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Posts: 4266
| I need your input. Not just me, but anyone who like to fish The Upper Mississippi River.
Search MN/WI Regulations Changes for fish on The Mississippi River. There are new proposals for pike,walleye and sauger, and what I think is most important, is cutting the panfish limit. Too many people flock to The River in the spring and load up on pre-spawn jumbo perch, taking liberal limits all week long and heading home with more filets than they can eat. Then a few weeks later, they flock to the back waters and lakes and do the same thing to the bluegills and crappies. Muskie anglers showed the world that CPR fishing is crucial to insuring fish for the ages to come. Now the DNRs from MN and WI are following suit by realizing that if we continue to take too many panfish that are trying to spawn and the largest of the species, we are going to do damage that cannot be repaired. Please help me and all of the river rats out here and fill out the questionaire and vote to limit the number of panfish that can be taken. There are also new pike regulations with different options as well as restrictions for walleye and sauger. Stop the meat hunters and the greed that they exhibit and vote for sensible limits.
Thanks
Beav |
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Posts: 434
Location: searchin for 50 | Have to agree with you. Seems like some people just can't help themselves. |
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| The challenge, at least here in Northern WI, is enforcement. The chain I live on is one of a few with an experimental limit on panfish. 25 total, no more than 10 of a species. Yet in late winter, when crappies are schooled, preparing to spawn I see guys out all day with an array of tip downs. My 80+ year old neighbor said he watched a group last year with binoculars fill 5 gallon pails with pan fish, fishing all day. There is one warden for the county and hundreds of lakes. It will keep the honest sportsmen honest but the game hogs will still be game hogs. Until someone calls a TIP line and they get busted and big fines are paid. |
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Posts: 4266
| The DNRs along the river have been making a point of checking before trying to implement changes. One of the reasons for the change is the greed, plain and simple. If you tell a guy that he can keep 25 bluegills a day, and he travels to find good fishing, lots of times he'll keep more than 25 to justify the travel costs and other lame excuses. Because the backwaters are so vast, many gys think that nobody sees what they are doing. They forget that all the wardens have to do is sit at the boat landing and wait for the fisherpeople to return. In the time that I've fished out here I've seen and heard lots of what I can't believe. Like the guy taking a limit for the 2 year old he took in the boat. I've also seen a boat show up at the landing below Genoa, one guy get out and drive the truck to a different landing, only to have the DNR waiting with him. I've heard the wardens tell a guy, "Yes, you have your limit, but you caught all of them, your partner didn't catch any." Really, are these meat hogs starving? It would take me a long time to eat 50 bluegill filets. 10 filets per person with some sides is a hell of a meal. Those of you who eat panfish know what I'm talking about. There will be whiners, just like any time the DNR steps in to thwart greed. But it's the greedy people who just don't get it. Selective Harvest!! Let the big ones go. You get just as much meat off of a 9" bluegill as you do from a 10 or 11" fish that passes on the genetics. Not just gills, the way that peoiple jam the areas below the dams in spring and fall is sickening. Watching them fill 5 gallon buckets with big pre-spawn females day after day, and then brag about it, has to stop. Those are the same morons that say, "This river is so big and so full of fish that you'll never fish it out." And the guys that I've heard, "What is up with the ice fishing? We used to be able to take 2 or 3 limits a day here with no problem." Really? Morons is what is up with the fishing. I'm glad that the DNR is trying to head off the problem before it gets worse. Selective Harvest. Releasing egg laden females and the biggest fish of the species to ensure the survival of the species is easy for some people to understand. People like muskie anglers who have seen how CPR has led to the best fishing in ages get it, please use your educated voice and fill out the questionaire and help save this fishery. I've been coming here since I was a teenager but now it's my home, and I don't want to see the fishery suffer because of greedy hogs. Speak in favor of slashed limits and then come out here and enjoy some of this amazing fishing for yourself. |
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Posts: 434
Location: searchin for 50 | Why not notify the warden then if you see that kind of activity? Puts those guys in the crosshairs.Trust me game wardens can blend in with the best of them! |
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Posts: 343
| Fines generally don't work that well at stopping fish hogs, removing their hunting and fishing rights is a much better deterrent. The pact many states share means these hogs wouldn't be able to purchase a license in many other states as well. I also believe that those caught violating limits should have their names published in the local or regional newspapers. Besides the embarrassment, it would let other anglers know who to watch out for and perhaps make it easier to report them to authorities. |
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Posts: 114
| Beaver, any chance you could post a link to the questionnaire you are mentioning? I'm sure there are lots of guys out there that would like to help.
Thnanks in advance.
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Location: Hayward WI | Here it is
(thumbnail_WI _ MN bag and size limit proposal.jpg)
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 thumbnail_WI _ MN bag and size limit proposal.jpg (77KB - 364 downloads)
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Posts: 4266
| I can't post the link. I barely have internet back here in the hollow. Just search MN/WI DNRs proposals and it comes up.
I do report the hogs. I take pictures of them and their boat hull numbers, but most of them are hit n run. They load up and hit the road. Many of them actually will boast about their catch on lakelink and include a picture of too many fish. I've been following the input, and it is very one-sided for a change in restrictions. Most anglers realize that over-harvest could ruin good fishing for us all. I really believe that every conservation minded act that you see on the water has it's roots with muskie fishing. The leaders of the CPR pack.
Thank you all, and fill out that questionaire.
Beav |
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