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Culling Fish???

14K views 127 replies 40 participants last post by  jigornot 
#1 ·
Can you legally cull walleyes once you have your boat limit? I looked quickly in the rule book but didn't see it. I know it is accepted in bass tournaments, but are you allowed to upgrade for harvesting fish? Obviously it would be tough to know if fish being released were truly healthy enough to survive. Just curious?
 
#2 ·
I would argue that a good live well is the best way to resuscitate fish....We have one we use on salmon and lake trout in that is about 100 gallons...All the fish recover much better after reviving in the live well as opposed to throwing back in lake immediately after being caught. I have seen alot of studies that say any fish brought up from over 30 ft to the surface to quickly will die ...We have seen that they make full recoveries in the live well after coming up from deep water
 
#15 ·
Sorry guys! The last thing I wanted to do is open a can of worms. I was curious and looked it up, and noticed the gray area. I also know that a lot of guys think people are breaking the law when they continue to fish when they have a limit. That is not the case! Good Fish'n everyone!
 
#21 ·
It would be an issue, because as soon as you put that 10th or 16th fish in the box, you no longer could keep fishing for that kicker fish. I say you legally can, and should be able to keep that big kicker fish as long as you have healthy fish in the live well to replace for your daily possession. I would just like to read it or hear a CO say that. It has to be legal because all the big time tournaments allow it...I don't believe they would get special legal wavers on that?
 
#19 ·
The rule book is very clear that you can continue CIR once your daily possession limit has been reached...I copied/paste right from the rule book in previous post. What is not clear is if you have a perfectly live fish in the well...can you replace it with another fish? I'm NOT bashing on tournaments...I love them!!! Like Walleye Mike said...it doesn't say you can't, so I assume you can. I would love to hear a CO's take on this.
 
#31 ·
As I recall, Michigan's law is about "Possession". As long as you don't reduce a fish to your possession, meaning put it in your cooler, or livewell, you may release it and keep fishing. It's about how many you keep, not how many you go through in a day......
 
#37 ·
Great point dare droptine,when I jig no matter whare we fash Saginaw , D-river etc when we limmit we are done,could take 45 minutes may take long time.might not happen on that day lol.but those early morning quick limmits are what I live for,love the look on the crews face like we're done what now.i say breakfast,clean fash den happyhour time lol
 
#47 ·
GoLions I found the CIR you are referring about was in the common terms section of the fishing rules but the only place I could find that it was used in the rule book was under the bass section.

Asked a CO years ago about trolling when it was five per limit. My scenario to him was if 2 fisherman have 9 walleyes in the box how many poles could you be legally trolling with at the time it was only 2 per angler, he said that's all you better be trolling with is 2 when you get checked because one fisherman had their limit and was done for the day. I know pretty much everyone has did it to finish their limit so I guess if you get checked hopefully he or she is in a good mood.

JMO I think you should try it maybe you'll end up on the wardens on the outdoor channel and get some air time. LOL
 
#50 ·
As others have mentioned.....the best way to eliminate any difference of opinion or interpretation is to keep one short of limit in the boat. Cull with one short and you're never over-limit. Just be sure you're returning live fish to the water. No sense in killing fish needlessly.
 
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