
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| Not trying to play devils advocate again, however a lengthy letter from a DNR warden, and a son that works for the DNR, clarifying the rule and describing in detail what would or wouldn't constitute a ticket pays no credence to the claims that the rule as is reads straightforward. Quite the opposite in fact. | |||
| Matt DeVos |
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Posts: 580 | sworrall - 11/5/2012 5:02 PM I notice you didn't highlight this: 'Trailing a sucker or minnow behind a boat while casting an artificial lure with the use of a motor would not be authorized.' Says it's illegal clear as a bell, so how does one arrive at this: 'But based on the above interpretation, clearly you are allowed to use your trolling motor and slowly move around structure while fishing a line vertically, e.g., hanging a sucker over the side of the boat. ' Steve, I agree that if someone is using their trolling motor to work down a weedline and has suckers hanging off the side of the boat, and has the trolling motor on constant, a warden is probably going to call that trolling. This is because the constant movement of the boat won't allow the sucker line(s) off the side of the boat to be vertical or near vertical to the water. The suckers will be trailing the majority of the time. If that is what most muskie anglers are doing, I think you're right. Lots of movement and trailing lines would almost always be trolling. On the other hand, if the trolling motor is used sparingly and/or in short bursts to slowly move along a weedline or breakline or whatever....and the suckers lines over the side stay vertical or near vertical most of the time....that's in the spirit of "position fishing" according to the quoted text above and its perfectly legal. Again, the difference is whether the boat is moving too much and therefore causing the lines to trail the boat....versus if the boat is moving minimally or slow enough such that the lines stay vertical or near vertical to the water. To put it more simply, the way I understand it is this: Too much forward (or backward) movement + trailing lines = trolling (illegal). Short bursts of movement or very slow movement + vertical lines = position fishing (legal).
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| sworrall |
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Posts: 32884 Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I know what you are saying, and don't completely disagree with you, it's reality that gets in the way. Watch the progress of any average muskie boat in N WI as the rig moves along while 'Trailing lines with live bait or artificial lures while engaged in casting and immediate retrieval of a different bait, lure or similar device while the motor is running.' while they would profess to be - Using your motor to move around a structure, weed edges, rock bars, drop offs, while vertically jigging.' Where the warden has the decision to make is simply....are you:'Trailing lines with live bait or artificial lures while engaged in casting and immediate retrieval of a different bait, lure or similar device while the motor is running.' If you are visibly moving forward at the speed I see the average guy pulling suckers around in Oneida County, it could be ticket time. We have VERY few wardens because of budget crushing, so most folks know the chances of a ticket are small. I have yet to see a boat fishing suckers while casting this year that doesn't cover a couple hundred yards in a short time, and that even against the wind. If you hit the electric while casting and move your boat forward 10', then cast again, then hit the motor again, you are going to do what I just described. If you are position fishing or using a controlled drift, the wind is your best friend. Most can stay legal n a windy day, but I'm always amazed at the number who do not. If I fish suckers where or when I can't use the wind to move, I pick a spot on the spot and stay there. Movement is to correct my position, I ain't going no where. I could be using a bottom bouncer or be vertical jigging. | ||
| vegas492 |
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Posts: 1036 | I don't have a dog in this fight, as I primarily fish SE Wisconsin. But I do head north to our cabin and I've been known to position fish suckers in the fall. I think that there is no motor trolling up in Vilas because of how crowded a small lake can get with trollers on it. You take a 400 acre lake and put four trollers on it and there is very little room left for pleasure boaters, jet skiers, pontoon boaters...etc. And when it was open to backtroll, that was in place to help walleye fisherman back into a spot in the wind and hold their position. Musky guys, some famously known, exploited this for muskies and again, lakes backed up with traffic. And huge fish were caught. Easily. All of this freaks the DNR out. So, the law is what it is. IMO. Last time I was north, I talked to a DNR warden at the launch. He told me that he wouldn't ticket anyone for trolling with suckers if the line was vertical to the water, or close to it. To him, that was position fishing. And he did tell me of other wardens he knew who would ticket you for touching the trolling motor if you had a sucker hanging off of the boat. So to me, it seems like a grey area and is defined by the field warden. For me, when I sucker fish up north, I already have it in my head that I am ready to pay the fine. Thankfully it hasn't come down to that because I find it more enjoyable to fish SE Wisconsin where i have no such worries. | ||
| marauder |
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| I am guilty as charged ready to pay my fine along with 80% of the musky fisherman in vilas county. | |||
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