Trolling illegal in Wisc?

[S.A. Baker]

Just ran across this. New to the fishing forum...not to fishing...60+ yrs.! Have fished Wisc very rarely,last time was in the 80's. Do fish in the Mississippi on the Wisc side though. What is the reasoning behind this absurd law anyway? Can you even drift fish?....same diff! You guys sure must not catch much of any Walleyes!

 

[jbcurt00]

Might fact check
http://dnr.wi.gov/news/weekly/article/?id=3317

I'm not a bg fisherman, and certainly not w what is typically a full spread of multiple lines arrayed from various points from the boat.

As I read the DNR article, it allows 1 line per fisherman to be pulled behind the boat or jigged in addition to any being actively cast and retrieved.

I've seen a 18ft boat setup to troll a dozen or more lines, some w more then 1 lure attached at the end of the line.

I've fished in several states that limit the number of lines in the water per fisherman regardless of method, limits on the number of tines on a hook, the number of hooks on a line and regs that prohibit the use of a barbed hook.

 

[GA_Boater]

If you look at the article JB linked to, trolling is now allowed on Wisconsin lakes as of July. Very restrictive, but you can troll now.

So your thread should be titled "Trolling is legal in WI?",

 

[S.A. Baker]

So what was the reasoning for such a law to begin with? I was just reading old fishing threads and the mention of trolling illegal in Wisc came up. I had never heard of it. So now it's legal with some restrictions? It's all new to me. Like I said ...I havn't fished Wisc for quite awhile, and was unaware of the whole thing. What was the reasoning behind such a stupid law?

 

[GA_Boater]

You'll have to ask the people that make the laws in WI.

Did you read the article? Trolling wasn't illegal, just not allowed on some waters. Now all waters are open to trolling.

 

[WIMUSKY]

So what was the reasoning for such a law to begin with? I was just reading old fishing threads and the mention of trolling illegal in Wisc came up. I had never heard of it. So now it's legal with some restrictions? It's all new to me. Like I said ...I havn't fished Wisc for quite awhile, and was unaware of the whole thing. What was the reasoning behind such a stupid law?

Because the chance of catching fish greatly increase when trolling. DNR wants to make it as hard as possible to catch, then keep fish with the slot limits and bag limits(bag limits does not allow someone else in the boat to help fill your limit. Yet you can shoot a deer for someone else, go figure). I need to check the laws because depending on what body of water you were on depended whether you could troll or not. Some counties, all lakes were trolling. Others depended on the lake....

 

[WIMUSKY]

You'll have to ask the people that make the laws in WI.

Did you read the article? Trolling wasn't illegal, just not allowed on some waters. Now all waters are open to trolling.

There ya go. This is new to me. All lakes are open to trolling. Still depending on what body of water you fish depends on how many lines you can have out per person. A lot of lakes is 3 year round. My favorite Musky hole looks like I can now troll, but with only one line. Unless the wife is with....

 

[S.A. Baker]

Thanks for the info guys. Other than a few trips to the river, I'll be sticking to N.E. Mn. again this summer. Already getting antsy for Muskie season! Wife has never caught one...and that's her goal this summer.... though I think she'll be happy with a nice limit of Walleyes!

 

[dingbat]

DNR wants to make it as hard as possible to catch, then keep fish with the slot limits and bag limits(bag limits does not allow someone else in the boat to help fill your limit.

how does that work? Six guys on a boat. Six fish in the box. How do they know who caught what?

Locally, the "boat" catches the fish. Number of people on board X individual limit. One limit split between captain and mate if chartered

 

[gm280]

So many times the folks that do make the laws governing both hunting and fishing have almost no idea what is going on. I've seen it in my state as well.

One year we had a hunting regulation that determined that a .357 mag pistol was legal to hunt deer, BUT, not a .357 mag rifle. Now ask your selves what that was all about. Their assumption was that the .357 mag rifle didn't produce enough knock-down energy to successfully take down deer, but that a .357 mag pistol would. Now anybody that does understand ballistics even just a little, has to know that was really stupid! But that is what we have to deal with some times. JMHO!

 

[WIMUSKY]

how does that work? Six guys on a boat. Six fish in the box. How do they know who caught what?

Locally, the "boat" catches the fish. Number of people on board X individual limit. One limit split between captain and mate if chartered

Charters may have different rules. But yep, that's how it works. Game Wardens have sat behind trees on small lakes with binoculars to see who caught what. Summer AND winter. People around here have been busted. 2 guys came to shore once and the Game Warden asked who caught what. Both fish were around 17". On that certain lake you can only have one 14" and over and 1 under 14". One guy said, "That lucky sob caught them both". The guy was cited..... I believe that's statewide not just in the ceded territory where I live. But, I could be wrong. Would have to see the rulz. The ceded territory takes up the northern 3rd of WI....

These were walleyes.....

 

[dingbat]

So many times the folks that do make the laws governing both hunting and fishing have almost no idea what is going on.

a couple of years ago someone at DNR decided it would be easier to manage the fishery if they consolidated some of the freshwater/saltwater regulations for ease of enforcement. They never admitted who was asleep at the wheel, but they adopted the freshwater tackle restrictions across the board without public comment. The new regulations effectively doubled or tripled the effort to catch a limit in a time when soaring gasoline prices where already taking a toll on the State's sport fishing industry.

They had to convene a special session of the State Senate in order to reverse the law in time for opening day. A stupid mistake that would have cost the State millions in sport fishing related expenditures had it not been reversed in time

 

[gm280]

a couple of years ago someone at DNR decided it would be easier to manage the fishery if they consolidated some of the freshwater/saltwater regulations for ease of enforcement. They never admitted who was asleep at the wheel, but they adopted the freshwater tackle restrictions across the board without public comment. The new regulations effectively doubled or tripled the effort to catch a limit in a time when soaring gasoline prices where already taking a toll on the State's sport fishing industry.

They had to convene a special session of the State Senate in order to reverse the law in time for opening day. A stupid mistake that would have cost the State millions in sport fishing related expenditures had it not been reversed in time

I hear yea dingbat. A lot of folks have no idea just how much revenue is collected directly and/or indirectly from fishing and hunting in any state. It is a huge money account for the state. And when certain folks decide to protest either sport/hobby ability, for who knows what reason(s), the state takes a huge hit in income. JMHO!

 

[fishin98]

Mod EDIT : diatribe removed

.........this past June I came up from Fl to fish for walleyes on lake Poygan and the wolf river...did not do too bad trolling...limited out every day.