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I am almost 100% C&R, but if he is within the legal limits, it is his right to keep whatever he catches.  If you believe he is not sticking to the legal limits, contact the appropriate legal body of your state and let them handle it!
 

Jeff

You don't. You call the DNR and report his boat #. Confrontation can lead to bad results.

all the above posts cover it.

It is far fetched but that may be his most reliable method of putting food on the table. Do you know if he is living off the grid? Or is without a steady job? Those probably aren't the answers but they are possibilities.

of course I agree with that logic, I was just thinking since there are not many homes / cottages on the lake and we are all a close community I figured approaching him wouldn't be an issue if done correctly. ive been considering making up some really nice, big and simple C&R promotion signs and putting them up on the dirt road coming into the lake. I am not sure if he lives off the land but I would have to assume no since he has a big pontoon boat, but hey what do I know haha

I like your idea about starting your own catch and release campaign at your lake. That would be cool. I don't think you would be out of line expressing your concerns for the fish population to the guy as long as you did it diligently.

I can almost guarantee there isn't anything you're going to do or say that will change this guy's mind.  If he isn't breaking any laws, it's none of your business what he does.

In some states your limit and possession are the same. So you cannot fish daily and keep your limit unless you have eaten your previous days limit. A man in the local town would often go fishing daily , catch his limit and usually freeze them. Someone turned him in to the local warden who went to this guys house, checked his freezer, and charged him with over the limit(possession}.

I am almost 100% C&R, but if he is within the legal limits, it is his right to keep whatever he catches.  If you believe he is not sticking to the legal limits, contact the appropriate legal body of your state and let them handle it!

 

Jeff

 

I have to agree completely with this. Every once in a while I'll eat a crappie or channel cat. But I fish for fun, and almost always c & r. But if the guy isn't breaking the law, I'd just leave it alone, although I would find it incredibly annoying.

yes it is extremely annoying to me as well, but I agree with everyone elses points and will not approach this individual. I just want to preserve my lake, maybe even get the walleye population back in order over a 5 year period or something. one can dream, right?

Agree with all the above advices. I feel your pain thou. When you said he keeps regardless of size, I wonder you know that for the fact and if undersized fish is included. And tartertester has a good point regarding daily catch limit vs possession limit.

Tough situation, and I can certainly appreciate your enthusiasm for C&R (I'm that way, too). I'll agree with others that if he's w/in legal keep limits, he's legal. We may not like it, but not a whole lot we can do.

 

For me, this is a sport, too, not a means of putting food on my table. I've eaten some fresh water fish I've caught (crappie), and believe I ate one bass in my entire life, back when I was a wee laddie maybe 6 or 7 years of age. But it's 99.9% CnR now.

Report it and move on.  I also find it hard to believe you are able to see from a distance that he keeps everything regardless of size or species unless you are paying more attention to him than you are fishing.

In such a small community, I would probably want to be darn sure that he was doing something illegal before I even called the authorities, and the only thing that you yourself could possibly witness would be bagging more than the daily limit of a species or keeping fish that are obviously outside of size limits.  (Assuming he's not fishing with a crossbow or something completely asinine like that.)  If he were my neighbor, he could legally have 60+ assorted fish in his freezer.  Maybe he's giving them away, I know guys that do that.  I hope he's not single-handedly draining your local resource but I kind of doubt it? Maybe your community as a whole would be interested in funding some professional management strategies, and maybe this guy could turn out to be helpful after all.  I understand your frustration and concern, but don't be too quick to crap where you fish, so to speak.

I would approach him. I am 100% catch and release

Report it and move on.  I also find it hard to believe you are able to see from a distance that he keeps everything regardless of size or species unless you are paying more attention to him than you are fishing.

