Targeting Bass before they are open

[Hugo]

I was on Big Marine yesterday and I couldn't believe the nads some guys have. Two punks in a 14ft Alumacraft with a 15HP or so Merc, front mounted trolling motor and RAPALA on the side and the last 2 letters in the boat License were EE were throwing large spinner baits pounding the bass. They came by and I asked if today was the bass opener and he said "I really don't know" and then preceeded to say I dont't have to be a jerk about it and they kept throwin.

I imeadiately called the TIP line with a description and location and boat license #.

I describe the boat and fisherman, tall kid in his 20's fishing with a buddy with a beard, only with the hopes that either they get embarassed or others that know them can give then some grief. I'm sure the CO was busy elsewhere and never caught up to them.

Jerks!

Hugo

[Caleb]

I saw the same thing this weekend. Was out on a medium size metro lake, probably only 3-4 boats out. two guys in a 16 bass tracker was hucking large spinnerbaits and plastics along shore. They were hooking so many huge bass's. When they finally trolled close enough by me I told them that it was illegal to be fishing bass and they should not be going for them. They looked at weird, started up the engine and rev'd off leaving me in the shakes of their waves. I saw them again later in a different inlet hucking for bass again... didn't get a good enough look at their boat id #. Pissed me off when they rev'd off full blast in 3ft of water... f???ers.

[Huntin&Fishin]

Is it illegal to use rapalas before opener?, I us them for crappies in April and they love 'em. I toatally dissagree targeting bass before opener, but what if your going after big crappies with them?

[Desperado]

OH BOY

Here We Go Again

Hmmmm nobody's mentioned B-w-i- yet; wonder how long it will be until the subject of fishing for -o-f-n gets brought up.

[nofishfisherman]

If you are legitametly targeting crappie then its not a problem. Hopefully a CO will believe you if he questions you.

[SkunkedAgain]

If you're really good at playing dumb or honestly don't know what you're doing, then by all means use "traditional" game fish lures. IMHO, I'd rather just toss a worm on a hook and not worry about a CO giving me a huge fine and/or worse.

[vister]

I can't say that it is illegal using crankbaits before opener. I just don't know how'd they prove you weren't fishing crappies. I just wouldn't keep an eye or pike, that wouldn't work well for your defense out of season. I don't think you'd have much luck with a mepps musky marabou and an 18" titanium leader with a CO before opener.

[william wallace]

It all goes back to education. A lot of these (Contact Us Please) don't think its illegal if they are letting them go. I had to take some pictures of a couple guys illegally fishing on Sunday. One of them sat and argued with me until I told him if his lure hit the water one more time I was going to call the cops, the dnr, and the tip line. Sure enough once they knew I had a camera they packed up and left within five minutes. Kinda takes the fun out of opener when all these jackoffs are fishing illegally and pounding the fish. Must not be much fun for them just a bit of relief they are finally fishing legally.

[Hugo]

Round 2:

Same spot as yesterday. This time it was guy with Frankies Pro Team crap all over his boat and truck. Truck was a Maroonish Nissan Armada (I think thats what it was) with a brand spanking new 20 ft+ Tritan Bass boat with a 250 Merc Opti on the back (also with Frankies stuff all over it) Boat was so new he didn't have a license on it. When I motor by he and his buddy (also in a Frankies Pro Team truck) left the baits out. I stared them down until they finally just gave me a wave and started pitching the spinner baits again. Tell me these guys were fishing crappies! Ya right! I know they both live in Hugo area.

Nice Job jerk offs!!!!I sure Frankie loves having his name all over poachers boats. I think I will give Frankie and the CO a call tomorrow and see what they think about it.

Hugo

[fisherman-andy]

I will often use a small Rapala Husky Jerk, small spinners and so forth, you can almost say it looks like im targeting bass. But actually im fishing the river for Stripers. I have had CO's come up to me and check and done nothing. So im sure as long as your targeting the correct type of fish your fine. But don't be using a specific lure like a Giant Poe's for Muskie or an actual Bass spinner. No reason to even pull out the Bait Casting reel & rod.

I was in Fairbault over the past week and tipped a CO officer on some guy attempting to keep small LM bass. The CO was pretty upset about it but was happy I gave him the tip. Apparently that person had dumped the fish back into the water after he saw the CO coming down but to his demise it was too late because I had opened my big mouth.

Something I do often is leave notes on the vehicles of Anglers who I think is fishing illegally or targeting out of season gamefish. It's my way of hey your being watch and it's been reported. That's usually enough to stop them or not see them again on the same body of water that year.

The above tactic works well especially if you don't want the hassle of a verbal confrontation.

[onthejob2]

Go get em Hugo!! I think we may have a CO in training here.

[YUM]

yup yup what he said

[FWA]

My son and I were targeting crappies on Saturday and a dang 4 pound bass slammed his little Culprit paddletail. What gives huh???

We took some quick photos (digi cam pic now!) and my son released that disturber of crappie fishing....

