Here is the newest.
This weekend the members of my bass club where fishing a non-permited club outing on sturgeon bay. Legaly because there was no money involved a permit was not needed.
They where told that they had to keep the fish and could not release them unless they had a permit.
I guess I saw this coming. What”s next ….no boats with livewells will be allowed on Wisconsin waters or just metal flake boats.
Something is smelling………
A forced fish kill by the DNR. Nice…..
Forrest Gump was right. Stupid is as Stupid does.
Just write me a ticket 
I do not and probably never will understand……
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Just write me a ticket
I wanna see a judge convict someone of releasing fish unharmed back into the water.
I’d think the DNR would have more important things to do than harass a club having a small tourney.
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Forrest Gump was right. Stupid is as Stupid does.
“Mama always said life was like a box a chocolates, never know what you’re gonna get” …..from the DNR 
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Just write me a ticket
I wanna see a judge convict someone of releasing fish unharmed back into the water.
That’s what I was thinking 
rediculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
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A forced fish kill by the DNR. Nice…..
Forrest Gump was right. Stupid is as Stupid does.
My kids bought me that tee shirt when we were at Orlando over Christmas……..Maybe I’ll wear it to the Tournament Committee meeting on the 20th……
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Just write me a ticket
I wanna see a judge convict someone of releasing fish unharmed back into the water.
I’d think the DNR would have more important things to do than harass a club having a small tourney.
One of the things that was pretty clear in the Tournament committee meetings was that the Anti-s where looking for ways to prevent smaller outings on smaller lakes. This may be a real stratagy.
I agree its stupid…
But at the same time a quick visit to the DNR would have likely issued a permit without cost.
The law makes sense and its to eliminate culling, I do agree the law should exist. I dont like to be *that other guy* here… but I think someone should have contacted the DNR and got the permit, money involved or not. The tourney required the participants to act against the regulations, but had no intent of harm to the fish.
In any tourney situation, I think the DNR should be aware, and be able to observe(if they desired) proper actions being taken for the resource…
So.. I DO agree it was stupid there was an issue, no harm meant, or done(assuming) by the tourney.. but.. I think that the tourney should be moe organized when weigh-ins are involved and the proper permits should be obtained. Just because its small and no payouts doesnt justify for making your own set of rules, or trying to create a loop-hole that go against the laws everyone else in the state has to abide by every day.
Where in the regulations is it against the law to release fish at the end of the day? I know you can’t sort (cull) fish but I see nothing in the rules where you can’t release legal fish when done fishing.
I gotta agree with David Scott on this one. I don’t have anything against a few tournaments, but i don’t like seeing fish kept in livewells and then released, legal or not. I believe most top end tournaments hold fish for certain periods in quality environments to make sure they are ok to be realeased.
And, birdman, releasing all of your fish at the end of the day would be the same as culling all of them. The point is to avoid delayed mortality after releasing a seemingly healthy fish.
Either keep em or let em go, one of the two, unless u r going to get the permits and go through the proper recovery stages.
just my opinion, glad to see your out having fun though
What you and David are not realizing is that it was the DNR who already set the rules stating such about the payouts and under 20 boats etc….thus NOT requiring permits…
They were already following the DNR rules…They weren’t trying to scapegoat anything.
What u r not realizing is that they intended to violate regulations set for a reason, so that fish are not wasted simply to sport, whether intended or not.
Oh wait were talking about bass, never mind
what am i doing in a bass forum?
just kidding, take it easy
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What u r not realizing is that they intended to violate regulations set for a reason
Name the violation they were intending to break … ???
You can’t.
From Wisc. Reg. Book
It is illegal to
• to sort fi sh. Any fi sh you take into possession which you do not release immediately is
part of your daily bag limit even if it is released later.
I guess the way they write it, you could assume its ok for u to release kept fish, as long as you don’t take more, going over your limit after they are released, or cull any in the process of taking a limit, but i think we all know what they really mean, even though it is not very clear.
I could be wrong though, im not saying i am correct for sure, just giving my imput on the subject.
thanks
How do you file for a permit you do not need??
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Any fish you take into possession which you do not release immediately is part of your daily bag limit even if it is released later.
I can see it now.
“Yes your Honor…..You see the defendant caught five Bass and placed them in his livewell for a small tourney of which no permit was needed. The defendant weighed the fish at Noon and promptly released them. Then he returned to the lake and caught five more. All of which were released. We tried in vane to obtain the released fish for a statement and identification of the offending fisherman, but to no avail. You’ll have to take our word for it your Honor. We’re good for it, we’re the DNR. If you need any help identifying a LM Bass, we have about 200 in our possesion that we killed last year in a FLW tourney out of La Crosse. We’d be more than happy to provide the court with one…..or 200….”
