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Posts: 129
Location: North Metro - Twin Cities | I'm amazed at how often anglers ask me the question "Why can't I fish bass or muskies off season, I'm letting them go anyways?" and when I inform them that it's illegal they seem flabbergasted. I think the DNR's should increase education on the rules agianst targeting out of season species. We know plenty of anglers willingly break these rules but I think many anglers are simply unaware or uneducated I do like the idea of opening "Hybrid" lakes at the walleye/pike opener here in MN but I'm afraid it would be too confusing. |
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Posts: 123
| I was President of the Roughrider Bass Club out of Fargo in the early 90's. The DNR came to speak at one of our meetings once and asked us if we'd like a catch & release only bass season between the Walleye opener and when the regular bass season opened 2 weeks later. We almost unanimously voted against it because the MN DNR doesn't stock bass like they do walleye and it would interfere with the spawn. I'm glad they never approved anything like that. |
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Location: Lake Tomahawk, WI | I know of 2 incidents this winter where icefishing violations were witnessed and reported. The first incident was a group of anglers leaving tip-ups in overnight in front of their cabin. A local guide told the anglers this was illegal, they laughed about it, and were reported. The warden said he couldn't get there for 2 days, by which time the guys were headed back south. The other occasion was reported by another local guide, the warden said he was over his fuel allowance for the month and couldn't go out and nab some guys who had been witnessed over-bagging walleyes. I guess with the cutbacks across the board and the CO's spread thin as it is, this type of thing can and does happen, which is a shame.
JS |
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Posts: 1202
Location: Money, PA | Thats why there should be NO closed season....manage the fishery properly, promote catch and release and/or catch and release ONLY and let people fish how they want - when they want. Hammer away! |
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Posts: 999
| Lots of people speed trolling green bay for walleyes this time of year as well. |
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Posts: 37
Location: Rhinelander, WI | For anyone who has the itch to fish muskies and can't wait until the WI musky opener.. Escanaba Lake in Vilas County is legally open to musky fishing - it's one lake the DNR uses for research and has no closed season for any species and the only size limit in place right now applies to walleyes (28" min., 1 fish daily bag).
Edited by FlyFish4Esox 4/28/2010 11:09 AM
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Posts: 619
| ShutUpNFish - 4/28/2010 6:51 AM
Thats why there should be NO closed season....manage the fishery properly, promote catch and release and/or catch and release ONLY and let people fish how they want - when they want. Hammer away!
yeah, half the fish in the MN metro area already have half a jaw, missing eyes, missing body parts, cut hooks hanging in their face, and i caught one last yr that had a cowbell wedged on the side of its face, the fish need a break from the abuse, over time the more they are handled the more that will die. |
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Posts: 311
Location: Ontario | Sloan nailed it for up here anyway. There are cases where fuel costs don't even allow for regular or semi-regular patrols by boat or by snowmachine. One of the offshoots of this is that if you do get stopped, expect to be checked thoroughly and don't expect any breaks if you're on the borderline for anything, in particular if the patrollers don't recognize your boat and/or are stopping you for the first time. They have to raise revenue with less and less in the way of money and resources. Fewer stops mean each stop should theoretically yeild more revenue. I wouldn't go as far as saying calling in a poacher is a waste of time but I think that the response time or lack of response in reality is pretty underwhelming. I get stopped maybe once a year by the same big police boat that covers a huge chunk of coastline. He travels with an MNR guy onboard. The first time I showed safety gear, liscenses etc. Every other time since he never takes the boat out of gear, asks if there's booze on board and how the fishing is and takes off. The equation is pretty simple..more and more people around every year it seems and less and less enforcement. Short, all-out blitzes greatly outweigh a sustained effort/response over the entire season. They nab more guys in a blitz wknd or two than they do all summer combined. Gotta send a message and hit hard in spurts. They just don't have the resources for sustained pressure. If I'm 80 miles by truck from the nearest detachment and another 20 miles out by boat and I see a guy in May with a muskie on a stringer, calling it in won't do a thing. It's too bad, because lots of people know this and use it. I ran into two meatsticks at the ramp last wknd pre-fishing for a pike tournament a week before the pike season here even opens. Nothing on baord except two 7' trigger sticks with leaders. They saw my boat (rigged up for trout, 8-10' rods, linecounters, boards, Dipseys, long spinning gear) and asked me if I'd been out prefishing too, for the same friggin tournament. How dumb can you be? Not much the police or MNR can do there. Tournament Director has an email address, though.
Edited by JBush 4/28/2010 12:34 PM
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Posts: 59
| Just the other night a boat of crappie fisherman landed a muskie on crappie gear. They played the fish out and it was exhausted by the time they landed it to begin with. Then they took 5 or 6 pictures with the fish, handing it to each of the anglers and dropping it on the floor of the boat. When they tried to release the fish it was already dead. Its amazing to me how ignorant people can be. They even measured it also. It was a beautiful 50 inch fish.. I was thinking to myself if it is even legal to net a muskie out of season?
-Joe |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | In MN, the law says they must release the fish "immediately". If this was in MN, they were in violation of the law. If this was on some lakes such as in Iowa where there is no season, then they were OK legally.
