Eating Fish On The Ice Question

so i ice fish a lot but i dont often eat the fish on the ice and im wondering how this works in minnesota. I plan on doing a few week long fishing trips where i will be wanting to clean and eat fish on the ice. please dont chime in about throwing guts down the hole or in the garbage at the landing cause im not that kind of outdoorsman. So say im ice fishing with a buddy and we catch 6 walleye, well within the legal limit of possession for two anglers in a day. What needs to be done in order to eat them that day and when does the next limit begin? I’ve heard that you need to keep some of the fish carcass in tact so a DNR agent can identify the species. If we catch those 6, fillet them and eat them for dinner does our limit start new again the next day, as in at midnight? What do you need to do to properly dispose of the fish?

Thanks for any input on the matter. Im not looking to slaughter a ton of fish and eat my limit and then some everyday i just want to make sure i understand the rules while being able to enjoy some of the catch on the ice for those week long trips

That’s a good question. Often wondered myself if you have the carcasses still in your possesion if they count to your limit. That’s a lot of fish to eat everyday. Sounds wonderful.

well you should have the carcass of the fish somewhere if you didn’t put it down the hole. To finish filling your possession that would start at midnight.

Make sure you take a dump before possessing more fish. In MN with their rules you might be in violation if you don’t.

I would keep the remains of each fish consumed during that day. Your new limit should start at 12 midnight. Just make sure you have no more than the possession limit at any one time of fish and remains.

If spending more than two days you may need to dispose of some remains to not be over the possession limit.

Your limit restarts at midnight unless you still have the fish in possession. You have to keep the carcasses until you leave the ice. Just bag them and hang from your shanty/house to freeze.

Quote:

---

Your limit restarts at midnight unless you still have the fish in possession. You have to keep the carcasses until you leave the ice. Just bag them and hang from your shanty/house to freeze.

---

Yup….but the booger in this issue is that the frozen carcasses you have count towards your limit. You must make a trip to shore to dispose of them in order to keep any more fish…… That is how it was explained to me by a CO. If you want to take a limit home, you need to get rid of the carcases of what you ate first…..

Here are the regs for Minnesota:

Note – Lakes such as Mille Lacs, Red, Leech, Winni fall into special reg lakes.

See Page 13 of Mn Regs

• When fish are consumed on the ice or on a watercraft that is docked or moored to shore, the carcass of a fish with size limits (other than statewide size limits) must be retained in such a way that the carcass may be readily unpacked, unwrapped, and separated so that the carcass may be examined, measured, and counted to ensure compliance with size restrictions for that day. The fish carcasses must be retained with head, dorsal fin, and tail intact, and the carcass will be counted and included in a person’s daily possession limit.

• Depositing fish entrails or fish parts into public waters or onto lake or stream shores is prohibited.

• If legally taken from a connected water or having been packaged by a licensed fish packer, a person who is in transit and taking the most direct route back to their lodging or docking, and not fishing, may possess fish outside of or in excess of the limits for that water body.

• When on or fishing experimental, special, border or other waters with size restrictions different from statewide regulations, all fish for which the size restriction applies must have their heads, tails, fins, and skin intact and be measurable except as follows:

(1) Fish that are legally taken on that water body may be used in the preparation of a meal while docked or moored to shore or while on the ice of that waterbody. Fish used for a meal still count towards the daily possession limit. Fillets may be possessed only if the person is in the act of
preparing a meal or have been packaged by a licensed fish packer.

(2) On the shore or ice of experimental and special management waters a person may prepare fish for a meal that have been packaged by a licensed fish packer. The total number of fish in possession may not exceed the statewide possession limit.

Quote:

---

• If legally taken from a connected water or having been packaged by a licensed fish packer, a person who is in transit and taking the most direct route back to their lodging or docking, and not fishing, may possess fish outside of or in excess of the limits for that water body.

---

Was that English?

Quote:

---

The fish carcasses must be retained with head, dorsal fin, and tail intact,

---

What if you are horrible at filleting and take off the dorsal, tail or head?

Quote:

---

Was that English?

---

That means you were fishing a lake with a 6 fish limit and then enter or cross a lake with a 2 fish limit (like Mille Lacs) you need to follow that rule.

-J.

Sounds like if you are going to fish in MN you should have a lawyer on retainer.
Just joking Wisconsin is getting to many different regs. also.

Quote:

---

Make sure you take a dump before possessing more fish. In MN with their rules you might be in violation if you don’t.

---

Sorry, this almost made me spit coffee everywhere!

Quote:

---

That means you were fishing a lake with a 6 fish limit and then enter or cross a lake with a 2 fish limit (like Mille Lacs) you need to follow that rule.

-J.

---

This part was what through me, but I get it now.

Quote:

---

or having been packaged by a licensed fish packer,

---

In other words you can transport fish above the legal limit for the water you are traveling on, as long as you don’t stop to fish and the fish were caught legally elsewhere. Or you can go to Cub and buy 100 walleye fillets and drive them across the lake to reach your isolated destination.

