04-29-2019, 05:02 PM
Well, I learned a couple of things today. Mostly, I need to read the guidebook cover to cover again. I have been fishing in Utah for over 50 years. I do look that the guidebook quite often, especially when I go to new waters, and to refresh my memory when I go to waters that I know have special regulations. I try real hard to be legal in all I do. But I can see that I need to read the whole thing again, cover to cover, because this thread has pointed out details that I was not aware of. The rules about the baits you can use have changed a lot since my last close examination. Over the years, I have rarely used cuts baits, so I haven't paid much attention to those kinds of rules. If you go back a number of years, the rules basically stated that you couldn't use the parts of 'game fish' as bait, except on certain waters, and the rules for those waters were listed clearly. I always figured the point of the regulations was that we weren't supposed to use parts of game fish, to protect the game fish themselves, and to stop people from taking more than their limit. I was also aware that spreading diseases was a concern too.
So before this thread, I would have considered cut tilapia okay because:
1) It is not a game fish. I wasn't even aware there were any live tilapia swimming in Utah until a few weeks ago. Once I found that out I did check the guidebook to see if it was a game fish. It is not, and it has a kill order on it. To me, that put it in the same category as carp.
2) It is not live bait. Of course it is dead if it is frozen and cut into pieces.
3) I figured parts of dead, frozen fish of any kind (other than game fish in Utah) that you bought in a store was okay, with shrimp being the prime example. Clearly I missed the rules about this sort of thing.
4) We have always been allowed to use minnows (not game fish minnows) that come in a bottle. Given my first 3 points, I figured there would be no difference between frozen and bottled.
So now, I would conclude that tilapia is not legal.
It is too bad though, because buying frozen tilapia fillets is so much more convenient than getting your own cut bait from carp at the lake. I have limited time, and getting out fishing at all is rare for me, so getting fresh bait from carp is a tough option.
Thanks to all for the good info and insight.
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So before this thread, I would have considered cut tilapia okay because:
1) It is not a game fish. I wasn't even aware there were any live tilapia swimming in Utah until a few weeks ago. Once I found that out I did check the guidebook to see if it was a game fish. It is not, and it has a kill order on it. To me, that put it in the same category as carp.
2) It is not live bait. Of course it is dead if it is frozen and cut into pieces.
3) I figured parts of dead, frozen fish of any kind (other than game fish in Utah) that you bought in a store was okay, with shrimp being the prime example. Clearly I missed the rules about this sort of thing.
4) We have always been allowed to use minnows (not game fish minnows) that come in a bottle. Given my first 3 points, I figured there would be no difference between frozen and bottled.
So now, I would conclude that tilapia is not legal.
It is too bad though, because buying frozen tilapia fillets is so much more convenient than getting your own cut bait from carp at the lake. I have limited time, and getting out fishing at all is rare for me, so getting fresh bait from carp is a tough option.
Thanks to all for the good info and insight.
[signature]