Minnesota Waterfowl Hunting

I see in the regs it says that you cannot intentionally fish for a closed species.

But could someone be casting with a Rapala and if questioned just say they were fishing for carp?

Or how does that all play out?

There was a spot we used to fish in the Spring when I was a kid (sadly it's garbage now) that the 5 foot army invaded once they caught wind of it. As required (and perfect), they all used cheap Zebco closed face combos, or giant spinning reels with heavy action rods and about 40 pound mono. At the end of the mono was a steel leader attached to a bobber the size of a baseball which was attached to another steel leader and then a hook. The moral of the story is, a sane person would look at that and say Muskie or Northern fisherman, but the possum cops were there just about every time I was and never ticketed based on setup alone, prior to them actually catching a fish. Because they kept literally everything they caught, they did get ticketed for the several closed species in their buckets. Of course they immediately didn't know how to speak English at this point and if one of em did slip up and speak in tongues, they were always sure to point out that they are hunter/gatherers in the homeland and their is no such things as limits or closed seasons.

Disclaimer: unless you dye your hair black, grow out a bowl cut, shrink 6-12", and drive a late model Civic with a giant monza tip exhaust, your results may vary.

HnkrCrash wrote:There was a spot we used to fish in the Spring when I was a kid (sadly it's garbage now) that the 5 foot army invaded once they caught wind of it. As required (and perfect), they all used cheap Zebco closed face combos, or giant spinning reels with heavy action rods and about 40 pound mono. At the end of the mono was a steel leader attached to a bobber the size of a baseball which was attached to another steel leader and then a hook. The moral of the story is, a sane person would look at that and say Muskie or Northern fisherman, but the possum cops were there just about every time I was and never ticketed based on setup alone, prior to them actually catching a fish. Because they kept literally everything they caught, they did get ticketed for the several closed species in their buckets. Of course they immediately didn't know how to speak English at this point and if one of em did slip up and speak in tongues, they were always sure to point out that they are hunter/gatherers in the homeland and their is no such things as limits or closed seasons.

Disclaimer: unless you dye your hair black, grow out a bowl cut, shrink 6-12", and drive a late model Civic with a giant monza tip exhaust, your results may vary.

good stuff

Forgot to mention, keeping that in mind, there was that recent story about the old codger by Cloud who got pinched by green jeans on a bullshit charge of what was basically "intent to shoot an extra deer". He hadn't done jack, but was in a deer stand with a typical deer firearm. The oldster smartly told green jeans he was chasing squirrels, but he got a ticket anyway. Something to consider. That said, just because you might be a dumbass and may be over gunned, or over tackled, doesn't mean you should get a ticket if you keep your story straight. At that point you haven't actually broken any laws, you simply may or may not be a dumbass...which I know isn't illegal because even with several opportunities, I've never gotten a ticket for it.

CO told me long time back he couldn't ticket someone for being a bad fisherman....

that being said, i think the attitude is changing due to bass guys fishing M'tonka bass on spawn beds pre-season.

Might be a grey area enforcement depending on CO and location.

What about common sense?

Meaning you are throwing a 6" daredevil. I am sure there are a few here that do that to catch a crappie, but is not the intent to catch a bigger species like Pike who's season is closed?

As for the dude that was deemed deer hunting--he had slugs on him. If he had bird shot, he never would have been tagged.

But then again I am sure a few here have used slugs to shoot a grouse or ditch parrot so they will argue that they should not be tagged for possession of slugs constitutes them deer hunting.

Any how,,, it's kind of like explaining to the CO why you have lead bird shot in you're pocket VS steel while waterfowl hunting but that you are squirrel hunting. Good luck with that...

And back the original question, so if a guy is throwing a Carolina rig for Bass 1st of May, will he get tagged? The question should be, should he get tagged? 1st answer is likely not, but the 2nd answer is he should as he knows exactly what he is doing and is trying to skirt the intent of the law. But If a CO saw a guy repeatedly catch Bass, I think he'd would get a ticket.

You know it's illegal to have deer gun/ammo out in the country 4 days prior to deer season, except on a licensed shooting range ?

Maybe they could legislate every single piece of tackle you can have on the water for each day of the year.

Or maybe people could quit being idiots by not trying to twist the existing law so there would be no need to even consider such new laws.

There should never be a closed season to catch and release fishing. With that being said I would NEVER intentionally fish for a species out of season, but I do catch a lot of big bass on accident when I'm throwing a 1/2oz spinner bait for giant crappies.

No CO in his right mind should write a ticket for this unless that person has out of season fish in his livewell.

They haven't been able to legislate common sense or stupidity to any effective level.

Spring time pan fishing over the years has proven very effective in catching 5+ lb largemouth right next to sunnies and crappies. For some reason, 1/8th jig with some Gulp! annoys a bed sitter. It's not intentional, when the bobber goes down, set the hook, and the ultra light gets real heavy. Fishing from shore and docks, no $50k worth of boat required.

Have also seen guys that think they are genius fishermen for pulling sunnies off of beds. The "figured" out the bite.

Most people are blissfully ignorant because it gives them plausible deniability. We tend to lack proper/consistent enforcement of rules already on the books. If someone is obviously cheating the system, call them in. The rest you just have to deal with the fact are the same jackholes that can't launch/load their boat and take up two lanes at the ramp.