to keep or not to keep?

[gomer]

ok, if you deeply hooked a sub legal pike and when you tried to unhook it, it started thrashing and because of it the pike's gills were cut and the fish died. would you keep the fish, or would you toss the fish back down the hole because it was under the size limit?

Also this is a little off the subject but i think there should be a slot limit for pike durring the winter ONLY like you can only keep fish between 18 and 26in and one pike 38in or bigger a season. OR the DNR should reducde the number of fish a day allowed to keep. The reason i think there should be this is because ALMOST every pike bigger than that is a big female full of eggs.

[kingfisher2]

Gomer, the size limit would have to be honored, even though the fish did not survive the catch. If they were to allow you to keep a wounded, undersize fish, more illegal fish would be killed. Just think how easy it would be to tear that gill to justify keeping it.

Also, I like the idea of a slot or restrictions being placed on certain lakes only. Even with heavy fishing pressure on some lakes, the pike thrive.

Just my two cents.......:)

[Skeeter]

I agree 100% as most of the pike I have caught also have had eggs. As far as the undersize fish, well its sad but if you don't want your buds to read about you guess it better go back. Am sure something will eat at it.

[Banditto]

Yep you gotta throw it back dead or alive.

As far as letting a female go. I don't know where you guys fish, but the pike where we fish are so aggressive and good at what they do there are very little sport fish left. If you go out to catch perch, pan fish, walleye, etc. you will most likely catch 90% pike.

So where we fish the rule is keep any legal pike or musky.

[jpollman]

Better throw it back Gomer.

Even if it's dead already, you'd better not get caught with it !
No matter what the circumstances, you would be in posession of a sub-legal fish and I'm SURE you'd be fined.

[gomer]

glad i didnt keep him. I just felt bad about letting it go to waste. Also the only legal pike i have ever caught that was a male (that i know of) was a 29incher i caught last weekend

[stelmon]

Adam, don't worry abut it going to waste. It helped the other fish that would help it. It help the ecosystem so it did not go to waste.

I once saw a gu catch a huge laker outta season that he got it pretty deep. He got the hook out easy but when he went to release it, it didn't survive, plus it did not help that he threw it practically. So don't worry

[Winterover]

While fishing as a teenager (a couple years ago):rolleyes: with my dad we caught a walleye that fit these circumstances. It was a quarter of an inch too short. We decided to keep it anyways, and of course that was the one day out of ten years we were checked by a dnr officer. When we showed the officer the stringer of fish we had we told him up front that one was a little short and the reason for keeping it. He told us he understood the reasoning and knew we were being up front with him and let us go with a warning. The warning was "Just remember, next time that quarter of an inch could cost you more than its worth". I found out a few years ago the officer's name is John Walker (ret.) and he now has a series of 5 books out made up of "on the job stories" he uses some of the proceeds from the books to help fund camp for the youth in his church. I have read all 5 and didn't see any stories about short walleye's, maybe i'll make volume six.:D

[Ruler]

This is the worst situation to be in. I guess I'd have to agree with most of the people here- toss it back. My father had to do the same thing with a laker this past fall. It was 1/2" shy of the 2 foot minimum with gills hanging out of it's mouth. We really like how they taste and kept another one that day, but the one we threw back didn't even dive when it hit the water. Unfortunate, but not worth the cost if you're caught. (And I have never met a law enforcement officer who's let me off an infraction no matter what the circumstances- wish there were more like the one you met, Winterover!)

[Ruler]

Boehr, you might have some expert comments on this (since you are a CO), but what about allowing people to keep one sub-legal fish, as long as it's not more than 10% under the limit and severely wounded as hooked. Yeah, there would be some who would use it to keep undersized fish, but a single fish that's that close to the limit probably isn't going to have that much of an impact, especially when it's probably going to die anyway. (Let the seagulls go to McD's for lunch. ;) )

Obviously this would need refinement and quantification (what is "severely wounded"?), but it's an idea.

[Joe'sCat]

How much $$$ is the fine, anyway? Just curious, by the way everyone's talking, it's pretty steep.

[mondrella]

I am not quite sure. I heard a guy complaining about getting a ticket for a undersized smallie that was 13" and it cost him 10 dollars a inch by the time it was over. A few years ago the haymarsh lakes were on a hot gill bite. It was easy to have 25 fish in a half a hour. There was guys coming from Ludington, St. Joe and Bay City that I met. There was guys getting tickets for 200 to 300 fish over their limit. Dollar wise the biggest ticket I read about in the paper was somewhere between $900 and $1000. I still think it was not enough they ruined this lake for a couple of years.

[Banditto]

DNR checks our lake all the time. One guy was ticketed this year with a 1/4" undersize fish. It cost $60 I think.

[MGV]

The cost of the fine went by the $3-8 per inch. The last i heard this was many years back. There is also a ticket cost that goes on top. All i can say it is not worth getting caught. Think of it this way. The DNR has more power than the sheriff. He can do whatever he feels is necessary to make you realize what you have done. Remember this could be a the loss of your license for three years ot even in the big time court everything you own.

[tubejig]

Its too bad the dnr didn't get O.J.:D