Catch & Release

[mkalink]

Explain to the DNR that you are playing catch and release with your limit of walleyes in the cooler your sitting on. This topic has been beat to death over the years. Here are a couple of things I have learned over the years.

1) There is no such thing as a boat limit. If you caught 3 walleyes and I caught 9 I am 3 over the limit. It is really hard for them to track this but you never know. A couple years ago on a head boat out of Port Clinton. ODNR had agents on the boat and cited people for over the limit. A father was hooking fish and allowing his son reel them in, father was cited for over the limit. A couple of other gentlemen were all together and one of the guys caught 8 or 9 fish that they kept between the 3 of them. The one that caught the most was cited.

2) When trolling take turns reeling in the fish, you never know who's watching.

3) If you limit out in the morning don't go back out in the afternoon. (refer to #2) A buddy of mine went out with friends and were back with limit #1 for the day by 9:30 am. Put fish on ice, had breakfast, and back out by 11am. Back in by 2pm with second limit, ODNR at dock. How did you guys do? Great got our limit. ODNR How did you do this morning? They had pics and video. Everyone on the boat lost their license for the year.

4) I asked a game warden about catch and release after I have my limit and he told me once you have your limit in the cooler you are done with that species for the day. If you can keep walleye alive as bass fishermen do then you may cull your catch. Walleye don't fair well in the live well.

5) ODNR Biologist told me that there are not enough females caught through the ice or during the spawn to effect the spawn. He said only about 100,000 walleyes caught through the ice and during the spawn.

[Bggeary]

Knute, EVERYONE on here so far has been very polite and firm on they're thoughts to your question. There has been a few times when I have caught a big female early on and nothing else the rest of the day.....awful glad I keep that one! Please don't try to stir up trouble.

[Madd Matt]

Anyone who says that it is illegal to continue fishing once you have a limit of walleye in the cooler isn't thinking too clearly.

If you have a limit of walleye then you can't keep anymore. Now if you want to argue culling... that is another story.

However, if the DNR checks me while I am out trolling and we have our limit of walleye... then obviously I am no longer fishing for walleye... I am fishing for white perch, sheephead, yellow perch, catfish and steelhead. Duh!

If I am fishing for sheephead and I catch a walleye is that illegal? No. As long as I don't keep the walleye.

There is no law that even remotely comes close to saying that once you catch your limit of one species then you are done fishing for ANY species the rest of the day.

There are MANY days where we have limited on Walleye, and then gone and anchored and perch fished.. While fishing for perch we caught a walleye. We threw it back. No laws where broken.

If I catch my limit of walleye through the ice and continue to fish, then its pretty obvious that I'm hoping for yellow perch now.

[wakina]

The first thing that I would like to clarify is that the first part of this post is only my opinion!

I do not target the post spawn nor the prespawn females during the jig bite. I just go out and jig for walleyes and what ever I catch that is of legal size goes into the cooler as part of my legal creel limit for that particular day. It makes no difference if it is a jack or very large egg laden female which almost never happens.

In the past I had trolled for the large females, unfortunately on one occasion I caught a very large female that was what appeared to be well over 10lbs. I released that fish and as I watched, that fish went belly up on the surface never really getting out of sight. I pulled my lines and went back and repossessed that fish and added that fish to my daily creel limit. Since that time I stopped all catch and release of legal sized walleyes unless forced to release one because of multiple hookups while only needing one more fish to fill my daily creel limit.


I do feel that some of the post(s) on this thread are not quite correct and at least one is almost totally wrong. So! Here is something to think about to apply to the few post that I am talking about!!! I think we will all be able to sort those post out.

Here are some examples/scenarios that could take place on the lake hundreds of times on any given day while fishing for eyes.

While fishing by yourself and needing only one more eye to fill your daily creel limit, would you be limited to just one rod since you only need one fish? Would you be breaking the law if you happened to hook 2 eyes at or about the same time? Would you release the first fish that you brought to the boat if it was an eye not knowing what was actually on the other end of your 2nd rod? If you put the first eye in your cooler making it your final fish to fill your daily creel limit would you then be illegal if you brought in the 2nd fish and it turned out to be an eye even if you released the 2nd fish immediately?

