A letter from the WI DNR regarding opener.

[jkthill]

Here is an E-mail I received today from WI DNR Law Enforcement. Still sounds risky to me.

We will treat it the same as last year. The attached release explains how we got to this, it should be fixed by next year.

<<St Croix Opener release 06.doc>>

P David A. Hausman

Warden Supervisor

Lower St Croix Team

Bureau of law Enforcement

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

(() phone: (715) 684-2914

(() fax: (715) 684-5940

(+) e-mail: [email protected]

March 30, 2006

For Release:

Subject: Walleye / Sauger and Northern Pike Open season on the St Croix River

There is a discrepancy between the Wisconsin and Minnesota opening dates of the walleye and northern pike season on the Lower St Croix River. This year the Wisconsin season opens May 6th and the Minnesota season opens April 29, 2006. Wisconsin changed its rule from the “Saturday nearest May 1st “to the “first Saturday in May”, in 2001, which became effective April 1, 2002. This change was made after an agreement between both states at a meeting in 2000. Wisconsin requested this change to make the St Croix opener consistent with the statewide inland fishing season opener every year (most years the Sat. nearest May 1 and the first Sat. in May are the same). Although Wisconsin followed through on the agreement, Minnesota did not. Because of the way the calendar dates have fallen since that time, it has not been an issue and went unnoticed until the spring of 2005. Minnesota officials have since indicated they are no longer interested in changing their opening date for walleye and northern pike to “the first Saturday in May”. Due to this issue Wisconsin is in the process of moving the date for their opener on the St Croix River back to “the Saturday nearest May 1”. This proposal is included in this year Conservation Congress Spring Fish and Game Rules hearings, which will be voted on April 10, 2006. If this change is approved, the opening dates will again be consistent between the 2 states on the St. Croix River.

The changes won’t be able to be in place for the 2006 fishing season opener so the current rules would not allow walleye/sauger or northern pike fishing in Wisconsin’s portion of the St Croix River. Wisconsin officials recognize however, that some anglers from both States may still be unaware of the discrepancy in the open season dates for walleye and Northern Pike on the St. Croix River again this year. For this reason, enforcement efforts by Wisconsin Wardens will focus primarily on educating fisherman of the one week discrepancy and that the DNR hopes to have this problem fixed for the opening of the 2007 season.

For more questions please contact the Baldwin DNR Service Center at 715-684-2914.

[tunrevir]

Soooo...if I fish the Mn. opener on the St. Croix but happen to fish on the Wisc. side and am stopped by the Wisc. warden.....I would:

A. play innocent

B. Discuss the buearocratic B.S. and aknowledge that I can fish the whole river.

C. Politely say, "why are you bothering me, I have a liscense for both states."

D. Keep my mouth shut, take the free education and continue to fish.

E. all of the above.

I hope that for the sake of the Cheddar brethern that the enforcement is weak like last year. Why is it that they can't even buy a Mn. nonresident liscense to fish for the weekend? Would we treat people from say from....Iowa that way? Nope. Hopefully we can all get out in due time and enjoy the river and its bounty without a discrepency. Good luck on this one, I for one will be down on the water bright and early on the opener. Good luck to all, fish safe, have fun and thank the good Lord, as you could be at a wedding or couples shower!(ouch!)

Tunrevir~

[jkthill]

It sounds like they are telling us to play dumb and everybody will be just fine. This is just typical state government. Unbelievable! even Iowa residents would laugh at this.

[Guest]

If your a minnesota resident, you have to abide by what is in our regulations. You have to have the minnesota license to fish the river. You cant be a minnesota resident, and only have a wisconsin license to fish the mn/wi border waters...

So the border water opener for us is as stated in the regulations. The waters we may fish is what is stated in our regulations. It not only covers the entire river, but also some tributaries.

A person needs only to point out our laws and regulations. A wisconsin CO might not like it, but I guarantee it will stand in court if need be.

[FL SNIPER]

I'm doing number D....I mean letter D.

[CrapMan]

So does this mean Minnesota fishermen get to fish on the 29th of April??

[fishernut]

that guy-why cant you be a MN resident and only have a WI fishing license? what if i dont want to fish MN?

crapman-yes you can fish the croix on the 29th of April.

the croix is open ryear-round if you stay between the train tressle in Prescott and Mississippi. we always catch eyes and sauger there.

good luck

[gman2002]

when fishing border waters, you need a license from the state you reside in

["another IT GUY"]

So help me with my question, all this just confuses the crap outa me. I am a WI resident, i have both MN and WI can i fish/keep walleyes if i fish on the MN side? Or should i just play dumb like what the man above stated?

[SFBOY]

wow, why does this have to be so difficult? please tell me that they did not spend months and 1000's in license fees to come up with this mess. For cripes sake, how hard would it be to just set the opener on May 1 or May 7 for the border waters with Wisconsin/Minnesota? Who cares about what day of the week that happens to fall on? There, I solved the problem in two minutes.... I'll send my bill to the MN and WI DNR for that one for ten cents. I dont understand the agony that these guys put in over stuff like this. They just make it tougher for the guys that are trying to enforce the rules on the water. Hopefully common sense will take over at some point and they can get a good policy for these types of waters.

Can you fish the St. Croix waters with an out of state license if you are temporarily working in Minnesota but reside in Alabama on a work permit from Canada, and your wife is from Iceland? Hmmmm, that's a tough one.