 

I go fishing probably 3-4 times a week on this lake, and over the past year I can honestly say ive seen him every single time ive been fishing except once that I recall. It seems like i pay a lot of attention to him but my dad calls him bonehead because apparently he has built quite a reputation on the lake for being, well a bonehead. so its kind of became a minor topic of conversation for us, every single time we were fishing we just hear his boat coming and one of us says theres bonehead. since we basically see this fellow 3-4 times a week, we've trolled past him, casted near him, etc. and also the lake is not that big. my neighbour also said he has noticed that he never releases anything, so i guess im not alone in noticing this

Exactly how small is this lake? I really doubt ONE guy is wrecking the population especially if he's only hitting one spot. Though, by all means, if you're positive he's breaking the law then report him. 

I have a local shore fisherman who takes everything too even 2" sunfish to eat. Thank God he doesn't have a boat. Another guy says he boils the fish to make fish cakes. Did eyes ever hear of food stamps? In bad, hard times the pets and fish suffer.

I have a local shore fisherman who takes everything too even 2" sunfish to eat. Thank God he doesn't have a boat. Another guy says he boils the fish to make fish cakes. Did eyes ever hear of food stamps? In bad, hard times the pets and fish suffer.

You are seriously going to fault a guy for not taking food stamps?  wow that is the first i have heard of that one....

 

I would also venture a guess that if he is out there that often in the same spot then the he might be doing the lake a little bit of a favor by taking out some smaller fish so the lake can remain healthy.  Not saying he should over harvest or take anything undersized but many lakes could benefit from a few fish being harvested, well at leaf that is what i have read and seen in a few lakes here in VA where they have encouraged people to take fish.

I'd get into a running gun battle with the dude, shoot him, confiscate his rods and make his children fish with a Zebco 33 to dissuade any fishing from them.

 

On the other hand, I grew up in east Texas where some people needed to poach to make ends meet and I understand the situation. Naw. Shoot him and confiscate his equipment...Obamacare will take care of the rest.

If he's not breaking any laws there's nothing you can really do about it. If one guy is seriously hurting the fish population in a lake though I'd be really surprised. You may just address the lack of walleye to the powers that be of your community about possibly restocking the lake with walleye. Some lakes they don't reproduce naturally very well and need supplemental stocking to maintain a fishable population or they'll disappear even if everyone is turning every one they catch loose. 

If he's not breaking any laws there's nothing you can really do about it. If one guy is seriously hurting the fish population in a lake though I'd be really surprised. You may just address the lake of walleye to the powers that be of your community about possibly restocking the lake with walleye. Some lakes they don't reproduce naturally very well and need supplemental stocking to maintain a fishable population or they'll disappear even if everyone is turning every one they catch loose. 

Bluebasser makes a good point about walleye reproduction. Not all lakes are suited to walleye spawning. Where I live, there are only a few lakes in the entire state that have self sustaining walleye populations. Every other walleye fishery in the state gets a yearly stocking to maintain populations.

I c&r and no where do I see the system abused more than in saltwater, it does annoy me but nothing I can do about as the people are lawful.  I've got a good hunch on many need the fish to survive so, if you're fishing with tip broken off be my guess, I just mind my own business.  We have one guy that comes out, must have 15 different outfits, nothing less than a stella and st croix or loomis, he doesn't need the fish to survive, yet takes everything and "begs" others, I don't give him crap.  

Take a different approach to this guy.

 

When he is fishing you motor over to him, introduce yourself, and talk about fishing the lake. Get his input and philosophy of fishing while being nice.

 

Do not aggravate or challenge the guy in any manner. Wave to him as you motor by or he goes by you.

 

If you have a GPS unit on your boat you need to mark all of the places he fishes, be it his one favorite or a number of alternatives. Then start a list of the times he is on the lake at these places so you will know that he does not fish on Mondays, but Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays he starts at point A, moves to point B and finishes at point C.

 

Now you know him by name; probably where he lives on the lake; where the fishes; when the starts; when he finishes; and you have a nice profile of his fishing culture.

 

Here is when you strike! You get on the lake a half hour or a full hour before him and hit his places before he gets the opportunity. This will limit the number of fish he catches as you would have hooked the majority before he arrives.

 

Once again, don't confront him. Any confrontations are to come from law enforcement authorities.

 

Good luck.