Like I said, were talking about green carp in wisconsin, so i really could care less. So if u want everyone to go out there, catch a bunch of bass, bounce them around in a livewell, then let them go and hope maybe half survive, have a blast 
If its just a small tourney go to a paper tourney, measure them, take a pic on the board and release them, can be done in under 45 seconds easy (20-30 if your paying attention) if ya need to wait for the camera put the fish in your net and back into the water while your getting it ready. I don’t understand the whole weigh in thing anyway on these smaller club events, most of these guys are bringing back a bunch of 2-3 pounders anyway who wants to look at those. If your absolutely hung on weight 
(oooof that sounded bad) change the measuring to a lipgripper scale or a digital weighing a bagged fish (not as good for the fish either way) If ya catch a pig ya can always bring it back to brag 
What about the Walleye guys and the Crappie guys? Most of those tourneys promote catch & release. I’d wager your opinion is slightly different when it comes to them.
I wasn’t picking on you fearnofish82, or ANY of your posts. I was however, poking fun at the way the “law” has been written by the DNR. There’s nothing quite like singling out fishermen who promote and practice succesful catch & release. It disgusts me that the DNR will force fisherman to kill fish and allow fisherman to over harvest fish so they can get their names in the papers for making “the big bust.” The only “big bust” we have is the WI DNR system. It’s time for an overhaul. 
So let me get this straight. Some of you guys would rather see 100% of the fish killed rather then letting them all go and have 90% of them live. I’m confused.
The only fish I have ever seen a fish die in a tournament were when one of the following things occured:
1- Fish was tounge hooked, gut hooked, or somehow injured by the hook (Would die regardless of tournament weigh in or immediate release)
2- Fish were kept in inadiquate livewell (small cooler with no aerator, not enough water, etc.)
3- Fish were held in pens or otherwise confined areas with no food, current, or shade for long periods of time.
number one really can’t be prevented and people need to realize that they are killing fish if they are putting a hook in the water.
2 is a common sense issue. If your “livewell” is 90 percent fish and 10 percent water you are probably going to have an issue. I saw someone keep 5 fish in a small cooler for a day. 2 of the fish died.
3- Do I even have to explain?
Bottom line is, bass boats ARE equipped with livewells that can support up to 10 large fish between the two wells without an issue. As long as a proper boat is used, and proper tournament format was used, with immidiate release after weigh in, there really is no reason why people should be concerned about fish dying from tournaments.
I guess the only way to avoid the DNR is to stop using public landings and hold weigh ins in a remote location on a sandbar. Maybe they’ll leave us alone then 
David the statute is very clear 20 people fishing with prize money involved requires a permit. Under that does not. It is a clear case of undertrained and ill informed officers doing what they want even if there actions are a violation of the people they are presicuting.
fearnofish82
The Wisconsin DNR fish Biologist was quoted in this sundays Milwaukee state Journel as that the the Wisconsin state Bass population has increased in size and quanity in the last ten years. Many lake view bass as a garbage fish and are pushing the DNR to lower size limits so the fish can be harvested.
The reason that the Permit system exists at all is the wisconsin Bass federation pushed for a reasonable permiting system that would assure that local municipalities could not legislate against people assembling to have a contest. By getting the the permiting system passed the for the 20 boats 40 participants with money involved it defined the events that had less than those numbers as legle events that where protected by state law and which by that protection could not be attacked by local ordanaces.
They are participating in a legle act.
fearnofish82
They never exceed the daily limit and do not transport fish from one body of water to anouther.
It’s all legle..no loop holes and probably one of the key reasons that the Bass population is such fine shape in wisconsin.
I do agree with you on one point. You do your thing and I’ll do mine. I’ll even up you one and I won’t judge you for doing what you enjoy.
Who wants to go to a weigh in …to see guys hold up pieces of paper?
I still can’t figure out why they had to keep them? Did they also have to kill them before driving away?
What prior events has led to this law?
Delayed bass mortality is not an issue with the kind of water temps at this time of year.
UpperMiss Rat316
Why should we stop doing something that we enjoy doing when it is legal to do so?
Some people are against even the very thought of fishing. Should we stop that? How about hunting…..That offends a lot of people. Should you staop doing that? Vegans would tell you eating beef is the only way to go. Are you giving up steak????????
By the time these laws get on the books they have been analysed to death. No body is pulling a fast one. A DNR lawyer sits in on everychange and prevents the DNR from making legle blunders.
I am aware of the law and expesct not to be harassed while participating in the sport I love while doing it. In reality the DNR officer in question could more than likely be ticketed for violating the law which protects sportsman from harasement while legaly pursuing game in Wisconsin. Man do I wish someone had filled a complaint.
SLEE
It is not a law. Just some Barney that thought he had a bullet for his Gun.
I guess the only way to avoid the DNR is to stop using public landings and hold weigh ins in a remote location on a sandbar. Maybe they’ll leave us alone then
Cade the stupidist laws are always those that force the typical individual to contemplate illigal acts.
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