Legal to give fish away?

[peter]

If you have a limit of fish, lets say bass, in your boat and a CO pulls up just as you catch another one that is not a problem. You are allowed to cull in this state. So, you compare the fish you just caught to the smallest one in your livewell and then release the smallest one. We do it all the time in tournaments. (Well, I always hope I can ) Anyway, you would not get a citation for that. When it comes to giving fish away that is different. Lets look at catfish for a moment. If you look under statewide regulations in the Fishing Guide you will see catfish is not listed. So, if you catch a catfish and see a family nearby trying to catch anything that will bite and want to give it to them I don't see a problem with that. The exception is on bodies of water where they have a creel limit for catfish like at the Game Farm Lakes. On the otherhand, if you catch a bass and already have a limit but give that bass to someone else I believe that is considered poaching. If you catch a limit of any species listed that has a daily limit and you keep them that day you cannot go out and catch another limit to "keep" the same day. You may however go out and keep fishing for them as long as you release them. Most of this is my take on the regs as I read them. If you want a more definite answer on any of it post your question in a new thread so I can make a list of the questions to get the facts for you.

The question of culling came up at dinner tonight. I remembered there was a detailed thread on this and other related items. The question of culling seems to be answered plainly in the first paragraph of the current fishing regs. Also "daily" is defined. Also fishing after limit is reached is addressed.


---

STATEWIDE REGULATIONS
Some waterbodies have different size and creel limits, please refer to the “Special Fishing Regulations” section for more details. Fish not included in this list are considered rough fish. There are no size or creel limits for rough fish, unless special regulations apply. For daily creel and fishing license purposes, one fishing day equals one calendar day. Except for trout, anglers may cull fish of a particular species until reaching the daily creel limit. Any additional fish caught in excess of the daily creel limit must be released immediately.

---

So if you want to cull you must have one less fish in the boat than the daily creel limit when you bring the next fish in the boat.

Any body read that differently?