[fishinfey8]

andy- i like the non-verbal part...you never know what people will do these days. Better safe than sorry. Good Tip!!

[Fishing_High]

so can i use a jig head with like 3 or 4 inch grubs?

[Caleb]

I'm not sure. But best way to find out is look for a CO on the lake(could also call them to come there), make sure you troll next to him and throw a few casts. If he does nothing, your good.

[Desperado]

well there we have it folks

it must hereby be declared that we shouldn't be using little paddletails this time of year BECAUSE they obviously attract 4lb LM bass

[Cyberfish]

Hey Despy, I think it is illegal to chum, unless it is excess blueberry bars!

[PikeBayCommanche]

I have been pounding the Bass but here in Iowa we don't have a Bass Season or Walleye.

[Duffman]

I've caught a 14" crappie on a 10" powerworm and a 5/0 worm hook, do you honestly think I was fishing for crappies?? The guys chucking big baits this time of year know what they are doing, and they ain't fooling anybody else. I think people should start posting pictures and video of said law-breakers on the internet, a little razzing by fellow fisherman or even your next door neighbor might slow them down a bit.

Then again, I know a guy who seems proud that he can blatantly fish for bass out of season because he claims he's targeting dogfish. He actually boasts about it and then goes on some whacked out sermon about the bass season being unfair to the poor 'cause they can't travel to border waters or other states with year round bass seasons. But I suppose when you are near the age of 40 and probably still live in your parents basement, life can seem unfair.

[BoxMN]

Yeah, I have some "friends" like that, who brag about keeping fish out of season, or about how many bass they caught before season, even though they didn't keep them. The good thing is folks like that are more than likely blowhards, who don't even go out, they just like to get reaction from people.

I believe what the law says, as it was explained by a CO friend of ours some time ago, is that it is not illegal to catch an out of season fish, of course, but if you start to catch a bunch of bass in a crappie hole even, you had better move on down the line. IF you stay there, even with your crappie baits, and keep catching bass, you will get tagged.

And not all folks who look like they are doing are something wrong actually know it. My neighbor is from IL, and while he is very ethical, he was surprised at some of the season laws. If he would not have read the laws, he would have been breaking some by fishing too early. Not all folks actually read the laws, but if you let them know they are breaking it, they will be grateful...

...example, I was down in Mexico and me and bro-in-law brought light spinning rods to fish in lagoon in front of house we rented. We started casting, and these old guys come over and tell us we had better get the rods off the water... we did not know what was wrong, but we got out to talk to them, and we found this was a protected lagoon with a $100,000 USD penalty for fishing! Holy crap! You bet we were thankful for them correcting us

[Dkoy]

I know how that is...got it from a CO though. First time ever to get checked here in Minnesota was because I was fishing for crappie on Lake ######, a little right before crappie spawning ended. Was on a dock checking to see if there still any crappie around w/ my jig and minnow. Fished for about 15minutes when two CO's came running at me like a wanted criminal. They were pretty much yelling at me to put my pole down and the whole thingy. I don't blame them though but they were pretty rude, reason was it was musky spawning time also. If you look along the edges you could see multiple 45+ musky's roaming. They weren't shy and cruised along under the dock etc. I was thinking someone must of been fishing for these guys and got tipped off or something. They came at me hard but notice that all I had was a pack of panfish gear and minnows, and current fishing liscence, they let me go. Was certainly odd.

[Duffman]

Hey BP, that shot was too easy, almost as easy as snagging a bass off a bed.

A month from tomorrow big guy, but I can wait, plenty of other finned critters to chase until then. If I see one of them doggies this year while legally chasing somethin else, I'll see what I can do to catch it. That should give the Minnesota Dogfish Championship at least two entries this year.

[FZ]

Hey, FWA

If I were you, I would remove the picture immediately since taking a photo with an illegal fish might not be legal.

[william wallace]

What exactly are you trying to say.

[OLY]

I took a picture of an 18 lb northern on red lake right in front of a co last march. He watched us catch it wiegh it and photograph it and he never said a word, so I wouldnt worry about it.

[nofishfisherman]

When there are not enough CO's to respond to even half of the TIP line calls I doubt they are going to take the time to track down the person who posted a picture of an illegal fish on a website knowing that the person released the fish after the picture was taken.

Even thinking they would do it seems comical to me.

[DTro]

Like it or not, I've been targeting and catching bass all spring using a 4" grub or ringworm.

Heck I'll even post a video

[Mr. Pike1]

It all comes down to integrity and character. You simply can not legislate that.

"True character is who you are and what you do when no one is watching"

[Hugo]

Well said Mr Pike,

These guys were obviously breaking the law and they new it. They were not fishing crappies with big spinner baits. If they were using a grub or small rap I would have not got my undies in a bundle. They were also so freakin arrogant about it which got me PO-ed. Did see the guys from Frankies on a Frankies tourney website.

Hugo