"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
t...
Calif Bill wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote:
I can't think of any difference between tournament fishing and
recreational fishing that would warrant preferential regs.

YMMV.

So, if cullin is bad, why are there C&R sections of a river?

Presumably Wisconsin DNR bans culling because a fish caught,
put in a live well and released hours later is less likely
to survive than a fish caught and released immediately. That's
my assumption anyway. If that's the case then it doesn't make
any sense to me to have different regs for tournament versus
recreational fishermen.

Actually, the anti-culling regulation (called Sorting) was put in place
decades ago, when livewells in boats were not even thought of. It was
common practice to either put fish in a bucket or hang then on a stringer
over the side of the boat. In both cases, survival of fish released from a
stringer or a bucket of stagnent water was poor. So, to protect the
resource and to prevent anglers from catching fish, sorting through and
tossing back smaller ones (likely to die) in favor of larger fish, "Sorting
of fish" was deemed illegal.

But, to have such a law in place where it is commonplace for many boats to
have a livewell, I really do not see where there is any problem with
catching and culling for tournaments. All tournaments that I"m aware of
require all participating boats to have a functioning livewell and penalize
those anglers that bring in dead fish.

Can you imagine the furor and public outcry if a regulation was set in place
that allowed the general population to cull, providing they had a boat with
a functioning livewell?
--
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com