Back in my tournament days 200 years ago culling for tournament weight was common. Now for a bass to even see my livewell is extremely rare
Somethings while walleye fishing if I’m lucky , I’ll make the exchange of a 20 incher in favor of a 22 incher . Always from the livewell and released fish are responsive.
Perch, bluegill and crappie I’ll know soon enough is barely keepers are the norm or are there good fish in the area. and will release immediately legit keepers cause I suspect I can do better
Rarely reach back in the livewell when catching these species. And usually near limit or limit when the bite is on.
How do you guys and gals conduct culling ?
Sounds interesting. I have done some Fishing contests. One was Salmon. Another is Trout.. never got lucky enough to need to cull. I see why you would. In oregon I am not sure if it’s legal to keep a fish in live well and then release it later. Rules say release then unharmed if not keeping them. I wonder if during a contest if could do it.
Michigan will bust you if you have 5 walleye in your livewell , catch a 6th and swap it
That 6th fish is in your possession
We get around this by start culling at 4 and the last keeper of the day goes in the livewell
Back in the day . I had a nice Alumacraft bass boat that struggled to keep fish alive thru duration
Dead fish penalties hurt when you hope to at least get your entry fee and gas money back in a tourney
Ben Bragg wrote:
Michigan will bust you if you have 5 walleye in your livewell , catch a 6th and swap it
That 6th fish is in your possession
We get around this by start culling at 4 and the last keeper of the day goes in the livewell
Back in the day . I had a nice Alumacraft bass boat that struggled to keep fish alive thru duration
Dead fish penalties hurt when you hope to at least get your entry fee and gas money back in a tourney
Makes Cents. It makes it seem like getting every late model advantage available.. then if do not win it really hurts
I do not cull, never have. I c&r always. I fish for the pleasure of getting out in nature. Period. And to pit my skills against the fish. Not trying to out-fish anyone, and if I want fish to eat, I go to Costco. That's me. I have no problem with those who do cull or with those who eat what they catch. Keep it legal please.
Spiritof27 wrote:
I do not cull, never have. I c&r always. I fish for the pleasure of getting out in nature. Period. And to pit my skills against the fish. Not trying to out-fish anyone, and if I want fish to eat, I go to Costco. That's me. I have no problem with those who do cull or with those who eat what they catch. Keep it legal please.
👍🏻 Poachers ruin it for all of us.
Ben Bragg wrote:
Back in my tournament days 200 years ago culling for tournament weight was common. Now for a bass to even see my livewell is extremely rare
Somethings while walleye fishing if I’m lucky , I’ll make the exchange of a 20 incher in favor of a 22 incher . Always from the livewell and released fish are responsive.
Perch, bluegill and crappie I’ll know soon enough is barely keepers are the norm or are there good fish in the area. and will release immediately legit keepers cause I suspect I can do better
Rarely reach back in the livewell when catching these species. And usually near limit or limit when the bite is on.
How do you guys and gals conduct culling ?
Back in my tournament days 200 years ago culling f... (
show quote)
If I catch a fish I don’t intend to keep I release it as soon as possible. I only use barbless hooks to make that easier. Never hard to land a fish with a barbless hook and it’s way easier to release the fish with little harm if it’s not what you’re after. I fish for a living but I also sport fish a lot. If I’m not gonna eat it or sell it I don’t attempt to catch it. When I catch a legal fish I plan to eat it goes toward the limit. Up-grading for an extra half a bite is not something I do. Many states don’t allow holding fish in a live well you don’t intend to keep. I know that was, highly, illegal in Oregon when I lived there. Not real sure in some states. We can hold them here in Idaho in a live well but it’s not legal to up-grade if you catch a bigger fish you want and swap it out for a smaller one you already have in the well. I’m sure people do it but I don’t.
Ivey
Loc: South Central Tennessee, Tim's Ford Lake
I don't normally put anything in the live well I don't intend to keep. That said back in my tournament fishing days had to go by state rules. I fished in the south mainly and we were allowed to cull. One trick I found to help keep those fish alive and well was Ice. I'd freeze a couple gallon jugs of water and put them in the live well, Mine has a divider. lowering the temp of the water in the live well defiantly help keep your catch lively.
Ivey wrote:
I don't normally put anything in the live well I don't intend to keep. That said back in my tournament fishing days had to go by state rules. I fished in the south mainly and we were allowed to cull. One trick I found to help keep those fish alive and well was Ice. I'd freeze a couple gallon jugs of water and put them in the live well, Mine has a divider. lowering the temp of the water in the live well defiantly help keep your catch lively.
I'm going to borrow the ice in the live well idea. I don't normally have to worry about culling. Don't have a livewell on my truck for surf fishing, and don't usually catch more than my limit anyway. With the new boat, that might change now, so thanks for the tip Ivey. As far as culling goes, I've been known to release a fish to try for a bigger one in a tournament, sometime it works others not.
Able Man
Loc: North Coast (Cleveland, Ohio)
At least on the East Coast, and (I believe) the Gulf of Mexico; if a vessel has it's "Pelagic Species" (License/ Permits) PAPERWORK in order; we were allowed to bring 3× "shorts" to the hill. I'm GUESSING that would mean, that IF the "Fish Cops" were to "board us" on the way in to the dock, and we had > 3 × shorts, our "$#!T would have been weak" ... I'm thinking that I've seen A LOT of "shorts" cut-loose (hook removed while fish is STILL overboard), and generally, NOT ALWAYS 3 KEPT. (But, usually 3, as there was always 3 of us on the boat.) {Each man taking a fish, as "a bonus".} [Can't sell'em to the "Fish-House", though.]
Don't keep any fish except the Pollack I catch at the wholesale outlet store !
I only cull in tourneys. All other is catch, snapshot, and release.
Now crappies are another idea, to good to throw back, but that's to few and far away.
Like Ben Bragg, I quite tournament fishing 200 years ago, but unlike him, I haven't
used my live well since. I use it for dry storage only, saving a lot of bother and reducing
the weight my boat has to drag around. I release almost all fish immediately, and the
ones we keep go on ice immediately.
Ben,
I can't help you much. The fish I keep are bled out and put directly on ice. I actually have my Fish Hawk in the shop right now to install an auxiliary fuel tank in the live well so I don't have to deal with our super safe difficult to use gas cans on Lake Powell. When I took Graywulff out in May we ran 43 miles before we stopped to fish.
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