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Hey does anyone have any thoughts, likes/dislikes on the new laws pertaining to bait fish that kwpt passed.
To strictly go by the law you cannot save any minnows for the next outing, the vendor must give you a receipt saying you bought x-number of minnows from them, goodby to the good count. Looks like the minnow folks will be spending a lot more money.
i hate the application but i do appreicate possibly helping to save our waters from invasive things that can destroy are fishing habbitat.
As I understand it, you can still get your own bait, you just can't transfer it upstream across a dam/barrier.
"Wild-caught bait fish shall only be used on the body of water where
taken. If taken on a flowing stream or river, wild-caught bait fish shall not
be transported upstream across any dam or natural barrier." --From KDWP site
So, for example, if you wanted to fish Melvern with minnows you caught yourself, you could hit Coal Creek on the way out, seine/trap your minnows and fish away. The question I have is how are they going to know whether I did that or whether I seined them out of, say, Lebo Creek (outside of the MdC River Basin) and brought them to Melvern? Also, does that mean I can seine bait out of, say, Munkers Creek (Council Grove area) and use those minnows to fish in John Redmond? Seems like I could since I would be using them in the same watershed (Neosho River) and I wouldn't be transporting them upstream...
For your original question, I never buy my minnows, so that part doesn't really apply.
In a previous post I mentioned I spefically asked a GW about this issue. He did admit it was going to be difficult to enforce. I know I told him I have minnow traps I put out and after talking to him it is a murky area of judgement on his part as to if they was actually caught on the body of water you are fishing or not. I imagine it will be an issue of him saying "lets see the traps or net". Bank fisherman I believe will be effected much more than boat based fisherman just because the GW can check many morepeople from his truck driving around vs putting a boat in the water on a frequent basis. I do believe in harder economic times they are pressured to write more fines as revinue is down from other sources so..............
So if we can't save them for the next outing, what are we supposed to do with any leftovers we have bought? Are we allowed to release the live ones?
You're supposed to dump any leftover minnows out on the ground NOT back in the lake....just in case there's an invasive species in your minnow bucket.Quote:
Originally Posted by Claireducky
Thanks for the clarification, slabby Joe! It seems wasteful, but I understand the reasoning.
So by the new rules if i Catch (not likely unless its the smallest one ever seen) the next world record crappie i could not transport it alive to get it weighed on a certified scale in the state of kansas. Yes i would accept the 50 dollar ticket but still i hate breaking the laws.