Good catch Forry. I only catch 2-3 salmon a year and usually eat them. I too keep them fresh in my live well and whack them over the head right before leaving the water. That was the rule last year. As written in the new digest, if taken literally, this would be illegal now. On the other hand, for such a big rule change, if it is indeed real, I'm surprised they didn't classify it under the 'New for 2011' section. So, I'm hoping it is just poorly written. Another example is the rule staging it is illegal to possees, at one time, more wildlife than one may lawfully take in 2 days. What does that mean? Am I only supposed to have 4 fish in my freezer at home? Hmmmm, I have venison in there from last year, does that mean only 2 fish? Oh, and a pheasant and a duck, am I down to no fish? Maybe its back up to 2 fish if I shot the deer, duck and pheasant on the same day? Yeah right.
Forry, you are correct. I called F&G and the rule is as stated. You may not have any of the listed fish in your posssion if they are alive. It only applies to the fish listed.
I could be wrong but I think this rule also makes it so that people are not "cullng" salmon. That is, keeping two 19 inch fish in the live well for 3 hours then catching at 20 inch fish, reaching into the livewell and taking one of those 19 inch fish (which now has a much lower chance of surviving) and letting that one go.
I guess it makes sense but it is/was nice to keep your fish alive and fresh in the live well until you got off the water. Start bringing a cooler full of ice instead...the fish will remain fresh if you bleed it and drop it in the cooler.
im surprised they finally put that in, people want big fish in the lake, culling would not help that. in maine last year we had a ten pound laker dragging off the back of the boat, in my mind thats a dead fish even though its still kicking a little, game warden kicked up a storm, was nice enough and let us slice the throat and not give us a ticket, but we got a strong warning.
Glad I read your posting I guess I would be paying a little extra to F&G this year if I got lucky and caught some fish! We always kept them in the live well until we headed in for the day. We would only keep what we were going to cook that evening. So I guess our live wells are now called ice boxes! Guess I better read the book closer to see if there are anymore surprises in stor for us.
G2 balls have a prop that turns and pulls the release in and out about three feet giving the spoon or fly a jigging motion. Can be seen on cut2spec website. Cal P.
