I have mixed emotions on this due to my experiences here with people illegally harvesting bass in March and April. The D.N.R. cant ticket really unless they have bass in their possession. I have had the boys here several times over bass poachers and they have caught a couple in the last two years. They have a real hard time enforcing the no target law. My problem with allowing the targeting of fish out of season is the fact that anglers will be legal on the water and catching those who are taking them will be even harder as no one will call to report. Once it is legal to fish them any time? they will take them any time. As it is if I see a guy throwing spinner baits in March I call the D.N.R. . They send an officer who watches them with optics and verifies if they are targeting out of season. Then they wait for them at the access site. My opinion is that Musky season should close before ice up around December 15th AND OPEN WHEN IT DOES. No targeting of them in between. I know , I have enjoyed the March madness a few times but to open it up to targeting any time is inviting more violations. My 2 cents. Mike

I'm for the change if nothing more than it is already happening all over the place anyways, and its confusing for most casual anglers. There is very little attempt to enforce the law as it stands now anyways and its full of grey areas. Hard to prove the intent or what species is truly being targetted in many cases. Make harvest seasons and allow ** you do not have permission to see this link ** outside of those seasons. If sensitive areas need to be closed to all fishing in order to allow spawning success than so be it.

"Mayhem" said:
I'm for the change if nothing more than it is already happening all over the place anyways, and its confusing for most casual anglers. There is very little attempt to enforce the law as it stands now anyways and its full of grey areas. Hard to prove the intent or what species is truly being targetted in many cases. Make harvest seasons and allow ** you do not have permission to see this link ** outside of those seasons. If sensitive areas need to be closed to all fishing in order to allow spawning success than so be it.

+1

[quote="Mayhem"] . There is very little attempt to enforce the law as it stands now anyways and its full of grey areas.

That is not true. There is a great effort to police these guys. But yes it is hard to enforce so making it easier to be on the water will fix that? I think not. I would counter propose that anyone with any lure other than a panfish rig should ticketed when out of season.

Case in point. I talked with D.N.R. officer John Jurich three days ago. He stopped over and told me they had stepped up efforts to catch bass poachers on our lake. He busted two guys who had Bass lures on their lines but not for that. They also had no fishing licenses and no numbers on the boat. They were cpr fishing for bass. John told them what they were doing was ticketable. They said they thought they could catch and release bass from March 1st to the first Saturday in June.

We are fighting here to keep these poachers off our lake PERIOD! I dont want them to have a legal right to throw bass lures or pike lures out of season.

I would hope and assume type 1 trout streams would remain closed to all fishing outside of trout season as it is now. I'm not concerned one bit that this rule change would lead to more poaching of warmwater species. If you kill a bass/pike/muskie/wallye out of season your poacher now and you'll still be a poacher after the rule change. Keeping fish is easy to enforce, proving intent and trying to prove what species your targetting is not. Any nice sunny day in early april and you will find guys on almost every lake in the state casting pike/bass lures. Ather massively step up enforcement or change the law.

As much as I would enjoy fishing earlier in the year and more often, I would personally be against this change. The reason seasons are closed when they are is because the fish are so concentrated in certain areas and very easy to catch during the closed season. And not only are the fish concentrated in these areas but the big females and most important breeders are especially vulnerable during these times. I was already against the CIR bass season in May because there are areas of some lakes where you can pull out 5-6 or more 20+ inch female smallmouth fat with eggs in a couple hour time span all from a small area of the lake. Even though Catch and Immediate Release is a good thing and is fairly harmless to fish in most cases, it is not always the case. Most people who arent diehard fisherman don’t catch bass that big often in their life and when they do they keep these fish out of the water for so long for pictures and whatnot that even though they have good intentions many don’t survive. Plus, fishing slow baits off the bottom for them often leads to fish swallowing the hook and not surviving afterwards because of it.

I think our regulations as a whole are too lenient as it is and this would only be a step in the wrong direction backwards. If any seasons are changed I would rather see them be stricter and have more of a sound biological backing rather than based off of general public opinion and the desire for people to have more fishing opportunities.

I feel like I am in the minority here but I am definitely with Mike on this. Some fish just should not be targeted during certain times of the year regardless if they are being released.

I also know way too many people who would use this CIR season to harvest fish they shouldnt just because they are not likely to be caught. Giving them the ability to legally target these fish is only going to encourage them to do this more often. I understand the arguement that you shouldnt base regulation decisions on those who break them anyways but in this case I think you really have to take these people into consideration.

"Will Schultz" said:
Tell me more… What fish and why?

Specifically smallmouth bass in our northern lakes and northern pike in our southern river systems.