bass size limit

[CK14]

to me it's pretty clear. the regs clearly state that you can not retain ANY bass between 12"-17". to me this means you can not have them in your possession. and like i stated before, how would a game warden know if you were gonna release them or not?

this topic is getting kinda outa hand....

[Mike Carey]

Excellent discussion everyone and I think very beneficial. Since I'm such a mediocre bass angler I'll never have to worry about this (LOL).

But after reading the back and forths I'm thinking only one over 17" in the well is the correct interpretation.

[fishnislife]

WOW! This is a hot thread. Damn Joe (beerman1981) look what you got going. The most popular thread in the bass section. :thumright
I think it's cool to see a discussion like this stay civil with out anyone getting butt hurt. This is a good topic and obviously easily misunderstood by a lot of anglers. I wasn't very clear on the regs when this got started and now it's a little clearer.
C&R baby.

fishnislife

[bigastrout]

I think what it comes down to is, how literally do we interpret the definitions of possess, possessed, possession, retain, retention? If you were into debate and wanted to play devils advocate you could argue that you are in possession of the fish the instant the hook is set. The rod, line, and hook, being and extention of you and under your control, thus the fish is under your control or "in your possession". The word retain basically describes an extended period of possession. Again as the devils advocate you could argue that, whether or not you release a fish to take a picture of your fish you in fact "retain" it at least long enough to take the pic.

So how literally do we take it? I think we need to think of our basic code "Sportsmanship" I don't think that it is necessary to say a fish is in your possesion the second you hook it. That would have all kinds of repercussions to the game laws, it is unenforceable, and is truly unnecessary to protect the resource. I do think that considering sportsmanship a fish should be considered in your possession when you get it to the boat or shore and grasp the leader, net the fish, or hold the fish, ect. I dont think we should have to define retention in terms of a specific time period. If it were to be defined this way it would have to be a short period of time to be an effective protection for our resource. A specific time period would be unenforceable and unnecessary.Thinking of sportsmanship, what is really more important to protect our resource, the speed at which we release a fish or the care we take when doing it. I think a good sportsman way of retaining and releasing bass from a live well would be as follows.

1. A bass that does not meet size or species requirements should never be placed in the livewell.
2. When the livewell is filled with a limit of bass, you must release a fish before placing a larger fish in the livewell
3. When the livewell has a bass in it over 17', you must release it before placing a larger bass in the live well
4. A bass injured to the point of likely mortality should not be exchanged for another bass

In other words the livewell should never, (even for an instant) contain more than 5 bass or more than 1 over 17" and we must have good sportsmanship when a fish has been injured in the livewell to a point of likely mortality it should not be released in exchange for another fish.

I think this interpretation of the rule is good "Sportsmanship", it protects the resource, and meets the ideals the the law was designed for.

What do you think of this?

[CK14]

couldn't have said it better myself.

[beerman1981]

Great wording, I think you hit this one dead on! A bass caught that measured between 12 and 17 inches would fall into your first point regarding size limits.

[Mike Carey]

1. A bass that does not meet size or species requirements should never be placed in the livewell.
2. When the livewell if filled with a limit of bass, you must release a fish before placing a larger fish in the livewell
3. When the livewell has a bass in it over 17', you must release it before placing a larger bass in the live well
4. A bass injured to the point of likely mortality should not be exchanged for another bass


See, this is the plain kind of English the regs should use. Nice job, send it on to WDFW!

[panfisher]

as i've stated in other posts. c&r fish using a stringer does not make any sense to me. its my opinion that what goes on a stringer goes home. if i was a true c&rer a stringer would not be in my tackle box. in my thinking thats one of the main reasons for a live well. im sure that if someone has fish in the live well, any warden would consider them retained. the person doing this must be lucky not to be checked! it doesn't make sense to take them out of the well to put them on a stringer just to take a picture and then release them????? <')//<

[bob johansen]

I see no problem with placing a fish in the live well if you want a photo of it. It takes a little time to get the tape measure, scale or camera ready to go. The fish is much better off in the live well than being held out of the water of flopping on the boat deck while the tools are being readied. When the necessary tools are all ready to go, remove your fish, shoot a quick photo and release him. I don't see any kind of problem doing this even if the fish is 16 1/2 inches in length as long as he is gently released. Remember, a nice bass is too valuable a resource to enjoy catching only once.