Now if there would be 4 of you and you only need one fish would you limit your group to just one rod or would you continue to fish with 8 rods? If you continued to fish with all 8 rods would that make 3 of you illegal?

I think we all know the answers to the above hypothetical scenarios/questions don't we.

Catch and release means exactly what the phrase implies. Deliberately going out 1,2 or more times in one day and catching and keeping several fish over the daily creel limit is not catch and release but it is exactly what it appears to be! It is over bagging/poaching and it is not, nor is it related to, catch and release.

The ethics involved with catch and release is a personal choice so long as it is within the law as written. If it is done outside the law then it is illegal and no longer a question of personal ethics but is criminal. We all know how honor among theives works don't we?

If a fellow fisherman does not believe in the laws as written and feels there should be a change made, they should lobby the proper agency to change the law which in this case is the ODNR. Chastising those who are following the law does not get the job done but does cause quite a bit of animosity among us fellow fishermen. It is nothing more than preaching to the choir, we all know that does not work don't we?

[Madd Matt]

The first thing that I would like to clarify is that the first part of this post is only my opinion!

I do not target the post spawn nor the prespawn females during the jig bite. I just go out and jig for walleyes and what ever I catch that is of legal size goes into the cooler as part of my legal creel limit for that particular day. It makes no difference if it is a jack or very large egg laden female which almost never happens........................?

Great post Wakina. I think I agree with everything you said. I would also reiterate your point about over-bagging. It's illegal to keep more than your daily limit, period.

I don't normally "fun-fish" after limiting. In fact the only times I have done this over 30 years is less than 5 times probably and it has always been on the jig bite. When we drive 5 hours to fish and we limit out on the reefs in 45 minutes jigging... It's tough not to stay out on such a fun bite and fun-fish for a while... Throwing back everything over our limit immediately regardless of size! I don't cull fish, especially walleye!

However, even though I do not AND WILL NOT cull walleye, I have heard from 3 different captains that in the charter captains classes that they are taught that it is perfectly legal to do so. One captain told me that it was a major discussion with many long time fisherman disagreeing with the instructor and that they finally had to concede because it is not a prohibited act. What I found amazing was that even if they are throwing back dead fish it is legal (supposedly). Again, this is what I have been told by captains as to what they are taught in their license classes. I have asked several about it after the first one told me this and they have all confirmed that while they don't practice it, it is legal.

I am not one to make stink about someone choosing to do something different than I would, as long as what they are doing is legal. However, I would frown pretty heavy and lose a lot of respect for anyone that is culling fish and throwing back dead walleye! Legal or not!

-Matt

[gregnwtf]

Great post Wakina. I think I agree with everything you said. I would also reiterate your point about over-bagging. It's illegal to keep more than your daily limit, period.

I don't normally "fun-fish" after limiting. In fact the only times I have done this over 30 years is less than 5 times probably and it has always been on the jig bite. When we drive 5 hours to fish and we limit out on the reefs in 45 minutes jigging... It's tough not to stay out on such a fun bite and fun-fish for a while... Throwing back everything over our limit immediately regardless of size! I don't cull fish, especially walleye!

However, even though I do not AND WILL NOT cull walleye, I have heard from 3 different captains that in the charter captains classes that they are taught that it is perfectly legal to do so. One captain told me that it was a major discussion with many long time fisherman disagreeing with the instructor and that they finally had to concede because it is not a prohibited act. What I found amazing was that even if they are throwing back dead fish it is legal (supposedly). Again, this is what I have been told by captains as to what they are taught in their license classes. I have asked several about it after the first one told me this and they have all confirmed that while they don't practice it, it is legal.

I am not one to make stink about someone choosing to do something different than I would, as long as what they are doing is legal. However, I would frown pretty heavy and lose a lot of respect for anyone that is culling fish and throwing back dead walleye! Legal or not!

