Culling in Minnesota

Brandon Palaniuk learned the hard way this weekend that Minnesota is anti-bass; anti-tournament, even though he was trying to follow the convoluted and antiquated Minnesota culling laws.  Fishing the biggest and best-paying bass circuit in the world, the B.A.S.S. Elite Series, he was DQ'd after gaining a hefty lead for culling just inside the Minnesota state line.  He most likely lost the $100,000 first place, the free entry into the Classic later in the year (guaranteed $10K+), and whatever bonuses his sponsors may have had for 1st place and a Classic entry.

Keep in mind, nearly all states allow culling in tournaments.


Just to clarify exactly how he broke the rules, he inadvertently culled just inside the Minnesota state border on the Mississippi River, which wanders through backwaters, on land, through the main channel, etc.  It isn't right down the middle of the channel as one might expect.

Here's the related rules that most fisherman are arguing need to be addressed:

2013 Minnesota Fishing Regulations

Page 3: "Fish must not be retained longer than is needed at the site of capture to unhook, identify,

measure, and photograph. Placing the fish in any type of container or on a

stringer is not immediately released. Any fish not immediately released is

considered to be “reduced to possession.”"

Page 13:  "Once a daily or possession limit of fish has been reached, no culling or live

well sorting is allowed."

 
Mississippi River WI/MN Border water specific rules:

Page 72:  "[MS River] Smallmouth and Largemouth daily possession limit: 5 fish (14" minimum)"

Page 74:  "It is illegal to cull fish that have been reduced to possession [on the MS River WI Border Waters]"

The way the rules read, you can cull as much as you want until you reach the daily limit on inland Minnesota waters, regardless of whether the fish is put on a stringer, caged, or kept healthy in an aerated livewell.  Page 13 of the 2013 regs make it clear that you can cull until daily possession limit has been reached.  The daily limit on Minnesota waters is 6 bass, not 5 like on the MS River.

If you are on a WI/MN border water, you can't cull whatsoever according to Page 74, regardless of being at your limit or not.  If you cross the official state line into WI you may cull because WI laws allow for it in a tournament, even if you caught your fish on the MN side of the river.

Technically speaking, Palaniuk broke 2 rules in the 2013 regs.  He not only culled in a MN border water (broke rule on page 74), but he also culled after already reaching his possession limit in MN (page 13 rule).

These are the rules as they are written, and they are just plain wrong.  Why are these rules in place?  To prevent fish death and preserve the fishery.  Most bass tournaments in the state of Minnesota have a 100% live release rate after the tournament is over; after the fish have been sitting in the livewell all day.  They are healthy and swim off to be caught another day, but technically this shouldn't even be allowed if an angler is already at his limit for the day, which again makes no sense if the goal is preserve a fishery.  There are heavy penalties in bass tournaments for killing a fish so anglers do everything they can to keep the fish healthy and happy in their livewell.  An enclosed livewell that constantly cycles in clean water keeps fish alive.

Laws against releasing fish put on a stringer, which are often dragged behind the boat all day, make sense.  Fish put in baskets don't seem to live too long either.  If fish are being kept with the intent of fileting and eating them, force people to keep what they reduce to possession.  Don't impose these laws on the folks who are keeping fish alive to be released later, like in all bass tournaments. 

Minnesota needs to re-evaluate these antiquated laws to allow for culling of live fish from an aerated livewell, or do what Wisconsin did and allow for culling in tournaments with livewells only: http://www.bassmaster.com/news/new-law-allows-culling-wisconsin

Team Tournament Culling Tips

After fishing tournaments for 15 years, I've seen everything when it comes to culling; from throwing all fish in a net in the bottom of the boat to "eyeball" 'em, to high-tech digital scales that store and add up weights for you automatically... until the batteries run out.  Even the smallest culling mistake could cost you hundreds of dollars or more in a tournament.  Speeding up your tournament culling means more fish in the boat (presuming having your line in the water more=more fish).  It also can make for healthier fish at the weigh-in.  Less stress from having to be re-weighed, balance-beamed, etc means healthier and more lively fish to be released later.

Here's a few things I am doing this year to help speed up culling, improve the health of my fish, and spend more time with my line (and my partner's line) in the water:


1)  Weigh and tag all fish under 3lbs as they come in the boat.  Do not wait for a limit.
2)  Use the two sides of the livewell to categorize the fish:
        a. Passenger-side livewell for fish you want to cull.
        b. Driver-side livewell for lunkers.
3)  Log fish weights by number or color for quick reference.  Options:
        a.  Digital scale can store weights (don't even think about using this option if you can't keep extra AA batteries in the boat!)
        b. Write the weights down with a grease pencil or on a pad of paper that you can keep out of the elements.
        c.  Ardent cull tags are OK, but you have review ALL of them at once to make sure you have the smallest fish to cull.  There’s more room for error using this method and I don’t like it…
4)  Don’t weigh or tag fish that look to be over ~4lbs.  Get the fish in the livewell as soon as possible!  Cull out the smallest fish after the upgrade fish is safe in the livewell.
5)  If 2 fish are within an ounce of each other or otherwise pretty close, use a balance beam to ensure you are throwing back the smallest fish without a doubt.

To me, its way faster to find the "red" tagged fish than to hunt around the livewell for "tag #2".  Again the Ardent cull tags require that you first check each one in the livewell before culling, all while hoping none have been bumped and changed lbs/oz.  It opens up a level of error I am uncomfortable with.

I am convinced that the best solution is to tag fish by color and to keep a little plastic chart with a grease pen in the boat to record weights.  Recording the weights by color allows you to instantly know which fish to throw back before even opening the livewell, significantly speeding up the process.

Have any other tips or advice?  Post below!

Trolling Swimbaits for Big River Walleyes

Taking a page out of bass and muskie fisherman's playbook, walleye fisherman are slowly discovering the magic of the swimbait, but under a different and I'd argue improper name - Dragging.

Trolling swimbaits really is what dragging should be called, because that's what it is -- pulling a swimming soft plastic through the water by using the trolling motor while not letting it touch the bottom.

Dragging would imply that you are doing just that -- dragging the jig on the bottom, which is wrong if you want to catch fish using this poorly-named but incredibly effective method.  How effective?  multiple fish over 20", limits within an hour, giant fish near 30", etc can be expected once you figure it out.

The trickiest part of dragging is dialing-in the setup.  You need to get the right combination of boat speed, line weight, jig weight, and plastic size/style in order to keep that swimming morsel in front of fish.

The best combo we had going this early spring was 10lb Suffix 832 line, 1/8th oz jig head, and a small 4" paddle tail swimbait, all while moving at 2-4mph depending on depth.  This is a pretty good starting point.  Make a half cast off the side of the boat, put the trolling motor on low, and start trolling and zig-zagging up and down a contour.  The key seems to be pulling the lure fast enough to keep it off the bottom, but slow enough to make sure its not riding too high and out of the strike zone.

Feel the bottom?  Either speed up or reel in a little line.  Never feeling the bottom?  Let a little line out to see how far from the bottom you are.

This method really shines at night when you can get into the shallows and hook into a giant!  I haven't tried this on a lake yet, but I would imagine it would be a killer method on Mille Lacs or anywhere with a decent night bite!