You should post this in "Ask the Conservation Agent"
rules say if you are to release a fish ,to do so immediately as soon as you catch them.So if you turn them loose at the end of the day(if you don't have enough for a meal)or after a tournament,are you in violation of said rule?
You should post this in "Ask the Conservation Agent"
Only if fish was not legal to begin with . As far as the law is concerned (If legal) you can do as you like with them .As long as illegal dumping does not apply . jmo.
Don't think it's illegal. Just can't cull fish from you possession to better your limit. Once it's in your possession it counts as your daily limit.
If you choose to turn them back alive and healthy it's your choice.
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There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home.
I know that everyone does this but reading the rules says you have to do it immediately,this was a question brought to me and it got me wondering.people fishing a tournament needing seven fish only,can they catch and release the smaller fish up to 8 times as long as they don't pass their 15,I think they would be ok.or is it illegal to release a fish after it's put in a livewell.This is a hard one to answer.
I would have to go look it up again to be sure. But I'm am pretty sure in Missouri...the moment you land a fish you have to make a decision to keep or release. Once you put it in the livewell,stringer,basket whatever...it's in your possession and part of your limit. You are not supposed to cull fish . There is something about not wasting game too I think. Yes there your's but I believe they can ticket you for just dumping them or throwing in dead fish from a livewell or something like that.
They bend the rules for "sanctioned tournaments" I believe for bass.
It is something to be aware of resident or non resident.
If I can find the section of the wildlife code I will post it
But I am sure you can release unharmed fish...can't find where it spells that out though
Last edited by doggone; 03-29-2018 at 09:24 PM.
Culling
Any fish you catch is included in your daily limit unless you release it unharmed immediately. You may not replace smaller fish in your possession with larger ones caught later. You need to make a keep-or-release decision as soon as the fish is caught.
There is one exception: if, from September through June, you are a participant in a bona fide catch-and-release black bass tournament (one after which all bass are released alive) that requires entrants to have a boat livewell with adequate capacity and a pump constantly adding fresh or recirculating water, the black bass you release unharmed from the livewell need not be included in your daily limit. At no time may the daily limit be exceeded.
https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations
(Don't know if the below includes fish too. But I think it may)
Excessive waste
Excessive waste
It is illegal to intentionally leave or abandon any portion of any wildlife that is commonly used as human food.
Possessing, transporting, and storing wildlife
You must keep any wildlife you take separate or identifiable from that of any other hunter.
You can possess and transport wildlife as part of your personal baggage. It may be stored at your home, camp, place of lodging or in a commercial establishment.
https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-...ng/regulations
I often put fish on a stringer and turn them lose if I don't feel I have enough to bother cleaning (4 10" or 6 9"). If someone that is fishing wants them I will give them to the other fisherman as my first option. I would not consider culling particularly ethical because if you were happy to keep it when you didn't know if you would catch better fish then you should be happy to keep it and clean it. I know it sounds a little hypocritical since I catch fish I later release but if I catch a limit then after that I immediately release every fish regardless of size.
I don't know what the survival rate of the fish I keep and later release is but in summer I generally release the first few fish until I'm confident I can catch enough for a meal. Summer time is the only time I sense the fish getting sickly on the stringer, but I could be kidding myself about how healthy they are at other times.
I usually never keep more than 6 because that is enough for one meal prepared the same day they are caught. Eating fresh fish is a ritual not a food source as far as I'm concerned, plus they are better eaten as soon as possible.
As far as the law goes wasting game seems to be the issue if you are not culling fish from your limit. Once you have caught your limit and not immediately released them then every fish after that has to be immediately released. if a game warden wanted to be a hard ass I suspect that he could claim I was violating the law by releasing fish from a stringer that may not survive. On the other hand I see a lot of people culling for a better weighing limit and they do not get busted.
Culling probably has a more seriously negative effect on other species than Crappie because Crappie are not as easily suppressed by overfishing. Bass tournaments must have some negative effect on bass populations because I suspect that culling is a standard practice. As suggested earlier it would be pretty outrageous if law enforcement tried to apply different enforcement practices to Crappie fishermen than Bass fishermen or tournament fishing because of politics and revenue. That said my policy has always been not to argue with law enforcement officers. If they wanted to fine me I would just keep quiet and pay the fine and send a letter to my state representative about unequal law enforcement.