-Matt

Under no circumstances have captains classes had anything to do with fishing and fishing laws. Captains classes are about boating, navigation and safety of paying passengers on a vessel whether inspected or non-inspected. Setting the record straight.

[mkalink]

Under no circumstances have captains classes had anything to do with fishing and fishing laws. Captains classes are about boating, navigation and safety of paying passengers on a vessel whether inspected or non-inspected. Setting the record straight.

I agree, the only discussion about fishing limits was smoke breaks during captains classes.

[Madd Matt]

Under no circumstances have captains classes had anything to do with fishing and fishing laws. Captains classes are about boating, navigation and safety of paying passengers on a vessel whether inspected or non-inspected. Setting the record straight.

I have never been to a captains class, and I believe you that it has to do with navigation and not fishing laws.

However, what I said is that I have talked to 3 captains that have all said that a discussion on culling was had at their class. As to it being part of the curriculum, I don't know. Maybe they all had the same instructor and maybe a couple of them where in class together. All of them are members of this forum and I am not going to name any names.

My point of the post was not to infer that it was "taught" in the curriculum as a fact. My point was that I had a discussion with a group of captains who said that it was a discussion in their class.. maybe it was over cigarettes outside... I don't know. I apologize for mentioning the class.

In the discussion they all seemed to agree that if the fish where alive, then there didn't seem to be a law against it. They all agreed that you can't throw a dead fish back, and they all agreed that with walleye unless you have a good live well then almost any fish that is in the cooler for even minutes has a small chance of survival.

Secondly. Regardless of that discussion taking place, it does not establish the law. If fishing regs are not part of the curriculum then it would appear to be either an instructors opinion or a common discussion between captains. Either way, that doesn't make it the law.

I don't cull... So I don't care. However, I am curious as to the actual legality of it. I used the fact that the captains had told me that they believe it to be allowed (none of them agreed that it was a good practice and none of them where promoting it nor doing it) as enough to peak my curiosity.

-Matt

[mkalink]

Anyone who says that it is illegal to continue fishing once you have a limit of walleye in the cooler isn't thinking too clearly.

I think very clearly the DNR boys aren't stupid.

If you have a limit of walleye then you can't keep anymore. Now if you want to argue culling... that is another story.
Once you get your limit you have to stop fishing that is what limit means.


However, if the DNR checks me while I am out trolling and we have our limit of walleye... then obviously I am no longer fishing for walleye... I am fishing for white perch, sheephead, yellow perch, catfish and steelhead. Duh!

This won't work

If I am fishing for sheephead and I catch a walleye is that illegal? No. As long as I don't keep the walleye.

This won't work

There is no law that even remotely comes close to saying that once you catch your limit of one species then you are done fishing for ANY species the rest of the day.
Your right here too


There are MANY days where we have limited on Walleye, and then gone and anchored and perch fished.. While fishing for perch we caught a walleye. We threw it back. No laws where broken.
Your right no laws broken here.

If I catch my limit of walleye through the ice and continue to fish, then its pretty obvious that I'm hoping for yellow perch now.

It won't fly with them, if you are still jigging Raps or pimples.

See what happens when you have your limit of walleyes and you tell the ODNR your fishing for Sheephead. They are not morons. I have discussed this with ODNR personal, granted you most likely won't go to jail but you are done fishing for the day.

[Hoytman86]

It won't fly with them, if you are still jigging Raps or pimples.

See what happens when you have your limit of walleyes and you tell the ODNR your fishing for Sheephead. They are not morons. I have discussed this with ODNR personal, granted you most likely won't go to jail but you are done fishing for the day.

Whether they're morons or not, there is no law against catch and release fishing, regardless of whether or not you've caught your limit. There's not. Even so, whether they believe you or not, there's no way they can prove that you're still targeting a specific species. More importantly, if I catch my limit of walleye and continue to fish, I AM targeting sheepshead because they're more fun to catch than a walleye anyways!