Valley City Times-Record

North Dakota Outdoors: Frequently asked fishing questions

There’s never enough time and space to cover all the common questions anglers have. Some are in-depth and the Department does its best to answer these questions via North Dakota OUTDOORS, videos, podcasts, all of which can be found for free on the Department’s website at gf.nd. gov.

Many topics warrant deep discussion such as size restrictio­ns or trophy regulation­s. Others are short and simple, yes or no. Yes, you can fish with two lines during open water. No, you may not “help” someone else catch a limit of fish.

I’d urge you to do what many of us with Game and Fish do. Check out the frequently asked question tab on the Department’s website.

Here’s a few questions that I’ve fielded lately:

There are already daily limits in place in North Dakota for all game fish species. Why then does it matter how one goes about harvesting a limit of fish if the total fish that can be taken is already limited?

The daily limit is the maximum that can be harvested by an angler in a single day. However, the method of take is also an important regulation to protect fish population across North Dakota for a number of reasons.

The first of these explanatio­ns is simply

in context of fair chase. Fair chase may be defined as the pursuit or taking of freerange wildlife (fish, in this case) in an ethical manner where the angler does not have an unfair advantage over the fish. A lot of fishing and hunting regulation­s are in place to ensure fair chase, and our fishing regulation­s are very specific when it comes to defining the manner of take.

Some of the technologi­cal advances in fishing and boating gear could potentiall­y give anglers an unfair advantage over fish. Entreprene­urs are always trying to invent better equipment or methods, and our clear and consistent regulation­s make it possible for them to design their innovation­s within the bounds of what most consider as fair chase.

Another factor to consider is that many of our daily limits have stood the test of time, based on how easy it is for anglers to catch fish. The daily limit typically comes in to play when the fishing is really good. When more anglers can catch and harvest a limit of fish, this ensures that the resource is evenly shared among all the anglers and protects the fish population from overfishin­g.

However, on an annual, statewide basis, most anglers harvest less than a daily limit every time they go fishing. If we allowed more liberal techniques so more anglers could catch and keep a daily limit of fish more frequently, we would start seeing negative impacts to many of our population­s. This in turn would necessitat­e a reduction in the daily limit for some/many water bodies.

The Department feels it is more important to give anglers the opportunit­y to harvest more fish when the fishing is good while using/ following traditiona­l methods versus allowing a wider range of options for catching fish but then reduce the number of fish they catch/keep.

Lastly, there are some methods of fishing that could lead to higher mortality of all fish caught. An extreme example would be the use of gillnets to catch a limit of walleye; by doing so, one would also kill a lot of other fish in the process.

A more realistic example might be our regulation requiring anglers to attend to their lines. Allowing anglers to use overnight set lines and not be in attendance would lead to deep hooking and consequent mortality of some fish, preventing them from being released alive. North Dakota's fishing regulation­s are designed to minimize this unneeded mortality.

Why can't I release fish held in a livewell at the end of a fishing outing?

If allowed, fish that were stressed (e.g. on stringers, in livewells, etc.) would experience delayed mortality after being released. The fish may swim away but may not be healthy and would eventually die. Further, if the release of fish at the end of the day was allowed, it could possibly lead to high-grading or culling. High-grading is the practice of selectivel­y targeting fish – catching a fish, reducing it to creel (e.g. in a livewell), and then later releasing the fish after catching additional fish of a more preferable size. Highgradin­g is and has been against the law for at least the past 60 years in North Dakota. Allowing for some release of fish after being reduced to creel, would complicate enforcemen­t, and greatly confound the overall fishing regulation­s, as additional restrictio­ns may be the result.

Is an "umbrella rig" legal to use in North Dakota waters?

An umbrella rig focuses on the presentati­on of the terminal tackle, often providing numerous plastic lures to assist in attracting fish and is typically used for trolling. The basic design is a central point that you tie to your line, with a number of wire droppers. Each dropper typically has a snap that you can attach a lure of your choice, such as a jig and plastic, spinner or crankbait.

North Dakota fishing regulation­s allow no more than two lures per line, so up to two plastics, an so on, can have hooks and would be legal. However, anything more with hooks would be illegal. The plastics without hooks are not considered a lure, and thus are legal.