Legal to give fish away?

[Jared Harmon]

I assume your talking about striper fishing Peter. Here is what I learned the hard way. Your limit alone is 2 fish. If you put 2 fish in your cooler you are legally supposed to quit striper fishing. It is illegal to give an extra fish to someone else. You have your possession limit when you boat your second keeper. If you continue fishing or net another striper while you have your limit you go over your possession limit and can be ticketed. I have found the only way you can legally release fish is to per say put 1 n the cooler and release until you want to keep your second fish, then stop striper fishing. There is a huge grey area with each individual officer and if you find one in a bad mood he is going to right you for something regardless. As far as catching your daily limit and going to the dock and cleaning and coming back out...it is illegal as well. The first fish you net coming back out you go over your daily possession limit. Many many guys do it, I see it done everyday. I see lots of guides coming in with their limits as well which is also illegal on a paid trip. We aren't allowed to let customers keep 2 extra fish for our limit. We can catch the 2 fish ourselves and then bag and tag the fillets and give to customers. I will only release striper November thru April and then I will not because of the mortality rate on the fish. If I have 4 customers and we have 7 fish n the cooler I will pull all lines but 1 anymore, just not worth the chance of getting ticketed. Some won't, some will. Only way I have found to catch and release legally is to get one fish from our limit and let the customer tell me when he wants to quit and keep his last fish. Then by ky law we are to stop striper fishing. Sometimes if we limited very fast most guys think it's a drag race to see who's first to the dock but I have gotten to where I enjoy spending time with my customers. Some days we'll go bottom fish for cats. Pitch some jigs for smallies, or anything we can to spend some time on the water to keep people happy and coming back. Some people like to bang em out quick. Some absolutely hate to.go to the dock in 45 minutes after they've drove 4,5,6 or 7 hours down here and spent over a grand to come fish with us on the trip, gas, room and board, food etc. Sometimes they wanna spend time out there. But the facts I have stated are simply what I have learned myself directly from the law enforcement division. Like someone else stated it really does boil down to the individual officer that stops you and what kind of mood he's in at that time. Some of em are very easy going guys and some of em anytime they see a fisherman they're going to stop and ya and find something to right you a ticket for.

[GeoFisher]

Yes I do read it differently and it does no go along with how it was explained to me by a game warden.

I interpret that as you can continue to fish with 6 bass in your daily creel limit. If you catch another bass it must be released immediately. If you have 7 (which I thought was illegal) you must cull back to the limit. This is not how I thought the law worked.

Go back to post 24 and read about the question I ask a game warden one day while getting a random check. I ask him to explain daily limit, possession limit and how culling works. This was several years ago but I was told you must stop when you reached your daily limit of 6 bass but it was legal to cull back to 5 and continue fishing...read post 24

Culling until you reach the daily limit would mean you are over the daily limit and are culling back to the limit. I know you quoted this from the KDFW site because I looked at it myself. It just does not sound correct. If I were going to continue to fish after I had my daily limit and cull back to my daily limit once I caught another fish then I would want to have in possession the writing that explains this is legal. I would not want to take the chance but that's just me.

If this were the law, wouldn't every single tourney on every lake in KY be in violation when an angler "upsizes" a fish caught in his 5 fish limit??

[GeoFisher]

