2019 Fishing Regulations

[moderation]

just rad new 2019 regulations. Is this new or did I miss it before. under preparing fish for transport page 35 - "sauger without head and tail intact will be counted as walleye. Is this new? So you can't fillet, If so how do you freeze so you can clean at eating time.? I think I may have been illegal a few times if this has been in effect for a while. Any one know?

[Better Than Working!]

I know this was the law last year at the very least. It is a bit of a pain, but I fillet the fish but don't completely remove the fillet from the skin, which is still attached at the tail. I remove the guts and fold the whole thing into a bag. When I get home I remove the fillet the rest of the way and toss the carcass. The head and tail are intact for transport and that is all the regulation requires in my understanding. If you are at a resort have them package your fish and it is not an issue. I don't think most people know about this regulation.

[PRO-V]

I do them the same way. This has been the law for more years than I can remember.

[moderation]

amazing what you learn when you read the regs. I'll have to pay a little more attention to them. I went in to make sure of the new slot and ran across the sauger thing. Never knew about the no fillet transport.

[LoonASea]

Besides LOTW how many other lakes have combined limits where this would be an issue???

[Xplorer]

Rainy, St Croix river, Mississippi River..........really any lake/river in MN that has both sauger and walleye and has a walleye limit that is less than 6.  The statewide reg is a combined walleye/sauger limit of 6 with one over 20".  The issue comes when you have a lake where the walleye limit is less than 6 like all the lakes in VNP.

The other option is to only fillet/keep 4 fish per person to take home from the lakes in VNP.   Then it doesnt matter if they're walleye or sauger.