[Bigbass Dez]

This was an awsome topic , and clearly an eye opener for myself and others to consider. I think that alot of anglers are very protective of Bass because we all enjoy catching them and competing against other anglers in tourneys etc .. My only concern is that there is fine line between following state regs and capturing a one in a life time pic of one bass or even five . as long as guys like dave are on the water no one should worry about any bad intention or harm done to the bass . I feel the same applies to myself and about 80% of the guys on this site . if dave had past of keeping these fish and doing harm to them then my opinon would be different but thats not case ..as far as the stringer goes issue goes, look at it from this light , how many times have we seen people improperly hold a big bass ? running a good chance of breaking there jaw etc.. so if my now your getting the impression that maybe a small exception should be made for guys like dave , THATS MY POINT .. all of those fish are still swimming right now ! and if some other no name guy posted that same pic i would be worried .. By the way i have never met dave or even know his last name ...but in life you learn that a mans word and actions say alot about who they really are and what impact they have on society .. i have heard and read enough about this one guy name dave to believe this hold true to him period ...BBD

[tnj8222]

are you saying its not ok to lip a big bass? i have been doing this for a long time, maybe its time for a change?

[Bigbass Dez]

are you saying its not ok to lip a big bass? i have been doing this for a long time, maybe its time for a change?

DUDE never hold any bass over 4lbs just by the jaw only , always place one hand under the belly to take pressure off it's jaw , they break kind easy and alot of people dont realize this ... just FYI

[Rizzla]

yep in potholes banks and snake river the smallmouth bass has not slot little size. and your are allow to keep ten smallies from banks and potholes but only 1 smallie can be over 14 inches. snake river has no min size you can keep 3 over 15 inches and 1 over 18. there are alot of special rules so please dont jump to any conclusions. see my avatar photo. not all of them are mine i held some extras for the photo, but this photo may look like im illegally keeping wrong sizes but i was fishing at the snake and there were special rules so i wasnt breaking any laws. but there are no special rules are largies and everyone know that the slot limit applys to them.

[tnj8222]

are you saying its not ok to lip a big bass? i have been doing this for a long time, maybe its time for a change?

DUDE never hold any bass over 4lbs just by the jaw only , always place one hand under the belly to take pressure off it's jaw , they break kind easy and alot of people dont realize this ... just FYI

thanks for the heads up man. i have been doing this for a long time.

[Smalma]

Regarding holding bass by their lower jaw.

The issue is that if you put a "lip lock" on a larger bass and attempt to hold it horizonal without suport the fish's body you are placing a lot of pressure on the jaw bones and folks have reported issues with broken jaws. If you hold the fish vertically there would be less pressure on the fishes jaw and therefore less risk of injury.

Tight lines
Curt

[beerman1981]

are you saying its not ok to lip a big bass? i have been doing this for a long time, maybe its time for a change?

DUDE never hold any bass over 4lbs just by the jaw only , always place one hand under the belly to take pressure off it's jaw , they break kind easy and alot of people dont realize this ... just FYI

thanks for the heads up man. i have been doing this for a long time.

Ditto that BBD... I have held bass like that too. That is one great thing about this website. We can all learn new things, that we might not have otherwise realized, thus improving the overall fishing quality of Washington State!

Joe

[Eddie L]

[YellowBear]

Skeeter bassin wrote something about tournaments being exempt from the laws due to a permit.
As I remember it,this permit says nothing about breaking State laws.The permit allows a club to have the event.
A club has to give the WDFW a list of lakes and dates that they want to fish.If the lakes and dates are open,then that club gets them. If another group has allready applyed for the same lakes and dates then the second group will have to come up with a second choise.
All State laws apply to all of us there is no group that is exempt.
Holding fish in a livewell for a photo is a fine idea as long as the fish being held are leagle.
If you have a Bass that is in the slot its not a leagle fish.It dosen't matter if you are holding it for a photo or a way in.

[bob johansen]

I think that any intellegent person would look at the "intent of the law" which is not to keep or kill any bass in the slot limit. Holding that 16 incher in the live well for a photo, with the intent of releasing, should still fall into the intent of the law. Besides, that would be one tough law to enforce even if the game cop were watching through glasses. It would be impossible to tell if the fish was 16 or 18 inches long and it only takes a second to put the fish over the gunnel if he approches. This comment is in no way intended to suggest that I support breaking game laws. And, besides that, not many bassers would even want to take a shot of a fish under 17 inches. May the fishing Gods smile on you.

[skeeter bassin]

The following is a cut and paste of the law from WAC 232-12-168 regarding tournament bass/walleye size limits and possession limits.

(d) During bass and walleye contests participants may retain up to five bass and walleye of any size to be weighed in. A tournament angler may not be in possession of more than five bass or walleye from the water being fished, except as authorized under (6)(e) below.

(e) The contest director or director designee may exceed possession limits for bass or walleye for the purpose of transporting fish from a weigh-in site to an open-water area. During transportation, the transport boat must not leave the water the fish were caught from and a copy of the contest permit must be on board during actual fish transport.

This is exactly why permits are applied for and obtained.

Here is a link to the WAC - http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=232-12-168

Hopefully this will clear up any further confusion