I assume your talking about striper fishing Peter. Here is what I learned the hard way. Your limit alone is 2 fish. If you put 2 fish in your cooler you are legally supposed to quit striper fishing. It is illegal to give an extra fish to someone else. You have your possession limit when you boat your second keeper. If you continue fishing or net another striper while you have your limit you go over your possession limit and can be ticketed. I have found the only way you can legally release fish is to per say put 1 n the cooler and release until you want to keep your second fish, then stop striper fishing. There is a huge grey area with each individual officer and if you find one in a bad mood he is going to right you for something regardless. As far as catching your daily limit and going to the dock and cleaning and coming back out...it is illegal as well. The first fish you net coming back out you go over your daily possession limit. Many many guys do it, I see it done everyday. I see lots of guides coming in with their limits as well which is also illegal on a paid trip. We aren't allowed to let customers keep 2 extra fish for our limit. We can catch the 2 fish ourselves and then bag and tag the fillets and give to customers. I will only release striper November thru April and then I will not because of the mortality rate on the fish. If I have 4 customers and we have 7 fish n the cooler I will pull all lines but 1 anymore, just not worth the chance of getting ticketed. Some won't, some will. Only way I have found to catch and release legally is to get one fish from our limit and let the customer tell me when he wants to quit and keep his last fish. Then by ky law we are to stop striper fishing. Sometimes if we limited very fast most guys think it's a drag race to see who's first to the dock but I have gotten to where I enjoy spending time with my customers. Some days we'll go bottom fish for cats. Pitch some jigs for smallies, or anything we can to spend some time on the water to keep people happy and coming back. Some people like to bang em out quick. Some absolutely hate to.go to the dock in 45 minutes after they've drove 4,5,6 or 7 hours down here and spent over a grand to come fish with us on the trip, gas, room and board, food etc. Sometimes they wanna spend time out there. But the facts I have stated are simply what I have learned myself directly from the law enforcement division. Like someone else stated it really does boil down to the individual officer that stops you and what kind of mood he's in at that time. Some of em are very easy going guys and some of em anytime they see a fisherman they're going to stop and ya and find something to right you a ticket for.

I wonder if this is lake specific like lake cumberland, etc, etc.

I know fish mortality with striper may lead to different rules, but I didn't ever think or READ that the rules meant, once you had your possession limit, you were done fishing for the day. I know if it is written that way, that certainly is not the spirit of the law.

I personally think that if I got a ticket that way, I'd fight it in court........unless the wording was very , very CLEAR as to what possession and limits were, and if there were specific and targeted rules for a particular lake.

Later,

Geo.

[peter]

The limit is six large and small mouth combined. Might me special regs on lake by lake basis. So if culling with five keepers in live well you never go over limit. Culling with six keepers in live well can't cull with the seventh fish caught.

That's my understanding any how. That's why a tourney might have a five fish limit so everybody is legal.

[GeoFisher]

The limit is six large and small mouth combined. Might me special regs on lake by lake basis. So if culling with five keepers in live well you never go over limit. Culling with six keepers in live well can't cull with the seventh fish caught.

That's my understanding any how. That's why a tourney might have a five fish limit so everybody is legal.

That is correct. .

[Wormin]

The limit is six large and small mouth combined. Might me special regs on lake by lake basis. So if culling with five keepers in live well you never go over limit. Culling with six keepers in live well can't cull with the seventh fish caught.

That's my understanding any how. That's why a tourney might have a five fish limit so everybody is legal.

Then add 2 men per boat that a 12 fish limit.

[stripernut1]

If I am casting for stripers at night on cumberland I dont put ANYTHING in the cooler until I am absolutely ready to go home. Some nights this might be after 4 hrs...some nights it might be the first 2 legal fish that are boated.
Im not about to pull any shady stuff that would get me in trouble....NOTHING...its not worth it.
As far as "giving" fish to someone else... you have caught AND possessed your daily limit...as well as the person you gave the fish to is also in possession of his/her daily limit. And just because you now no longer "possess" those fish its not any different than catching 6 ky bass, cleaning them, frying them up and the fam having fish for lunch, you are now no longer in possession of those fish...but you caught and kept your limit for that day....youre done. And just because you didnt "see the man" that morning, dont bet he didnt see you

[GeoFisher]

If I am casting for stripers at night on cumberland I dont put ANYTHING in the cooler until I am absolutely ready to go home. Some nights this might be after 4 hrs...some nights it might be the first 2 legal fish that are boated.
Im not about to pull any shady stuff that would get me in trouble....NOTHING...its not worth it.
As far as "giving" fish to someone else... you have caught AND possessed your daily limit...as well as the person you gave the fish to is also in possession of his/her daily limit. And just because you now no longer "possess" those fish its not any different than catching 6 ky bass, cleaning them, frying them up and the fam having fish for lunch, you are now no longer in possession of those fish...but you caught and kept your limit for that day....youre done. And just because you didnt "see the man" that morning, dont bet he didnt see you

So, after you caught and possess 2 fish......you're DONE, or can you continue to fish..that is what I don't get.

