Fillet fish in the house?

[weedman]

Hey guys, love reading the up to date fishing reports on LOW. Our group is headed up Friday for the first time and staying in a sleeper out of Zippel Bay. What is the ruling on filleting, frying and eating fish in the house? Must they be taken to shore to be fillet? Maybe I won't have to worry from the sounds of the reports. At least the bottle bass will be biting .

[lowrox]

weedman,

I'm looking everywhere in the MN regulations and I can't find anything. For some reason I'm thinking that you can't cook fish in the house. Maybe, but I would think that they would count towards your possesion limit. The concept would be to eliminate folks that catch 4 walleyes, eat them, and them catch 4 more to take home.

[veximan]

This has been a popular subject in a lot of posts. the answer in them is no cooking fish on the ice. Bring some brats, chips and beer and look forward to shorelunch that night when you get back to shore. Hopefully you will have your own limit to fry up but the resorts should have walleye on their menu. I have come off the ice a few times this year with a few short of a fish fry. Tough year!

[JEV]

Page 58 of the regs......

-Dressed (filleted) sauger are counted as walleye.

-Fish with length limits may not be possessed as fillets on the water while angling.

[evntam]

There's what's legal, and then there's what people do. I'm certainly NOT advocating that people do ANYTHING against the law, but I've HEARD that you can eat them, but that they count against your limit.

I was on the Rainy River a number of years ago in March/April, fishing the bend in the river by Franz Jevne state park, when two guys came up the river in a 16ft boat. They anchored in fast moving water below the rapids, and tossed out what appeared to be rattling rapalas, letting the current do the work for them. They caught one walleye after another. Then, they cleaned some of their catch right in their boat, started up a stove right on top of one of their seats, and fried up some very fresh walleye on the spot. Legal? Who knows. It was a very interesting thing I watched. I was waiting for them to go kaboom with the gas fumes, but it never happened.

[12lb8oz]

Tasty??????????????????? VERY

There is nothing better than a good ol' fish fry after a case of beer and a hard days work.

[who are those guy]

Common sense: count those fish you catch and eat - against your limit for the day. Or break the law. like being from Indiana

[Gopher]

We were checked last year off of Pine Island in a sleeper by a posse of game wardens (4, I think they were doing some training). They said it was OK if you fillet fish and immediately eat them in a sleeper. We had cleaned some ahead of time for that night and they gave us a warning. Keep the body intact and leave the skin attached at the tail and place them flat out on the ice so they can measure the carcass if its frozen and determine if its a walleye/sauger to make sure you don't have an illegal walleye/sauger or too many fish for that day. For the take-home fish, keep the head and dorsal fin on, gut them and keep the fillets attached at the tail so the game warden can determine if its a walleye or sauger and measure the length. When you get home you can remove the meat. If it's close to the protected slot, I'd throw it back.

Don't violate the protected slot or the posession limit and make sure the game warden can determine if its a walleye/suager (head, tail, dorsal fin and skin attached) and can measure the length and you will be OK.

The sleeper is your home.

God luck!

[12lb8oz]

Gopher, that's how I feel it should be. But I think you had a game warden who knows the real world, not one who follows the law to a T. It does state in the rules that you can't fillet a slot limit fish while on the ice. But I have never worried about it because I figured only a jerk CO would enforce that law if you weren't over and you didn't a fillet that hangs over both sides of the pan.