Quote Originally Posted by coreymassey View Post
I came very close last summer to getting a ticket for this very thing. I was catfishing a small conservation lake a had a C.O. watching me from the bank (I was in a boat) I had keep 2 already, when I landed another one that was bigger which gave me 3 fish (limits 4). I elected right then to release the smallest fish I had. I keep fishing not catching anything else, when I went to the ramp THE MAN meet me there with ticket book in hand wanting to see my fish. When I showed them to him (keep in mind I only have 2) he says, "wheres your others I know your over your limit I've been watchin you."
I say I dont know what your talkin about n he then proseed to search the boat, not finding anything. He then states the culling laws n tells me not to do it anymore. What a pr**k
I guess the way you told your story, if he was watching you release fish, was he watching close enough to see if you released 1 fish or 5? I suppose by the letter of the law, the decision to keep or release is to be made at the time you caught the fish, not later. If what you did is illegal, it seems silly, your only possessing 2 out of a 4 fish limit, but I can understand better after reading all these posts that it is probably illegal to return 1 healthy fish back to the water because your decision "at the time of the catch" was to keep it. Its a bit ambiguous, so I could see a pee pee head C.O. issuing a ticket for it. I suppose next time I see our local guy at the lake, I'll ask him what he thinks of all of this.