question about Cleaning Fish .

I have heard it's illegal to have any piece of a game fish filtered or with head or tail missing while ur fishing cuz then the wardens cant keep track of ur daily limit but if ur headed home and ur boats out the water with no intention of taking any more fish I don't see the problem I think that's why they have the stations on those sites

Now as fer me I live in the sticks so I clean mine round back just like I do with all game I take and I throw the scraps either in my pond or in the woods wild game takes care of it and my four year old gets a kick out of watching animals come by our house

Clean mine when I get home but it's a 5 minute drive from the ramp.:biggrin The leftovers go behind the hose where the coon and buzzards work their magic.

my left overs get saved... I have an uncle that makes stink bait and he uses them for that and or my father-in-law takes em out on his boat and dumps them in one of his fav Catfishing holes.

This came from the AGFC website.

Fish Cleaning – While fishing in waters designated as having a length or slot limit on sport fish, you may not possess a fish that has been filleted or had its head or tail removed while fishing from shore, boat or while being transported by boat. Check your destination to see whether length or slot limits apply.

Don't know if it helps or not. I would suggest calling your local game and fish office or the office in the district you like to fish and ask them. The numbers can be found on the AGFC website. You could also ask a game warden the next time you see him. Just don't ask him about it as you are dumping the waste in the water!!!!rotfl

A couple years back my father got fined on the Little Red River for cleaning like that and not leaving any skin on them so you can tell what breed of trout they were. Pretty hefty fine too.

Each state is different. We just moved back from Illinois and there you could not dump any fish remains back into the Lake.

The way I catch fish, this is usually not a problem

What you did would be against the law in Minnesota and it is in a lot more areas than a lot of folks realize.

Here in Minnesota you may not put the remains back into any water when you are done cleaning. Where there are slot limits and/or minimum sizes it depends on the water, whether you may clean them at the lake or must take them home to do so, although IIRC you may remove gills and guts before transporting fish. For those that are cleaned at lakes in general, you must not reduce to less than two fillets per fish at the lake and must leave a 1 square inch of skin and scales attached to each fillet for major game fish although not for crappies and sunfish. For most of our fish limits, the possession limit is the same as the daily limit and includes fillets at home in the freezer and in the freezer at the resort, and if you eat any of your daily catch during the day that is supposed to count against your daily limit, too; so you are not supposed to catch a limit in the morning, have it for lunch and then catch another in the afternoon.

This also varies from state to state, just like the number of lines and hooks.
It is best not to assume, but instead to find out in advance.

Game Wardens up here aren't always visible either. Many of them will glass lakes they patrol with spotting scopes that are strong enough almost to read the brand off your rod from across the lake.

I clean mine at home, and throw the remains in a ditch down the road from the house. Feeds the coons, crayfish, and turtles in the ditch.


BRM

BTW, I use a 5 gal. bucket, and just dump em over the rail. I do live in a rural area tho.


BRM

I fillet my fish at home and freeze the remains. The morning the garbage truck comes, I take the remains from the freezer and place them in the garbage receptable.