question on legality

Reading a post earlier brought a question to mind and considering the way our laws can be twisted around I think that it would be a good one for this forum.

Here is the scenario. You go out fishing, catch a legal sized crappie right off the bat and put it in your livewell. You fish for several more hours and catch nothing. The lone fish in your livewell is still healthy and releasable by your estimation.

Can you legally release that fish or could it fall under the no culling rule? Yes I know culling is releasing one fish to be replaced by another fish. But could it be construed a different way and end up biting you in the behind?

I wouldn't think they could stretch the law THAT far. However, if it were dead or dying and you threw it away, or back in the water it would fall under the wanton waste law.

Absolutley legal to release it,just think,all the bass turneys release them after weigh in.

they have different rules for tournaments and no fishing regulation can be based on what goes on in a tournament, seperate rules from you and me average fisherman, having said that. I would say release the fish. either in the lake or the trash bin. it's your fish, to do as you see fit, I don't see how it could be called culling. I do It done it for years, will keep on doing it till I am told by a conservation agent that it is illegal and to not do it. If that ever happens, then I will take said fish home and clean it and eat it and gripe till I die about a stupid rule,

just my opinion

Done it often enough to be given a life sentence if it's illegal. Agents in Missouri are professional and logical from my experiences. They are charged with enforcing regulations and people that I've seen get citations deserved them two fold.

other than tournaments i`ve never heard of culling as being a rule or law. in my entire life personally or professionally i have never heard of anybody getting fined for releasing a fish from the livewell, i do it almost everytime i go fishing, that is if i catch anything

Well if it is illegal then someone needs to go set at the Aunts Creek Ramp on Table Rock and write tickets to the idiots that release all the bass in the middle of August after their tourney's that are belly up and floating by the next morning. I think I counted somewhere between 5-10 one saturday morning last year.

Seems the regs refer to releasing smaller fish to keep larger fish.
I think it would be a real stretch to give a guy a ticket for simply releasing healthy fish if you didn't feel like cleaning them, if it is illegal, I dito what beagleman said.

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

the reg says you can not replace a smaller fish with a larger one, doesnt say anything about releasing a lone fish.

what you described is not technically "culling". the rule book states that at the time of catching a legal sized fish, you must decide to keep it or immediately release it unharmed...

i would be appalled if a ticket were written for this. done it many times myself and never felt guilty after seeing the fish swim away.

certain tournaments have special and slightly different rules. especially regarding the live well...

well what spawned all of this is the thread on the MO main page started by OSS about the guy that got an indecent exposure ticket for urinating in the lake. I have released fish (that to the best of my judgement were healthy and fit for release) since I started fishing. Never gave it a second thought till I saw that thread. My main concern is losing my priviledge to go fishing or cost me money over something silly.

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Originally Posted by coreymassey

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

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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.

What I don't understand is why people fishing in bass tournaments live under a different law. Is there any difference if I have a livewell that constantly keeps recirculating water for crappie and I release them in a completely healthy state??? BS in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by NateD

What I don't understand is why people fishing in bass tournaments live under a different law. Is there any difference if I have a livewell that constantly keeps recirculating water for crappie and I release them in a completely healthy state??? BS in my opinion.

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Ah but you forget the almighty dollar drives the exemption for the bass tournament. Now if you see more crappie tournaments bringing in money we might also see the exemption for that.

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Originally Posted by Redneck

Ah but you forget the almighty dollar drives the exemption for the bass tournament. Now if you see more crappie tournaments bringing in money we might also see the exemption for that.

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I don't care much for exemptions in laws or regulations. Cull or don't Cull, whether your in a tournament or not or just deciding to release a small fish for a larger one. It's kinda ridiculous, if you leave the lake with a legal amount of fish at the legal length then I don't understand the point of the rule at all:confused:
Edit: wait, now that I think it through, the almighty dollar, thats the point of that regulation, they make money both ways.

I'm with you Rugs, a rule is a rule and there shouldn't be exemptions. I personally don't see the problem with culling as long as the fish released is healthy enough to be released. If you do release a fish that is belly up within 30 minutes and a game warden catches you, you should be fined for wanton waste. The way I was taught to fish, even if the fish was so small that you couldn't hardly clean it and it was going to die you kept it and it was part of your limit.

Of course its about the benjimans for the bassers,I don't really care..I've been to a few weigh-ins and they really do take care to insure all the bass are released healthy.A dead fish can cost thousands in deductions for the big tournies.

I've thought about the same thing and it seemed to me that the SPIRIT of the law says that if the fish goes in the livewell or on a stringer, it counts as part of your daily limit...regardless if you release it or eat it (because it might not survive the stress). I can understand that. I guess the devil is in the details... if a conservation agent sees a fisherman taking a crappie from a livewell and continuing to fish, how is he to know that the fisherman will count that fish as part of his/her catch.

I often release a fish when it becomes apparent that I'm not going to catch enough to make it worthwhile to take it home and clean it. (All too often, unfortunately) Am I technically in violation of the law?

well the common consensus seems to be no, as long as you count that fish in your limit. However you could have a battle if you run into a game warden with an agenda. I think I will continue to do as I have done in the past. Release em if there isn't enough to make it worth cleaning, provided they are healthy enough to release. Thanks for all of your input. I really appreciate it.

You might wanna stick your foot up that wardens backside if he gives you some BS ticket like that too.

well if the day ever comes I will only chew on that poo-poo sandwich when the judge tells me that I have to!

This is from a conversation I had with Tom Davidson Saline county.
He said that releasing a fish or two is not illegal, he said he doesn't like to see it happen when you are using buckets, baskets or stringers because of the stress on the fish and they will likely die, those who use the proper live wells, it isn't an issue.
He did say however, if you go and catch 2 fish and decide you don't want them and release them, you have possessed them and therefore are part of your daily limit, so if you go back out that after noon, and say the limit is 15 fish for example, you will only legally be able to keep 13 more fish. If you keep more than that you are culling and that is illegal.