Later,

Geo

[stripernut1]

Geo , youre exactly right...in my mind I would think that just because I have 2 STRIPERS in the cooler, doesnt mean I cant continue fishing for WALLEYE. But I know I will more than likely hook another STRIPER. And when I hook that striper I know im going to have to unhook that fish in the water without it ever going into the net or inside the boat. By doing this I think I will be able to voice reason and logic to any law enforcement representative I encounter, no matter their interpretation of a very gray area. But to avoid any opportunities for negative interactions I just dont put ANYTHING in the cooler until im ready to go home.
I live minutes from the lake and its not a problem for me to go again tommorrow night and the next nite and so on...
But if I was driving 4 hours to fish one night I can see how this might not work.
I also feel that the COs we have on cumberland are extremely courteous, very reasonable and intelligent people, so having said that I feel like they know what is what. I just dont have any desire to test what shade of gray it is tonight lol.
But we are talking about a completely black and white issue when we are talking about catching, possessing and giving a limit of fish away....we are DONE possessing that species of fish for the day.

[R19]

If this were the law, wouldn't every single tourney on every lake in KY be in violation when an angler "upsizes" a fish caught in his 5 fish limit??

If the body of water you are fishing has a 6 fish limit per person and the tournament has a 5 fish limit per person you will be okay. When you have 5 you continue to fish. You catch number 6 and stop fishing per KY state law. You cull back to 5 which is legal in KY. You are now legal to continue fishing with 5 in your possession. You are in compliance with KY state law and are in compliance with tournament rules of a 5 fish limit to weigh in.

Now I have seen situations where tournaments had rules that left grey area for interpretation...lets say you are fishing a team tournament and it is a 6 fish limit. Its rare but I have seen a very few that do have a 6 fish limit. If it is a team event and angler X is having a good day and catches 6 keepers and angler Y struggles to get a bite angler X by law is suppose to stop fishing. Angler Y still has the oppurtinuity to add weight to the tournament team limit of 6 because state law (which overrides a tournament rules) states he has 0 fish in possession. If angler Y catches a good fish by KY law his 1 fish goes into the tournament team bag of 6 fish making the tournament team have 7 fish. They cull one of anglers X's fish and now the limit is 6. Now KY law sees it that angler X now has 5 fish. He can resume fishing. Angler Y has 1 fish in the team bag of 6...this is the way the law works but most see it as we are a team. We are allowed 6. It does not matter who catches the 6 because together we are allowed 12 by law. That is a wrong way of looking at it but it is common. Since this grey area exist 99% of tournaments have a 5 fish limit to prevent any confusion.

Now I do have a good one...Cedar Creek Lake in KY has a 1 bass over 20" per person limit. All you are allowed to have in possession is 1 bass over 20 inches per person. By Ky state law when you reach your possession limit you must stop fishing for the day. Since the limit is 1 bass over 20" your done at 1 fish. By default there is no culling. You can release your 1 fish and continue fishing. I ask a person who tournament fishes the lake how their tournaments were ran. He reported one organization requires you to stop fishing after one keeper. They have someone at the ramp from start to finish to weigh fish. You can run back to the ramp and weigh your one fish and release it. You are now okay by tournament rules and more importantly KY state law to legally resume fishing. One of the other clubs only allows you to weigh 1 fish per person but they do not require you to stop fishing...this is wrong by KY state law. They continue to fish and if they catch another one over 20" they must cull back to one fish because that is all they are allowed to weigh in. This is breaking the law. In reality the tournament is allowing them to continue to fish when state law says they must stop with one in possession. In this case state law overrides a tournament rule and they are fishing illegal. If they get stopped and checked with one fish in their possession and they are actively fishing they will get a ticket. Tournament rules may be okay with you continuing to fish but the game warden is not okay with it. Eventually someone will get busted and they will change the tournament rule to match the state law.

[fishindude]

Hopefully, in an effort to finalize this discussion, I called KDFWR law enforcement. Once you reach your limit you CANNOT give away fish to anyone else. You have caught your limit and cannot help fill someone else's. If you catch your limit of any fish - including stripers at Cumberland, you can continue fishing and you can cull. However, I wouldn't cull stripers due to high mortality. He stated you can continue fishing for any species once the limit has been reached and you can cull any species. I hope this helps everyone.

[stripernut1]

The part about culling "any" fish is absolutely not true....you may NOT CULL trout that have been placed on a stringer or in a livewell.
Also dont take that striper test on cumberland either, a trail of dead stripers behind your boat is definitely going to get you shut down....there are wanton waste laws on the books to protect the fishery