Taking Bait across state lines....
You will want to check the law, but I am reading some conflicting reports caused by a new ban on transportation of fish. There is a fish disease in the Great Lakes and you are not allowed to move bait from one Great Lake State to another or to move fish from a Great Lakes State to any state outside. NOW I do not know for sure if that means you can not take dead fish. I will look into it. However you will want to check with Fish and Wildlife in that state before you move any bait. This is a FEDERAL law due to There is a ban on transportation of fish out of those states due to a disease.
Here is the info I read from BassFan.com
What's particularly sticky about the current emergency federal order concerning viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) is its statewide effect – how its hand extends far beyond the Great Lakes region.
Remember that there are seven affected or at-risk states – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – plus the provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
And note that the federal order prohibits the movement of fish across state lines between each of those states, and prohibits the movement of fish out of those states to unaffected neighbors.
Since Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota are affected or at-risk states, no live fish may be moved across the Mississippi between Minnesota and Wisconsin, or from Illinois into Iowa.
And don't forget about Indiana. Its sliver of land that touches Lake Michigan makes it an affected state. Therefore, tournaments on the Ohio River, which forms the southern boundary of Indiana, are subject to the same prohibitions.
Rainy Lake and the Rainy River in northern Minnesota are just like Lake Erie and the Niagara River – no live Ontario bass may be brought to a U.S. weigh-in.
And Illinois BassFans who plan to fish their summer events out of Ft. Madison, Iowa, will likely find that they're restricted to the Iowa side of the Mississippi.
The same goes for bass events launching from the Kentucky portion of the Ohio River.
More on problematic border waters appears below.
The good news, if there is any, is that these regulations aren't yet permanent.
In a statement issued in 2002, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture said: "The AHPA increases civil penalties to a maximum of $50,000 for an individual, although it remains at a $1,000 maximum for first-time offenders at ports of entry when such offenders are carrying the products for personal use and not for commercial gain. Civil penalties for other than individuals are increased to a maximum of $250,000 per violation with a maximum of $500,000 in a single adjudication."
Violators of the federal order on VHS may also be in violation of the federal Lacey Act. The Lacey Act Amendment of 1981 states: "Under this law, it is unlawful to import, export, sell, acquire, or purchase fish, wildlife or plants taken, possessed, transported, or sold: 1) in violation of U.S. or Indian law, or 2) in interstate or foreign commerce involving any fish, wildlife, or plants taken, possessed or sold in violation of state or foreign law. The law covers all fish and wildlife and their parts or products, and plants protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and those protected by state law. Commercial guiding and outfitting are considered to be a sale under the provisions of the Act."
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This will also mean that you are not supposed to take fish to a weigh in, in Kentucky Waters.. but you can take Kentucky Fish to a weigh in, at Indiana or Ohio...
Bizaree..
You may want to put your 2 cents in with the proper authority.
Jim Dicken
Reports Editor
Fishin.com
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