06-08-2018, 04:52 PM
As for the live bait, It is an enforcement issue only. If more fishermen were honest, the laws would not be required.
But, it is too easy to say I caught these minnows that look like carp here at Strawberry ..... so I should be able to use these at Strawberry. Now it becomes the responsibility of the enforcement people to prove that you did not catch carp minnows at that lake. It is legally impossible to prove a negative, so the officer could never prove you did not catch them at Strawberry, or any other lake..... so the dishonest could bring any minnow they wanted from anyplace to fish with. It does not take long to ruin a lake and Utah Lake and Carp should scare you enough to let the officers have a pass on this one. In the eastern US, that has already been done, so it is useless to try to prevent the spread of invasive minnow species.
Similar issue with Salmon/Kokanee on Strawberry, but it is a bit more convoluted. Some times, in some waters, trout, especially Rainbows, will become so silvery that except for the overall shape of head and tail, and the loose scales of a kokanee, they can be hard to tell apart. If all you had was fillets with skin, it could be difficult in some cases.
In this case, I don't see it an an enforcement issue, but a management issue, trying to balance Rainbows and Kokanee. Personally, I have never seen the Bows and Kokanee look even remotely similar to each other in Strawberry, but they have erred on the side of caution.
I do agree that it is fun to use live bait, and productive as well. And you can still use live bait in most states East of the Rocky Mountain Divide and in Arizona.
I suspect, that if a respectful and well worded proposal was made to the DNR that they would review the fillet laws at Strawberry. I believe that they have sufficient data to demonstrate that that law might not be required.
Laws are seldom created just to make if unpleasant for a single person or group. Just because we don't understand why they exist does not mean there is no valid reason and IT SURELY DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE SMARTER then those who created the laws and regulations. BUT, sometimes it does help to ask for review and clarification of the reason for those laws/regulations.
But, it is too easy to say I caught these minnows that look like carp here at Strawberry ..... so I should be able to use these at Strawberry. Now it becomes the responsibility of the enforcement people to prove that you did not catch carp minnows at that lake. It is legally impossible to prove a negative, so the officer could never prove you did not catch them at Strawberry, or any other lake..... so the dishonest could bring any minnow they wanted from anyplace to fish with. It does not take long to ruin a lake and Utah Lake and Carp should scare you enough to let the officers have a pass on this one. In the eastern US, that has already been done, so it is useless to try to prevent the spread of invasive minnow species.
Similar issue with Salmon/Kokanee on Strawberry, but it is a bit more convoluted. Some times, in some waters, trout, especially Rainbows, will become so silvery that except for the overall shape of head and tail, and the loose scales of a kokanee, they can be hard to tell apart. If all you had was fillets with skin, it could be difficult in some cases.
In this case, I don't see it an an enforcement issue, but a management issue, trying to balance Rainbows and Kokanee. Personally, I have never seen the Bows and Kokanee look even remotely similar to each other in Strawberry, but they have erred on the side of caution.
I do agree that it is fun to use live bait, and productive as well. And you can still use live bait in most states East of the Rocky Mountain Divide and in Arizona.
I suspect, that if a respectful and well worded proposal was made to the DNR that they would review the fillet laws at Strawberry. I believe that they have sufficient data to demonstrate that that law might not be required.
Laws are seldom created just to make if unpleasant for a single person or group. Just because we don't understand why they exist does not mean there is no valid reason and IT SURELY DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE SMARTER then those who created the laws and regulations. BUT, sometimes it does help to ask for review and clarification of the reason for those laws/regulations.