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Posts: 59
| This was in MN |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | Did you report it? By law, they had to return the fish to the water "immediately". A long picture session is not "immediate". By law, they kept that fish even if they did put it back in the water after they were done with it.
If you haven't done so already, I would recommend calling it in. Tell them everything you know about the incident.
The best thing is to call it in when the people have the fish. And, if possible, take pictures of them with the fish so you have some proof. |
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| One thing to consider when you see someone fighting an accidental muskie, is to offer help. We all know that if you don't have the experience handling a muskie that things probably aren't going to go very well. Last year I saw a boat of walleye fishermen fighting a very large muskie. I noticed they had a net that would not work very well for a fish of this size and that they also had one of those dreaded gaffs. I went up to them and asked if they wanted some help landing it since I had a muskie sized net. They accepted my offer and actually just grabbed my muskie net out of my boat since I was in my boat solo. I also offered to take a picture of their fish and that I would mail a photo to them because they mentioned they did not have a camera. The guy actually messed up the net job and the fish got away, but it was better than risking them using a gaff or their walleye sized net. Also show people respect in these incidents, if they don't want your help then accept it. Being respectful will show that not all muskie guys are bad dudes. 
Edited by Baby Mallard 4/29/2010 1:04 PM
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Posts: 272
| Prolly a little more black and white in other places, but here in Green Bay, the walleye run and a no-closed-season season on northern pike all occur during prime time and in a prime place for an honest angler, or one with other intentions, to catch a muskie.
So what do we do here? Ban leadhead jigs, shad raps and husky jerks? How about crawler harnesses? Bass season opens this weekend.....more options.
Where's the line? Who decides? What if I'm legitimately walleye fishing and someone sees me happen to catch 3 or 4 muskies.....which has happened....?
Its a tough situation, and one that has too much gray area....so much, that any rule that people have talked about could NOT be written in such a way as to NOT infringe on honest people with good intentions. Incidental muskies will happen where there are muskies. Its just gunna happen. Period. About all you can do is educate others and self police those being blatant.
If I hooked a pig, heck yeah I'd take a photo. Done it. Quickly. What if one of you saw me and sat in judgement and decided to call the warden???
-Eric |
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Posts: 393
Location: Hopefully on the water | As Muskie-adict said it does happen a lot in the Green bay area. I have heard of 3 fish over 50 caught this spring by walleye guys pulling harnesses. It does happen and as was stated before if we as Muskie Fisherman can offer help or we should. Now I am not saying that I am in favor of this happening but it does.
This whole talking the last 2 weeks has got me to thinking about the ethic, what's right, it can be done because we can raises a question to me. The scenario is it is opening weekend of Muskie season (where ever you fish) and the fish are in spawning heavily, full swing. Do you still fish those fish because it is opening weekend and you legally can or do you pass and fish for something else and leave these fish alone. I am even going to say that it is all the lakes in your area that they are spawning. Are any of us any better (if we choose to fish them) than someone doing something else that is hurting the fishery in another way.
I will admitt that I have caught spawning fish during early season (yes season was open). At first my thought was it will be alright since i figured I know how to handle the fish. This was many years ago and at this point I personally would rethink about it and go fishing for something else at this stage in my life. Yes it would really stink because we wait all winter, buy all this new gear and all jacked up to go but do we want to act as we preach or do otherwise.
With WI opener this weekend try and be nice to people out on the water. call people in that are blatantly breaking the law and offer a hand to someone if you get a chance. Next time it might be you needing help. Good luck to everyone this weekend. |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | I have also helped quite a number of people land Muskies when they had no net and needed help. I have always carried a Polaroid camera so they could have their picture. A bummer is that Polaroid film is no longer available. Once my last pack runs out, my fancy Polaroid camera becomes a door stop. 
The problem with what these particular crappie fishermen did was they did not release the fish right away. Taking a quick picture and then releasing the fish would be expected and it seems unlikely a warden would have trouble with that. But passing the fish around, dropping it again and again, and keeping the fish out of water for an extended period of time is a much different story. It sounds like the crappie fishermen we're discussing went far beyond an "immediate" release. Whether they did so because they didn't know better, didn't care, or were intentionally trying to harm the fish does not matter. The only thing that matters is whether or not they released the fish "immediately" (or anywhere near immediately). And because they didn't do that, they were in violation of the law.
However, I have seen other crappie fishermen just cut the line when accidently hooking a Muskie. One boat did so because they simply weren't prepared for a such a big fish. They felt that fighting the fish might hurt it a lot more than having a little jig in its jaw. Not all crappie fishermen are the same.
I don't see any problem with accidently hooking an out of season species - as long as one is not targetting them. Its what one does after that fish is hooked that matters.
My opinion. |
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Posts: 218
| I like the question offered by twells. Since muskies are still in spawning when the season opens tomorrow should one fish for them? It is hard for me to justify fishing for spawning fish just because the season is open if I claim I am worried about the trauma done to the fish and the concern about the success of the spawn. If I claim it is the law so one should not fish before the season opens; then I can understand fishing spawning fish tomorrow. |
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Posts: 272
| I like the idea of not molesting fish during the spawn, but they're just not that interested anyway, so I'm not totally sure it matters. Its almost like the trance sturgeon go into when they're spawning, except muskies seem quite a bit spookier.
