Hey guys I was just wondering how strictly you follow fishing regulations. If you catch a fish that is an inch or less than an inch from legal size do you keep it? This goes for saltwater too. Yesterday I fished a pier and this guy caught a gag grouper that was 21 and 1/2 in, and he kept it (legal size in the gulf is 22in). Just curious about your opinions on the subject.

Regulations are regulations, they go back in the water if not legal.

Like it or not, rules are the rules. My philosophy is simple:

Fish legally or stay home.

I'm not directly this as you, just stating something. If Iwere the one, the fish would have been released without question.

Follow all regulations.

No ifs, ands or buts. 

Follow all regulations

I don't keep anything anyway so that point is moot.

Oh, and the regulations posted at many lakes around me says that you don't put a fish back that you have injured and is not likely to live. <wink>

I obey the rules whether I like them or not.

I follow the rules.  I don't know every rule there is, so I may break a few by accident, but any rule I know about I follow without question.

Paying fines are a waste of my fishing money 

I follow the rules. I don't know every rule there is, so I may break a few by accident, but any rule I know about I follow without question.

like burley would say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. its your duty to educate yourself on them if you dont know them all

The consequences for poaching fish are too great.

I follow the rules. I don't know every rule there is, so I may break a few by accident, but any rule I know about I follow without question.

like burley would say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. its your duty to educate yourself on them if you dont know them all

give me a break. maybe I should have been more specific, but show me one person that knows every law there is, I doubt you can find one. I'm probably one of the most honest, law abiding people you've never met. (in the last 10 years at least lol. used to be a trouble maker)

In regards to keeping a fish that's under the limit, I would never keep one, doesn't matter how close it was.

The cool thing about regulations is there no gray area. It's all black and white. And they aren't hard to follow. Georgia DNR publishes any changes each year in a special section in the front of the regs book. It's easy to understand. Another thing that's good is all the major changes are brought up in regional meeting that are open to the public and then the feedback from those meetings are taken seriously. These meetings have stopped several changes over the years. It's pretty cool to see.

Paying fines are a waste of my fishing money

Thats a BIG x2

In my opinion, it's the responsibility of every

fisherman to know all state and local regulations, and to follow them to the letter. I see way too many so-called fishermen leaving our municipal lakes with plastic grocery bags full of 10"-12" bass when there's a 15" length limit and a creel limit of 5 bass. Yeah, I report them, but there's rarely anything done as a result.

Tom

Never, ever been fined for a wildlife or water violation. Not going to start now.

All fish 1/4" or less short get stomped on.

All fish 1/4" or less short get stomped on.

LMAO! They will also relax if you break their back.

I follow the rules. I don't know every rule there is, so I may break a few by accident, but any rule I know about I follow without question.

like burley would say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. its your duty to educate yourself on them if you dont know them all

give me a break. maybe I should have been more specific, but show me one person that knows every law there is, I doubt you can find one. I'm probably one of the most honest, law abiding people you've never met. (in the last 10 years at least lol. used to be a trouble maker)

In regards to keeping a fish that's under the limit, I would never keep one, doesn't matter how close it was.

your history of honesty isnt gonna cause the game warden to give you a break, but a ticket instead. i didnt mean to sound as if i were saying you were ignorant, but if you dont know all the laws for where you fish then you need to research them. its YOUR responsibilty to know them. doing something illegal on accident doesnt mean its all of a sudden legal just because you didnt know.

I follow the rules. I don't know every rule there is, so I may break a few by accident, but any rule I know about I follow without question.

like burley would say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. its your duty to educate yourself on them if you dont know them all

give me a break. maybe I should have been more specific, but show me one person that knows every law there is, I doubt you can find one. I'm probably one of the most honest, law abiding people you've never met. (in the last 10 years at least lol. used to be a trouble maker)

In regards to keeping a fish that's under the limit, I would never keep one, doesn't matter how close it was.

your history of honesty isnt gonna cause the game warden to give you a break, but a ticket instead. i didnt mean to sound as if i were saying you were ignorant, but if you dont know all the laws for where you fish then you need to research them. its YOUR responsibilty to know them. doing something illegal on accident doesnt mean its all of a sudden legal just because you didnt know.

