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| I followed this legislation pretty closely (mainly because there were some other things I was interested in in the same bill). The main motivation behind it was to clarify the rule that has been in place for years through the DNR's policy process. It was a result of some determinations on the part of the AG's office and the previous commissioner on the extent and limitations of the DNR's ability to interpret statutes. Along with this rule, several other policies that had previously been rule intepretations were written into the statues - stuff about hunting rules, wetlands, lakeshore management - all sorts of stuff. So release wasn't singled out here. It was part of a much larger process of clarifying policy at the DNR. Making it a statutory definition leaves less gray area than a simple rule that the DNR may or may not have had the authority to make into actionable policy.
As far as an exemption of some kind for a tournament - it won't happen. It doesn't happen with the PWT, the FLW, BASS, or anyone else. The PWT won't get an exemption on Mille Lacs this week - they still have to abide by the slot limit. Last year at Ottertail the PWT wanted to do a live release event with an off-site weigh in for their Superpro, but because it fell inside the no offsite weigh in range they weren't allowed to, even though the weigh-in was a mile from the ramp. No exceptions. Mark Dorn doesn't get an exemption for the FLW events on Pool 4. They both manage to live within the same rules as everyone else... Part of why BASS hasn't been here lately is the DNR won't allow them to do a release event with an off-site weigh-in at the Mall of America anymore.
If the PMTT - or any other tournament for that matter, regardless of species - got an exemption to a size limit or statutory definition because the rule was an inconvenience, JK and Dorn would be on the phone screaming at Ron Payer in about 30 minutes, and rightfully so. Don't think they don't want the opportunity to get an exemption - I sit with them in the tournament meetings with fisheries every year and they do push for it. But they understand the DNR's position on the issue and respect it.
Cheers,
Rob Kimm
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| great info as always Rob, thanks for posting.
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Posts: 468
Location: Not where I wanna be! | so here is a question that i thought of during this conversation...
if it is ok to take a photo and all that jazz, why have a musky fishing seaon in the first place?
why not make it a 'harvest' season. if most musky fisherman release fish, which id say 95% or better do, then why not have dates when it is illegal/legal to take a fish home. you could fish for them, just "immediately" release the fish.
theoretically you could be pike fishing and accidently catch a musky, take a photo, let her go, and move on....
i feel having a season is necessary to avoid taking and stressing fish before they spawn, this encourages healty reproduction. however, lots of skiis are caught on accident while bass and walleye fishing prior to the opener, if those fish are caught, i can almost guaruntee photos are being taken, and the fisherman would brag about his catch....
is this wrong?
i dont know for sure
to me, the pursuit of old esox is more like a style of hunting rather than stereotypical fishing, and there is hunting seasons...... so im in favor of tight regulations to insure the future of the resource.
just my .02 cents |
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Location: The Yahara Chain | Muskie Treats - 5/29/2007 9:01 AM
FSF, there's another release: The "Treats Release". That's where you get the fish, call over the judge boat, take the fish out of the net in front of the judge, drop it on the board and watch the fish flip back into the lake.
That was as $700 slap in the face...
I heard that Troy became the official fish holder for your team that year. Who caught the fish that he is holding in your avatar?  |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Troy was the official fish holder in the team. It worked well, I caught the fish and he held them. It was like having my very own muskie b!tch LOL!!!! (I can already hear my cell phone ringing after that one).
THA4, true that some fish get caught accidentally before the season by other anglers, but if we were allowed to have a catch and release season the waters would be FILLED with muskie fishermen. Instead of a couple dozen fish being caught there would be hundreds if not thousands caught. Now if the reason behind the reg was to keep people from stressing the fish during that time, a catch and release season wouldn't do anything to benefit the fish to that end. Now whether the science shows that it makes a difference is a different conversation all together. |
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Posts: 734
Location: Watertown, MN | Jerome
I have forgiven Shawn(after he secure our victory on Tonka with the 51"), but he will always be reminded of the loss, could have but is int the top 3 for team of Year in fishing only 2 events plus championship, Top 10 at Eagle, 1 st on Tonka, and finished in the top 20 in Chatauqua. Not bad for our first 3 events. He also was kind enough to give us a good tip on fish before we won the championship, she did measure 44".
MN DNR does not want to make exceptions for any tournament, no matter how big they are, they are not making money on these events and why should they spend the taxpayer's money on making rule changes for events. Their time should be spent protecting and developing the resources.
Troyz |
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