New Law

[Gettin Jiggy]

At the captains conference yesterday the odnr told us about there new law on cleaning fish.. this is what they said. From now on you have to leave all fish either whole or with the filet in one piece with the entire skin still attached until you get to the residence that is on you're fishing licience. Please check you're regulations for this new rule. They said if they would come to camper and find fish with no skin and the fish were not a whole filet it would be a ticket. I don't know what the fish cleaners are going to do. (Scale walleye like perch) what's pure opinion on this new rule?

Just means more work to do when u get home. What will our great state come up with next!

[gregnwtf]

Just means more work to do when u get home. What will our great state come up with next!

Didnt somebody say. " More Money". I doubt that the fish skin law will be welcomed with sharp knives. I guess it will depend on how bad the game warden wants to write a ticket that day.

[skipper9]

Greg, the odnr did say that there was no size limit on the skin. But later during questions he said it had to have skin on the whole filet. I thought it was gonna be like Canada bit he clarified and said no. It had to be a whole filet with the whole skin attached. I sat next to the guy asking the question.

[wakina]

Greg, the odnr did say that there was no size limit on the skin. But later during questions he said it had to have skin on the whole filet. I thought it was gonna be like Canada bit he clarified and said no. It had to be a whole filet with the whole skin attached. I sat next to the guy asking the question.

Here is a copy and paste of the regulation in question from the ODNR web site. IT says that exactly. The fillet must be Whole and the skin must be attached or the fish must be in the whole!

It is illegal to possess fish in any form other than whole or cut
into complete fillets with skin attached when fishing from shore,
or a boat, or unloading fish from a boat on any waters where a
fishing license is required until the angler reaches their permanent
residence. It is legal to transport fish whole or as fillets with
the skin attached while returning from the Lake Erie Islands on a
commercial ferry boat. Frozen fish must be transported in a way
the fillets can be easily identified and counted.

[wakina]

Just means more work to do when u get home. What will our great state come up with next!

I live in my camper part of the summer and freeze my catch and then transport them home maybe once a week. The skin on part does not bother me that much for the fish that I am bringing home. But what about the fish that I want to consume while staying at my camper. More often than not on the weekend we eat at least part of the fish that we catch right after cleaning them. This law will be hard to enforce and once in your freezer inside your camper they would need a search warrant to legally search it, an exception would be if they saw you carry in your catch and that would give them probable cause to search it. Your storage shed will not qualify as part of your home and could possibly be legally searched without a warrant if fish are stored in a freezer in your shed but I am unsure about that.

[gregnwtf]

I live in my camper part of the summer and freeze my catch and then transport them home maybe once a week. The skin on part does not bother me that much for the fish that I am bringing home. But what about the fish that I want to consume while staying at my camper. More often than not on the weekend we eat at least part of the fish that we catch right after cleaning them. This law will be hard to enforce and once in your freezer inside your camper they would need a search warrant to legally search it, an exception would be if they saw you carry in your catch and that would give them probable cause to search it. Your storage shed will not qualify as part of your home and could possibly be legally searched without a warrant if fish are stored in a freezer in your shed but I am unsure about that.

This law was put in place for the problem areas. Sort of like
probable cause. It is stated in the new fishing laws pamphlet. Fish you intend to eat, say that day, odnr ok'd that you can have clean fillets without skin. It is a big change and will be a tough one for people to accept.

[miso_ohio]

So this is not just walleye but any fish? It is going to suck to clean perch, I always skin them since I don't want to mess with scaling them.

[gregnwtf]

So this is not just walleye but any fish? It is going to suck to clean perch, I always skin them since I don't want to mess with scaling them.

All fish. Its the highly sought walleye and perch that brought this on.

[freddie]

Ok, so let me get this straight, I want to make sure I'm 100% clear understanding this.

I can limit out, drive home, fillet my fish (and when I fillet them, I also skin them). No problem.

However, say I camp at East Harbor or Kelley's for a week. Fish every day. Typically at the end of every day, I'd fillet the day's catch. And again, when I fillet, I also skin them.

With the new regs, I have to leave the skins on them until I get home? So then I'd have a week's work of fillets to skin?

If I'm understanding correctly, I don't understand how in the hell that helps them determine that I only took my bag limit. SO I have my limit of 30 YP, aka 60 fillets. What does it matter whether I have 60 fillets with skins on, or 60 fillets without skins? 60 fillets is 60 fillets is it not??

It is jsut another source of revenue, and not the solution to the problem of people taking more than their TAC. As everyone said, put ODNR at the ramps and check guys coming in. That would be the most effective way.

[ReelTime]

Ok, so let me get this straight, I want to make sure I'm 100% clear understanding this.

I can limit out, drive home, fillet my fish (and when I fillet them, I also skin them). No problem.

However, say I camp at East Harbor or Kelley's for a week. Fish every day. Typically at the end of every day, I'd fillet the day's catch. And again, when I fillet, I also skin them.

With the new regs, I have to leave the skins on them until I get home? So then I'd have a week's work of fillets to skin?

If I'm understanding correctly, I don't understand how in the hell that helps them determine that I only took my bag limit. SO I have my limit of 30 YP, aka 60 fillets. What does it matter whether I have 60 fillets with skins on, or 60 fillets without skins? 60 fillets is 60 fillets is it not??

It is jsut another source of revenue, and not the solution to the problem of people taking more than their TAC. As everyone said, put ODNR at the ramps and check guys coming in. That would be the most effective way.

The part that makes the difference in mainly with the walleye. Most guys fillet the fish, skin them, and then chunk up into smaller pieces before bagging. In that case the ODNR has no way of accurately counting fillets.

I'm not agreeing with it either. It's a real paim in the rear for those of us who camp for 3 to 5 days at a time and then have to come home and finish the cleaning process.