Fishing regulations, at least in my state are VERY EASY to understand. You go anywhere they sell licenses and you will be able to pick up a pamphlet that outlines all the regulations, including lake specific ones if there are variances from state norms. All the info fits on just one or two pages. These rules even cover privately owned bodies of water, so no ignorance is permitted. In addition, where we have lakes that are considered nature preserves, they erect signs that either say no fishing, or they have the limit and size restrictions posted. If someone claims they don't know the law here, I would suggest they are too dumb to allow to fish or even be allowed on the road to drive to the lake.

Like I said, I should have been more specific... you guys are harsh... If I don't keep fish, why do I need to know the size limits for every species in the lake? I worded my first post wrong, that's all. I almost exclusively fish private lakes, the regulations are not the same, there's no wardens, it's that simple. If i'm going to a public lake, or a new lake, I always read up the rules before I head out and follow them all.

Let me give a different example, let's use driving... we do it every day.  But I can almost guarantee you that if everyone here had to take the writen driving test again, the vast majority would fail miserably.  I bet if you took the multiple choices away, majority wouldn't even answer a few questions correctly.  Why?  Because nobody knows all the laws.  So what do we do?  We follow them to the best of our ability.  Does that mean that everyone on this site is an idiot, and nobody should drive?

  I was responding in a more general context originally, because I wasn't thinking specifically fishing when I typed it.

Like I said, I should have been more specific... you guys are harsh... If I don't keep fish, why do I need to know the size limits for every species in the lake? I worded my first post wrong, that's all. I almost exclusively fish private lakes, the regulations are not the same, there's no wardens, it's that simple. If i'm going to a public lake, or a new lake, I always read up the rules before I head out and follow them all.

Let me give a different example, let's use driving... we do it every day. But I can almost guarantee you that if everyone here had to take the writen driving test again, the vast majority would fail miserably. I bet if you took the multiple choices away, majority wouldn't even answer a few questions correctly. Why? Because nobody knows all the laws. So what do we do? We follow them to the best of our ability. Does that mean that everyone on this site is an idiot, and nobody should drive?

I was responding in a more general context originally, because I wasn't thinking specifically fishing when I typed it.

fishing regulations are about more than size limits and keeping fish though

Like I said, I should have been more specific... you guys are harsh... If I don't keep fish, why do I need to know the size limits for every species in the lake? I worded my first post wrong, that's all. I almost exclusively fish private lakes, the regulations are not the same, there's no wardens, it's that simple. If i'm going to a public lake, or a new lake, I always read up the rules before I head out and follow them all.

Let me give a different example, let's use driving... we do it every day. But I can almost guarantee you that if everyone here had to take the writen driving test again, the vast majority would fail miserably. I bet if you took the multiple choices away, majority wouldn't even answer a few questions correctly. Why? Because nobody knows all the laws. So what do we do? We follow them to the best of our ability. Does that mean that everyone on this site is an idiot, and nobody should drive?

I was responding in a more general context originally, because I wasn't thinking specifically fishing when I typed it.

fishing regulations are about more than size limits and keeping fish though

read the rest of the post, and don't nit pick.

I follow them to a T, but it's easily when you rarely keep fish.

I wish they would actually penalize people more harshly than they do to discourage people from trying to pull a fast one on the wardens. There's just too many places to fish here for the game warden to be on top of it all, so people get away with a lot.

More along the line of what they do to deer hunters, but not quite as strict. If you poach deer in MN, hunt from your vehicle, shoot the wrong gender and try to harvest it illegally, take them out of season, or even on the wrong side of the road from where your designated zone is, they take your truck and everything in it and they get auctioned off for 10 cents on the dollar, often right back to the former owner, and then there's a 5 figure fine and possible jail time. Now, THATS a deterent.

Lets see...fines, court fees, boat confiscation, lost fishing privileges across multiple states....ya, go fer it.  :

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/05/six_fishermen_plead_guilty_for.html

Lets see...fines, court fees, boat confiscation, lost fishing privileges across multiple states....ya, go fer it. :

http://www.cleveland.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/05/six_fishermen_plead_guilty_for.html

Proof of how dumb these people really were.

Oddly enough, the men said they had also caught a few walleye, which they released.