Aside from molesting fish, I don't think you're affecting the spawn very much by fishing when fish are paired up and actually spawning........because you're just not going to get that many biters.
Not saying its right, not condoning it, just saying I don't think you're going to have that much success.
The good bites I've had on Memorial weekend up in Vilas County show photos of skinny fish that look like they went through the meat grinder. They're done, the ones that bit, anyway.
-Eric
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Posts: 59
| I know enough about the people who caught that fish and I have a buddy fishing in another boat that was there that night too. |
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Posts: 829
Location: Maple Grove, MN | Slim,
Then I think you should report them and let the DNR handle it. At the very least, the DNR can give the Crappie fishermen a call and they may act differently in the future. By doing so, you may help save another Muskie in the future. By doing nothing, you may only be encouraging these people to do the same thing again.
Its up to you, but I would report them. |
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| If you see someone breaking a law or laws, Get as much info as you can and then just call them in.
Done deal!
Some people will always break laws, no matter what laws they are.
Sad but true. |
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Posts: 8844
| Some guys are going to fish the opener no matter what, and it's perfectly legal to do so. I'm not going to tell anyone they shouldn't fish if there is some question as to whether the fish are done spawning. I probably wouldn't fish, partly to protect the spawners, but mostly because of what muskie-addict eluded to. I seem to catch up North around the opener is small skinny males who are all beat to hell. Add in the fact that the weather is typically around 42 degrees and raining with 20 - 30 MPH winds, and I'm just not all that interested in fishing the opener anyway. Maybe I'm getting old, but if I'm going to drive up to Vilas to fish in that sort of weather, I'm doing it in November when my odds of catching a big heavy fish go way up.
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Posts: 413
Location: Madison WI | Depending on where your opener is most of the fish may already be spawned out due to the high temps in april, also I don't know how many of you have actually tried catch spawning fish, I have and they are the most finicky fish I have ever seen when they are spawning, I have watched spawning fish run for the hills when a sucker enters the water or a bait for that matter, as long as you fish "ethically" you will find out soon enough whether they are going to eat or not. In the last couple of years most of the fish I have seen that are still spawning and wont eat are only caught when somone decides to put a lure in front of there face and wait until they open their mouth and then the angler lets the lure drift in and sets the hook. I will be fishing opener and I will be right where the muskies spawn in my area, maybe they will eat maybe they won't. |
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Posts: 392
Location: lake x...where the hell is it? | i have called the dnr tip line twice this year and it takes them 1,2,3 hours to show up and the person is gone. what good does that do? i tell people that what they are doing is illegal and to stop or i will call the police and dnr. it works ALOT better then calling anyone. waiting on the dnr will get fish killed.
and whats it matter if we fish for spawing fish if they cant reporduce, acording to the wi dnr?
Edited by jay lip ripper 4/30/2010 7:45 PM
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Posts: 4080
Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion | OK, So I'm B.S.ing, with some guys at work (Iron Range, N.Mn.) today and every one of them has this theroy that the Muskies are eating all of "THEIR "Walleyes,.......... But they go on to say that they are also "killing the Eyes" and taking them like crazy !
I say its not even open season yet.......Their responce was....". so what , they have to catch me first, plus the Natives get to fish, why shouldn't I be able to take some home?"
I ask them if that is right, and they tell me that they need to eat....... Whatever.
Jerome |
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Posts: 162
Location: Metro, MN | In your guys' opinion, what are legitimate baits to throw for a pike opener on the st croix river? I really only fish for ski's and pike and occasionally bass during the summer. Walleyes just arent my thing.
But a friend and I are looking to target some pike on the river this weekend in a few spots where we have done well putting a few 40's in the boat the past 2 years
Just looking to see what would be seen as acceptable types of lures to throw. We have a few very small bucktails, the new medium small chatterbaits, and some small cranks. Or all in all is that just not a good idea? |
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Posts: 32935
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I'm fishing Pike this weekend, and will until Muskie opens. I'll catch a bunch of Pike, and probably no Muskies. Little spinnerbaits and Beetle Spins and baby creatures will be on the Menu. |
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Posts: 1202
Location: Money, PA | How about just banning the sport all together??? That would seem to be the most viable solution which would make most elitist/extremist/purists happy! |
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| Immediately released or returned to the water– Fish must not be
retained longer than is needed at the site of capture to unhook, identify,
measure, and photograph. Placing the fish in any type of container or on a
stringer is not immediately released. Any fish not immediately released is
considered to be “reduced to possession.”
The above is taken from the 2010 MN fishing regulations. People measuring and photographing fish caught out of season are well within their rights! |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | ShutUpNFish - 5/6/2010 9:58 AM
How about just banning the sport all together??? That would seem to be the most viable solution which would make most elitist/extremist/purists happy!
And we have a winner..... |
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