Cast nets for shad?

Cast Nets are illigal for use in MN and it border waters.

As I was researching cast net usage, I came across this little tid bit of info.

Quote:

---

Schonhoff said young Asian carp closely resemble gizzard shad, highlighting the need for substantial educational outreach if there’s any hope of preventing inadvertent transfer of carp by anglers. Kevin Stauffer said Minnesota prohibits anglers from personally collecting and moving bait between water bodies. While this is very unpopular with some members of the public, Stauffer said it is designed to address just the kind of unintentional transport of exotics that Schonhoff mentioned.

---

Just wondering out loud. Would there be an issue if a person used a cast net, caught some Asian Carp fry, froze them, then used them for bait like we want to with shad?

If the laws would read, must be immediately frozen, no issues…right?

I really don’t have any plans for the next 6 years anyway.

Just trying to figure out what our road blocks are…

Navigation Environmental Coordination Committee Link

I thought cast nets were illegal in MN

I’ve edited my post to make it a little more clear.

They are illegal.

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

Schonhoff said young Asian carp closely resemble gizzard shad, highlighting the need for substantial educational outreach if there’s any hope of preventing inadvertent transfer of carp by anglers. Kevin Stauffer said Minnesota prohibits anglers from personally collecting and moving bait between water bodies. While this is very unpopular with some members of the public, Stauffer said it is designed to address just the kind of unintentional transport of exotics that Schonhoff mentioned.

---

Just wondering out loud. Would there be an issue if a person used a cast net, caught some Asian Carp fry, froze them, then used them for bait like we want to with shad?

If the laws would read, must be immediately frozen, no issues…right?

---

The part of because people can’t ID what they are using chaps me. People can’t tell the diff between Carp and Buffalo? Now they don’t want us to use shad because we may get an invasive species? I never use shad live pretty much because it is nearly impossible. they die easily and work well dead. GRRRR I want to use my cast net and make the most of the time I have left for fishing.

I am just waiting for the same mess down here.White perch are moving across eastern ks..They are illegal to possess live for any reason.Next thing you know we wont be able to cast net shad because they are so worried about the perch.The thing is live shad are the best bait for Big Wipers and Stripers even when they wont take a crank or other artificial lure

Shark, we use shad around 3″ up here to catch Channels, Shovelnose and Lake Sturgeon. It’s hard to watch the boat with a WI license on it using a cast net, then hooking the shad on the line and pulling up a nice cat or anchoring and getting into sturgeon.

My thinking is that we might have a shot at this if they are frozen after catching them, not transported in water and not used alive.

I don’t know anyone in MN or WI that has a shad tank…but then I’ve never asked either.

Are you saying I can use a cast net? On the croix?

ET

Quote:

---

Are you saying I can use a cast net? On the croix?

ET

---

Last time I checked the WI rules you could.

However transporting them with WI new rules might be an issue. Please check your laws.

I’m having a hard enough time with our own.

You have a portable freezer? Here’s the problem. You have to transport them alive or in an apparent state of non-life to the freezer. DNR would not be able to verify that you in fact did or will freeze them. Unscrupulous people will bypass the freezing and potentially transporting invasive species.

DNR always rules on the side of caution. Personally, I don’t blame them.

I thought cast nets were outlawed because the potential of killing fry of gamefish and disturbing eggs?

Hate to break it to ya, but it’s illegal to even posses a cast net on the water…

I’d like to add that in Wisconsin cast nets are only legal on the Mississippi and then only for suckers. They cannot be used anywhere else.

I hear ya Pug.

MN defines “dead” as in “transporting dead” as in “not enough water to support life”. Transporting lake/river water is against the law too.

So, here’s my thought. Rip it a part! That’s why I post it here!

Cast nets are tagged by color for whatever lake/river it’s used in. Once tagged they can’t be used in any other body of water. DNR comes by sees a yellow tag on a net and knows it should be red for that body of water…instant bust.

Shad is the only bait that can be harvested via cast net. Once caught, they can be used immediately on that body of water alive or dead.

Before transporting, they must be placed in a sealed container without water or weeds. Then frozen for XX hours before use.

Besides being against the law to posses a net on the water now, what am I missing? Incidental netting of game fish fry, I ‘spose.

I would like to be able to use a cast net for shad as much as the next guy. But if you can’t even use cut bait from a common carp legally in MN, what are the odds you would be able to change this current rule? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for it. I think many of the rules that are in place are to prevent the temptation of using live baits elsewhere, thereby leading to accidental introductions. e.g. introducing zebra mussels into inland waters because you were holding live shad/redhorse/you name it at home that were captured in the rivers and your water source became contaminated with a droplet of water that had a zebra mussel veliger in it. It’s possible zebra mussels would be more widespread than they currently are if more relaxed regulations were in place about water/bait/live fish transport.

And as for shad, many places down south don’t want shad spread around. Gizzard shad would absolutely destroy reservoirs in Indiana because they would alter the food chain. They would rapidly reproduce and grow so fast that they were quickly too large to be eaten by the predators. Bass and bluegill populations would suffer, water quality (i.e. clarity) would decline. Therefore was illegal to possess live shad in Indiana except for certain exceptions (I think one reservoir allowed it if they were caught and used in that waterbody only).

