wounded undersized fish

[Mtnman198]

boehr,
I was reading about what everyone thought a legal perch should be and got to thinking about a few occasions out bass and Pike fishing when I have hooked a fish deep in the gills ect... and have had no response to revival techniques.If a fish is under sized that you catch and is unable to be revived and floats belly up on the water can you keep the fish? I am pretty sure the answer is no,but it just seems unethical to kill the fish and waste it.I am sure the answer is probably;nature will take care of it,turtles,birds,etc..

[boehr]

You are correct, the answer is no, can't be kept. As far as unethical, can you imagine what would happen if the answer was yes, a whole bunch of fish would be kept with the excuse that it was hooked too bad. You might as well not have a size limit if it was that way. One way to cause less harm to the fish if it is hooked deep is to use barbless hooks or cut the line as far down as possible and leave the hook in the fish.

Also, if it was legal the same should hold true for commercial fishermen too, keep all those walleye and trout that get caught in the nets which a number of them do die, especially walleye during certain times of the year, don't think we want to go there.

[Mtnman198]

yeah, I figured that to be the case.It sounds like a stupid question after reading into it.I can't say I haven't thought about filleting them on the spot though. I do mostly catch and release just don't want to give you the wrong impression.

[chad 1]

I have a question? If you catch a fish that is to small and it dies can you get in trouble leaving it on the ice?

[boehr]

Don't fillet the fish on the spot, legal size or not you will get into trouble for sure as it is illegal to possess fish that can't be identified or measured.

As far as leaving dead fish on the ice, yes you could get into trouble if they were undersize, out of season whatever. I posted before, sometime ago about not leaving something open to interpetation. By leaving an illegal fish on the ice what your asking the CO to do is interpet if the fish was really dead when you caught it, were you going to take it when you left or exactly what your intentions are? Put in back in the water, if you don't want to put it back down the hole your fishing in, spud another hole and put it down there.

If it's not an illegal fish, say very small perch that you can keep but don't want, why would you want to leave dead perch on the ice. I would come across that all the time when checking ice fishermen on Saginaw Bay, leaving little perch on the ice then continue to complain to me about commercial fishermen taking all the perch in the bay. My answer to them was, "you obviously don't want to give the small ones a chance to grow big either", as I pointed to a bunch of 3 inch perch scattered around their hole with the perch they wanted to keep in their bucket.

[chad 1]

Ok i will explain my self a little better. When i leave i take any perch that will not go down the hole but that is not what i wanted to know. I want to know for instance if i caught a walleye and it is only 13" and it dies when you are trying to get your hook out and it will not go down the hole. What do you do? thanks chad 1

[boehr]

I knew what you meant and realize it is sometimes very difficult to get a floater to stay down but it can be done. My above post still answers the best I can.

[chad 1]

Thanks for the reply. Chad 1

[stelmon]

I HATE THIS RULE!!!!!!!!Last year I was salmon fishing and this guy caught this big old beutiful Laker o my god was this thing pretty...The fish had got caught in the gill playe and came up dead...The guy wanted to keep it so bad bad..but he through it back in teh water and the fish just went down to the bottom. Boy was i pissed..I wish ther could be something to change that rule..BOehr, couldnt there be a way that if an angler caught a fish undersized or out of season that he could get 5 signatures saying the fish was just going to die...just an idea.

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Stelmon, the only one.
Becareful out there..

[boehr]

stelmon, sorry it will never happen and I would be 100% against it. It would make seasons and size limits uneforceable. For you and many of us that might be fine but we have too many people out there that are not honest, just take a look at litter and trespass just as an example. There are a lot more examples too.