The other Boys of Summer

[Lamar]

  I have an Apple TV and stream them from the computer to the big screen TV. They're catching a lot of fish and most of them on frogs. So it's been fun to watch. Who doesn't like to catch bass on a frog ? My brother doesn't live far from there and I have fished that area before and always have done well. About like these guys you get a ton of two's and three's.  Four's and five's are there but tough to find. Another nice part about it is you catch smallmouth and largemouth in the same area. Sometimes back to back casts. And then your next cast might be a ten pound pike.
  Now correct me if I'm wrong here but the last time I fished a bass tournament in Wisconsin they had a no cull rule. In other words if you put a fish in your live well then it came to the weigh in and after the fifth fish you had to stop fishing. Did they change that law ?
  I like to watch this live on TV because it really shows how they catch them and even where. The problem is for you guys that live there is get ready for some company. They just advertised on how good that area is and how to fish it. I remember about ten years ago Field and Stream Magazine wrote and article on my home lake and rated it one of the top inland lakes in the state. The number of boats tripled for the next couple of years. Sometimes you're better off if it's kept a secret.

[ctom]

From Lake City Minnesota all the way to the Gulf the Mississippi is full of backwaters and shoreline that floods often. It would take a ton more boats on the Big River to bother much Lamar. Around every bend lies a whole new world to explore and fish. Walleye at times.....now that's another story. Same with crappie.

[tom1441]

They will be here in Maryland in July can’t wait to hit the water with them.  Some of them don’t like the tidal waters of the upper Chesapeake and others like it.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

How about that finish way to go Ish

[efishnc]

Well, I didn't have the availability to watch the last day live, but it certainly was a shootout through day three (and really until the finish from what I can gather online).  I thought Spohrer might have been able to pull it off, as I know the fish that area is capable of producing, and he would have done it if he could have gotten another 16-6 bag (which was his average for the previous three days); both he and Monroe were fishing the same essential pattern - lower pool backwaters - they were just on different pools... and as many of us tournaments types know, it's about having less pressured water, which is where Ish may have had the advantage.  Part of me expected Martens to pull it off also because no one else was hitting his fish, and I know the quality of those fish as well, but it just wasn't meant to be.  Overall, a very exciting tournament, and watching it live was super intense.

Lamar: Years ago Minnesota allowed culling while Wisconsin did not and that caused some problems for the winner of the first (hosted) Redman All-American tourney here back in the late 1990s; then, some years later with a lot of protesting, Wisconsin abolished their no-cull rule, but (somewhere around the same time) Minnesota instituted theirs, which burned Palaniuk (when someone dropped a dime on him).

In a similar fashion to Palaniuk's unawareness, did you notice the bass hooked in the side that Martens caught (on the jigging spoon) and put in his livewell?... that could have been trouble if the DNR wanted to get stinky because any fish caught outside the mouth is a foul catch and must be immediately returned to the water... (I worked with a guy that got burned on this rule for chin hooking walleyes with a jigging rap)... and, just as in Palaniuk's case, breaking a state rule could have been grounds for a DQ on Martens' day three bag.

[efishnc]

Of course I would be remiss to not mention Powroznik, especially in light of the fact that he was fishing mid-pool (which translated into covering more water in order to get his fish), yet he successfully executed his pattern and almost won it; I definitely have to tip my hat to that!

[ctom]

Border water regulation can be a mess between Wisconsin and Minnesota. Since its a "federal water" from Hastings on down I don't see why the feds can't step up and institute some common law between states.

The two/three rod laws are a problem for some to decipher. Live sunfish for cats in Wisconsin but not MN gets a few $$$$ out of the un-aware each year. Cull/no cull rules ...the list goes on and this is hard for even river-side residents to figure out at times. Maybe if the states used simple, plain English instead of legaleze in issuing their rules?

[efishnc]

Don't forget your no treble hook rule (unless it a "lure"), which I have dealt with on tip-ups (ice-fishing).

[ctom]

Yup. The whole thing is a mess. Two states and each one wants to rule the roost. I think the feds should set policy on that water and instruct the states to apply what the fed recommends. The feds could ask the two states to submit what they want, or think should be, then the fed could set policy based on those two requests requiring both states to work around that policy. The way it stands now is nothing but a money maker using fines for both states. It needs to be cleaned up and streamlined so one set of rules apply between the states. Then I wouldn't mind a bit if there was a two dollar stamp required to fish that piece of shared water which could be accompanied by a copy of those rules and the rules have to be read in person prior to the sale of the stamp and require a signature indicating the purchaser understands the rule. . Two states, one set of rules, no bs wording, no hidden stuff, clear, concise and nobody can say they don't understand.

[efishnc]

The trouble then is all the other river states... as we go farther south (even just into IOWA), limits and minimum sizes change on multiple species.  Given either license is good track to track, I think the RULES of the purchased license should be as well (which is where most problems here seem to arise).

[Lamar]

 I believe Martens fish was legal because he was not sight fishing. The rules on that are different from bass to walleye. We hook fish all the time with crank baits outside the mouth. I know in California that would have been illegal but I don't think it is in Wisconsin.

[efishnc]

I believe Martens fish was legal because he was not sight fishing. The rules on that are different from bass to walleye. We hook fish all the time with crank baits outside the mouth. I know in California that would have been illegal but I don't think it is in Wisconsin.

Page 8 of the Wisconsin regulations states that it is illegal to keep ANY fish not hooked IN the mouth. (https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/fishing/documents/regulations/FishRegs1819Web.pdf#page=8)  Generally this is not an issue for the C/R fisherman, but in the case of this tournament, Marten could have been both fined and DQ'd.
There are a lot of arguments that could be made why (in certain situations) a foul hooked fish should be a legal catch, but I'm betting the DNR doesn't consent to any of them. 

[Lamar]

Page 8 of the Wisconsin regulations states that it is illegal to keep ANY fish not hooked IN the mouth. (https://dnr.wi.gov/topic/fishing/documents/regulations/FishRegs1819Web.pdf#page=8)  Generally this is not an issue for the C/R fisherman, but in the case of this tournament, Marten could have been both fined and DQ'd.
There are a lot of arguments that could be made why (in certain situations) a foul hooked fish should be a legal catch, but I'm betting the DNR doesn't consent to any of them.

 It clearly states that. They probably didn't know that because most waters they fish that would have been legal.

[ctom]

They probably didn't know that because most waters they fish that would have been legal.

Aren't professional anglers supposed to know the laws in waters they fish? Assumption can be costly.

[efishnc]

To me, if a fish legitimately strikes the lure, a foul hooking should get a pass, but I suppose some people can't tell the difference (or would choose to pretend it was a bite) when a fish bumps the line/lure on a swim by... (probably the greatest occurrence of this is when the walleyes are highly congregated below the dams in the spring)... but we all know the various rules are there because people have exploited the resources at one time or another.