Joel

Thanks Joel,

I’m glad you responded.

Quote:

---

But if you can’t even use cut bait from a common carp legally in MN, what are the odds you would be able to change this current rule?

---

Wouldn’t this law have been born to keep carp from being introduced to new waters?
Since carp are in every body of water except my home bait tank, this would be an out dated law, right?
There’s no purpose for it any longer.

How long does it take for Zebs to die by being frozen? Wasn’t it 10 days?

There must be a way to efficiently harvest shad without screwing up our other lakes/rivers.

Quote:

---

MN defines “dead” as in “transporting dead” as in “not enough water to support life”. Transporting lake/river water is against the law too.

---

I forget about that because it doesn’t affect me. I always dispose of my left over bait properly when done fishing.

Define properly.

Quote:

---

I’d like to add that in Wisconsin cast nets are only legal on the Mississippi and then only for suckers. They cannot be used anywhere else.

---

I missed your post earlier Jerry!

No kidding? Could you point me in the right direction for that law? Not that I don’t believe you, just want to see how it’s written.

I guess I didn’t see anyone with a cast net on the St Croix from WI.

I know a spot on Pool 2….rather, just about everyone who fished on pool 2 knows a spot….where the shad stack up in the fall. It’s no problem to snag them with a crankbait. Would it be legal to snag some of these shad and then use them as bait on the river that same day? I think I can use a dip net as long as it doesn’t exceed the legal dimensions too.

Rootski

Hey Rootski. In MN it is illegal to snag and keep anything as far as i know

I don’t fish P2 and I know that spot!

Nice try Rootski.

Quote:

---

I don’t fish P2 and I know that spot!

Nice try Rootski.

---

Joel, cover your eyes.

Oh they are there. I have accidentally landed some while netting a phantom fish.

And Brian, I did explain properly with a

If you can package something to propose a rule change, go for it.

Here’s my thoughts on what can be done legally, at least for MN residents…
You can get shad by using a legal seine, or with an umbrella net, and fish with them on those waters that you caught them from. Whether or not you can actually pull that off is another story. If you do in fact get them, I think (stress THINK) you could transport them home and freeze them, just as long as you didn’t transport them in any water. So throw them in the livewell and pull the plug when you leave. Might want to double check with a C.O., but that should be legal to take them for freezing and future bait use.

I doubt the common carp law will ever change. Not all waters have them, and they are commonly the target when lakes are renovated so a re-introduction due to a relaxed law would be doubly bad. And for bighead/silver carp, it’s illegal to even possess them unless in direct route to a DNR office for confirmation (once again, I THINK that is how that rule reads).

Did I miss anything? Did I make it worse or better?

Joel

Quote:

---

Shark, we use shad around 3″ up here to catch Channels, Shovelnose and Lake Sturgeon. It’s hard to watch the boat with a WI license on it using a cast net, then hooking the shad on the line and pulling up a nice cat or anchoring and getting into sturgeon.

My thinking is that we might have a shot at this if they are frozen after catching them, not transported in water and not used alive.

I don’t know anyone in MN or WI that has a shad tank…but then I’ve never asked either.

---

Frozen shad stink compared to fresh ones. The only good batch I’ve done was dumping them immediately on ice then running home and vacuum packing them. They are so delicate, being out of the water for a few seconds when you pull up the net will leave some of them floating belly up. A minute or two and they’re usually all dead.

The only things I’ve read people actually want to freeze are skipjack and mooneye.

If you drag shad home not on ice so they’re dead and warm, it’s like putting wet bread on a hook. The firmest ones are the 12 inchers and they still get mushy if not cooled and frozen quickly enough. I’d rather use anything fresh.

Shad do alter the system. It’s harder to pattern fish because some of them chase the shad around yet there are some shad all over… They don’t ball up much here I think due to the murky water. Anyway, it’s just a different system. Channels do well in it.

Thanks again Joel.

That does help and I’ll check out the transporting issues with the home base.

Quote:

---

I don’t fish P2 and I know that spot!

Nice try Rootski.

---

I do! And I DON’T!

Someone’s gonna have to enlighten me…

It irritates me no end, because I was just going to buy one to start collecting my own bait when they passed the law that you can’t use them at all anymore.

I didn’t realize the other laws about their use though. Maybe it’s better I never got one at all.

Quote:

---

Maybe it’s better I never got one at all.

---

At this time, I would say…yup.

Wait, a spot the shad pile up on pool 2? I was thinking the Minnesota.

Brian,

I have a cast net, I would sell it to you and even teach you how to throw it. I used to get a hundred or more shad in one throw and fish cats all day using both live and dead ones. We would also salt them in a bucket for later. I haven’t used it in a while. Salted shad keep for a long time and firm up nicely and I’ve got a lot of nice fish back in the day. You should change your mail box to Everts and move to a state that doesn’t have 10,000 laws, use 3 rods and fish with bluegills and shad until you are blue. By the way Wisconsin has way more than 10K lakes and ours have monster channel cats in them.

Peace purple koolaid fans.

KS

Quote:

---

I would sell it to you and even teach you how to throw it.

---

Would you pay for my ticket?