Want to know the real answer, call up his boss and ask him. If he answers they have to be separated then ask him where that information is located? I wouldn't confront the game warden at the time he was checking you because that is how you talk yourself into a ticket. If the supervisor says there isn't any law that states that then tell him of what happened and ask him to correct it with the game warden who gave you the information. They make mistakes or interpret things differently.

What ChuChu1 said. If nobody claims the illegal fish, everyone gets a ticket. That simple. Also, this time of year most of the lakes are still on a you must keep regardless of size for crappie, so what exactly constitutes an illegal fish if you are under the quantity limit?

I never catch a limit anyway, so I don't worry about that!

Limits are per person not per boat. Technically the guide rule just means that a guide or deck hand can't keep a limit when with a guided Party.

Traditionally the Wardens have managed this as you can't have more in the boat than the limit of all licensed or exempt from a license combined. They know they have no proof of who caught how many. So if the trout limit is 10 and you were with a guide the boat couldn't have more than 20. However if he asked who caught them and you say "I smoked them, caught 14 of them" he could write you a ticket as you had possessed more than your limit.

The Game Warden's interpretation that you have to keep them separate is just that, a interpretation. There is nothing in the rules that specifically state you must prove who caught them. However you better have enough licensed or exempt to cover the limits possessed.

He could still write you a ticket and "let you tell it to the judge". I wouldn't suggest you argue the point with him.

I have seen this occur where everyone threw their trout into a cooler. 4 guys were wading. There was one short fish in the cooler. The Game Warden gave them a chance for someone to claim the fish. No one did. He gave the ticket to the boat owner. They split the fine. To this day they all know who they think had the short fish.

I don't even keep my ducks or dove separate. Never had a problem.

If the Game warden is sitting over there with binoculars and watches you catch 30 fish and your buddy catch 20 for a total of 50 you will get a ticket for the 5 over your limit. I saw it happen with striper and a 5 fish limit. GW watched one guy catch 6 and his kid caught 4

I did this last week and was told that page 25 states each persons limit is 25 crappie. You can not legally keep any more fish even if others in your group have not reach their limit.Limits are set per person.

Yes but what about requiring you to keep them separate from the other guys catch?

If they are in the same container and there are too many or a short fish, the boat owner should get the ticket. We were checked last year with two limits in one cooler and nothing was said about it. They did try to claim a yellow was a sand bass, and was undersized. That was resolved when I pointed out the fish was a yellow, and had no size restriction.

Only way to prove how many you have is to keep them separated.There is not a regulation against combining your catches but you must be able to show which fish and how many fish you kept,only way I see that being done is to keep individual stringers of fish until you leave.As was previously said if you and I are fishing together in one boat and you keep 30 crappie and I keep 20 you are 5 over your limit and in violation of the legal limit law,does not matter if we have a legal limit for 2 in the boat.

I've been checked multiple times when I had up to 4 people on my boat putting fish into the same cooler. Of course we were well withing our limit with no under fish. I have never been told we had to keep fish separate. I video every interaction with a game warden now. I've never received a ticket from a game warden, but I have had some very negative interactions with them during safety checks. I just tell them the second they pull up that I have a video running and I assume they have the same. Seems to eliminate the king of the world attitude many of them have.

NOT TRUE!!!

Whats not true?

I always wondered if this happened until I was stationed in Alaska. They take their game laws very seriously. They have no problems using binos, hiding in the brush, etc... and catching you doing something illegal. They will measure hook gap at some locations. Up there, you can apply to fish by proxy. If granted, you can catch a limit for someone else. Bottom line: the limits were set per person, not per boat or group. If I'm fishing with you and you keep trying to catch my limit, I may have a problem with that. I used to use catching my limit as a signal to sit down and have a beer and a cigar. Great way to pass time until someone catches one or two more.