No-culling Regulations

A recent post on the Walleye Central fishing reports board about a walleye overbagger being cited by wildlife officers drew lots of reaction, including a couple of calls for a no-culling law. In effect, Ohio already has such a regulation in place.

At many of our programs wildlife officers have explained that when you keep a fish - whether putting it on the ice near your hole or putting it in the cooler - that fish has been reduced to possession. Had you not wanted to possess it, the fish would have had to be released immediately.

If you decide later to throw back that fish (with diminished survival prospects), it's no different from giving the fish to a neighbor - you've disposed of a fish in your possession that was part of your possession limit. If the fish is dead and you discard it out of your possession just to make room for a larger one, the action likely falls under another regulation prohibiting "wanton waste."

It's legal, with three walleye on the ice, to release the next few immediately in hopes of a bigger one. Sliding a dead one that you've had in possession back into the water does not legally remove that fish from your possession limit. So if you have your limit and continue to cull (replacing one fish with another), each fish is legally in your possession, regardless of how you chose to dispose of it after reducing it to possession.


Yes, culling happens a lot, but not because it's legal. Wildlife officers are stretched too thinly to see every case. The best protection for our fisheries comes from our own codes of ethics.

www.sg.ohio-state.edu/discus

[eyedoktr]

Fred, thanks for educating me (us??). I know there are no-cull laws in alot of states but I wasn't going to make that generalization about Ohio without knowing the details.

[eyegetit]

>
>If you decide later to throw back that fish (with diminished
>survival prospects), it's no different from giving the fish
>to a neighbor - you've disposed of a fish in your possession
>that was part of your possession limit. If the fish is dead
>and you discard it out of your possession just to make room
>for a larger one, the action likely falls under another
>regulation prohibiting "wanton waste."
>

Thank you for clearing that up Fred.

I think there are many law abiding anglers out there who want to do the right thing at all times, but they misinterpret the rules without intending to do so. Could you also explain the rules governing Angler 'A' helping Angler 'B' to reach his limit (after Angler 'A' has already reached his limit)?

By the leter of the law, once you have taken your daily limit into posession, you are done; catching another to give to a friend who is still trying constitutes overbagging. However, wildlife officers have to deal with thousands of boats whose anglers contribute to "boat limits," where no one admits to boxing nine just because someone else boxed three. It's an unwinnable situation that leaves officers counting the total bag and dividing by the number of anglers. Nothing in our fishing regulations mentions boat limits - just per person daily limits. The law officers, as they look at these "boat limits," are making the best of a tough situation.

[eyegetit]

Oops. I was going to clarify my question but we must've hit the send button at the same time. Thanks for your response Fred.

[Marblehead]

Thanks for the Info Fred, another question: How about if you have a Livewell on your boat?..............Will/ does that make any difference as to how the regs are interpreted? Thats the only way I could see Culling done in a Legal like manner.

How about a clarification on the 4 (or 6) walleye limit rule. Why must you quit fishing, especially on Lake Erie where there are several other species of fish to catch, for example yellow perch and white bass? Must I quit fishing just because I have caught a limit of one of those species. If I incidently catch an additional walleye, I don't believe I am in violation of the law, if, and only if I release that same fish immediately. Perhaps I am wrong about that...

I should nervously point out that I'm neither a lawyer nor a wildlife officer - just a fisheries educator - but it seems to me that the walleye in the livewell are still in your possession - the regs don't specify where or how you're possessing them.

At some point we may need to refer questions to a law officer, but there's generally no problem dropping spreaders down for perch after boxing a limit of walleye.

If it's the third week of April, you have a limit of walleye in the box, and you're explaining to the wildlife officer that you're casting a jig and minnow on that reef top for smallmouth - I don't know; I'd have to see what the officer says. But if you catch a walleye while fishing for those smallmouth, make sure that same walleye goes immediately back into the lake.

I would like to make a point that no one has brought up yet about live wells. You see professional fisherman mostly bass fisherman all the time catching their limit of fish then replacing them with bigger fish as the tournament goes on. Wouldn't this be considered culling under the letter of the law.