The regs are different depending on the body of water you are on. Like previously stated any fish you consume counts towards your limit that day, and any carcass you have in posession counts as well. If you are fishing a lake that does NOT have any slot size restrictions you only need to dispose of the remains before you start your catch for the next day (IE: throw them away by 11:59pm, start catching at 12:01) legal time for new day in MN is 12:01am not 12:00 midnight.
If you are, say, fishing LOTW or any other water body that HAS size restrictions, your catch must remain in the round (head body, fins and tail) until you begin prepairing the fish for cooking; any filets you do not cook need to stay with its full carcass until cunsumed.
Also, in MN you can get fined for having a bag of fish remains hanging up outside your shack even if you are under the limit. It’s a birds and wildlife thingy, and there are COs that will nab you for it.

Pug, many of the resorts on these lakes will clean and package your fish under the rules of a licensed fish packer. Well worth the price they charge if you ask me!

-J.

Quote:

---

Quote:

---

Your limit restarts at midnight unless you still have the fish in possession. You have to keep the carcasses until you leave the ice. Just bag them and hang from your shanty/house to freeze.

---

Yup….but the booger in this issue is that the frozen carcasses you have count towards your limit. You must make a trip to shore to dispose of them in order to keep any more fish…… That is how it was explained to me by a CO. If you want to take a limit home, you need to get rid of the carcases of what you ate first…..

---

No, they count towards your daily limit. Once the meat has been taken and consumed the carcasses are just proof of your previous daily limit and do not count towards your limit the next day.

However, if you are a d!ck to the game warden I am sure he will have no trouble claiming you caught the cleaned fish earlier that day and write you up. But if you are nice and explain yourself he will not do a thing.

My suggestion, although probably not legal on most lakes.. would be to push the carcasses down the hole after you eat the fish. Let the catfish have them. Don’t do it if its not legal though….

Quote:

---

No, they count towards your daily limit. Once the meat has been taken and consumed the carcasses are just proof of your previous daily limit and do not count towards your limit the next day.

---

You may be right, but the warden whom I talked to specifically stated that they must be disposed of. He was very clear in the fact that he would write a ticket if you had a limit of walleyes, plus some frozen carcasses. He stated that we would need to make a shore trip to dispose of them. Wardens can and sometimes do interpret the laws as they see them, leaving the decision up to the judge.

Gotta be careful here too. The key word is “consumed”. Fillets that have been cooked but NOT eaten are still part of the possession limit [daily limit] that they came from. If you have one fillet left over, you have to short the next days limit by 1 fish to allow for the fillet since its impossible to have one fillet without killing one fish.

Kevin,

In Minnesota, the carcasses ARE a part of your daily and possession limits until they are discarded. Once discarded they are removed from your possession limit, but not from your daily limit. While in possession, they are not removed from your possession limit.

To put it simply; if you catch, filet and consume 6 walleye on tuesday by 3 pm and you dispose of the carcasses after eating, then you can catch 6 more on wednesday.

BUT if you catch 6 walleye on tuesday, filet and consume them but are still in possession of the carcasses on Wednesday, any walleye you catch on Wednesday will be that many over your possession limit.

Edit: by 3pm is just an example time and not a rule time

Quote:

---

Pug, many of the resorts on these lakes will clean and package your fish under the rules of a licensed fish packer. Well worth the price they charge if you ask me!

-J.

---

Ah, that too.

As soon as you eat the fish, get rid of the carcasses. But you must eat all the fish or keep an appropriate number of carcasses. They must remain together unless the meat is consumed.

let me see if I have this straight, if I catch 6 walleye, clean them and put the guts down the hole, cook them and eat them by 3pm. I can catch and clean 6 more walleye if I take the guts to shore if the CO don’t catch me by midnight the next night. but if i don’t eat all the fillets, and don’t offer any to the CO i will get a ticket for over the limit. i think that i am missing something here, man this is really confusing thread.

Quote:

---

let me see if I have this straight, if I catch 6 walleye, clean them and put the guts down the hole, cook them and eat them by 3pm. I can catch and clean 6 more walleye if I take the guts to shore if the CO don’t catch me by midnight the next night. but if i don’t eat all the fillets, and don’t offer any to the CO i will get a ticket for over the limit. i think that i am missing something here, man this is really confusing thread.

---

Even if you eat every fillet by 3 pm, you still can’t legally keep any more walleyes until after midnight. A daily limit is a daily limit.

MN has a daily AND possession limit… Once you reach either one, it is illegal to have more fish of that species. In most situations the daily/possession are the same number… But how you reset the limits are the confusing parts. A daily limit is reset at 12:01 midnight.. Simple enough… If you catch and completely consume your limit for that day then you can catch more at 12:01 the next “morning.” However any fish not consumed are part of your possession limit, and remain as such until completely consumed. The possession limit is subtracted from your daily limit. If you have 3 walleye in your freezer at home(in Minnesota), your daily limit for fishing is 3 until you consume the fish in your freezer. A carcass is a fish in possession, so remove those by the end of the day if you have consumed the meat so you reset your possession limit for the next day…. It’s pretty simple actually.