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.


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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.

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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?

[R19]

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.

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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?

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.

[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??

[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

[fishindude]

I can't argue with that. He didn't mention trout and I didn't ask that question. I specifically inquired about Stripers and that was the response he gave me. I agree that it is not a good idea to cull stripers. The officer would probably not take too kindly to seeing a trail of those dead. I am not a practitioner of culling anyway. Once they hit my livewell, that's it. I feel they are too stressed by the conditions and any species of fish may be likely to die. I am not a tourney fisherman and fish for food and enjoyment. If you check my freezer, you'll find bluegill, crappie, channel cats and white bass.

[fishindude]

One more thought. I think it is important to be a good sportsman and consider my actions and implications from said actions when fishing and hunting. I don't take more than my family and I can eat. Also, I feel it would be unsportsmanlike to even consider culling a fish that has been on a stringer - any fish. Our lakes and rivers are not infinite providers of fish. There are regulations for a reason. I want to enjoy it the rest of my life and would like my daughters to be able to do the same.

[stripernut1]

One more thought. I think it is important to be a good sportsman and consider my actions and implications from said actions when fishing and hunting. I don't take more than my family and I can eat. Also, I feel it would be unsportsmanlike to even consider culling a fish that has been on a stringer - any fish. Our lakes and rivers are not infinite providers of fish. There are regulations for a reason. I want to enjoy it the rest of my life and would like my daughters to be able to do the same.

Well said my friend...well said

[smashdn]

One more thought. I think it is important to be a good sportsman and consider my actions and implications from said actions when fishing and hunting. I don't take more than my family and I can eat. Also, I feel it would be unsportsmanlike to even consider culling a fish that has been on a stringer - any fish. Our lakes and rivers are not infinite providers of fish. There are regulations for a reason. I want to enjoy it the rest of my life and would like my daughters to be able to do the same.

I go fishing with the intent of catching enough fish to clean and eat or clean and freeze. Unfortunately, I only catch 2 crappie, so not enough to really amount to much. Both are still very much alive in the livewell or on the stringer.

Not kosher to put them back?

[crappiepappy]

I go fishing with the intent of catching enough fish to clean and eat or clean and freeze. Unfortunately, I only catch 2 crappie, so not enough to really amount to much. Both are still very much alive in the livewell or on the stringer.

Not kosher to put them back?

To my way of thinking, it's just as "kosher" to put those keepers back as it is to release any non-keepers you catch ... as long as they're in good health. I've done it plenty of times, when I don't catch enough to bother cleaning. But, if they're dead or distressed ... they go home to the fillet knife !!

Can't say much about the use of a "stringer", though, since I haven't used one in forever .... BUT, I NEVER hooked a fish on a stringer by putting the hook through the gills !! I always hooked them through the bottom lip membrane.

[peter]

Thanks for calling KDFWR.

I agree with you personnel preference on culling. I would call that guy back and ask him to read the first paragraph in the 2016 fishing regs and then see what he says about culling with an additional fish when there is already a daily limit in the boat. The same sentence "seems" to also give permission to keep fishing after a limit is reached as long as you don't keep or cull using the additional fish. Here it is. Seems like pretty plain English to me.

http://fw.ky.gov/fishboatguide/Pages...lations.aspx#1

If you do call him back can you report what he says back here please.