I hope everyone who fishes and keeps there limit everyday uses all that fish . I'm fairly good at fishing and keep what i use but over the years i have found i keep few and few less . I do give some to my dad so he can eat some fresh fish he can't stand up on the boat anymore his new knees are no better than his old ones . That being said i understand giving some fish away but there are plenty of people at the boat dock where i keep my boat at and they keep everything everyday . It tears me up inside to know that there freezers are full and still keep fish . What's the point ? I don't want to eat 9 month old frozen fish why do they ? Knowing they can catch more the next day . Anyway's that's my rant about keeping to much fish . If you throw out bags of fish every year to make room for the new ones you should be ashamed .

A fishing license allows you to catch as many as you want. The amount you keep is entirely different. Once you have 25 in your possession you cannot keep more in your possession. You can catch as many more as you desire, you yourself just cannot keep more than the limit. If the man from Winnsboro actually got a ticket as stated, it will not hold up. Which I am betting it did not occur as stated. To be fined he must have had more than 25 in his possession. Again, a daily limit only applies to what you keep, NOT what you catch.

It's not rocket science. Catch all you want. You cannot "retain" more than the daily limit. If you give fish away they go against your daily limit since you were the one who originally "retained" them from the lake.

It is always amusing how folks perceive different laws. This thread is no exception.

What I find funny is catch how many you want. Boy I wish that was true each time out. Yeah I threw back a few hundred, and kept these two fresh ones, yeah that's the ticket.

Thats kind of like..."well I smoked marijuana, but I didnt inhale" -Pres. Clinton....

Once you put the fish in a cooler, basket, livewell, or on a stringer you are KEEPING the fish, regardless if you give it away or not, and it goes against your daily bag limit.

This is a great thread. I'm surprised that this is misunderstood. Always been clear to me that if you keep a fish, its part of your limit regardless of what you do with it after you keep it. I think this kind of discussion is good.

Devil's advocate here for a second. Say I have my 25 limit and continue fishing. Instead of landing the fish myself and then giving them away, I instead hand my pole to some person after the fish has been hooked and let them land and handle the fish and keep it. Would I be in violation?

Don't know how this would/could be interpreted.

Just make sure you pass your fishing pole to someone with a valid fishing license, or it might be confiscated. Now that would really suck!

I confess, during the sandie run 2 years ago, i helped my friend getting his limit. i was a total noob back then.. i also wanted to share some wisdoms that i have learned from the good people here while assisting him to get his limit.

According to the law, it sounds like i have broken the law. And i would have no issue if i get a ticket and wouldn't complain about it because that's what the law is, which i didn't know about back then. Now that i know the law, do i feel bad about it? No, Do i feel mortally wrong? No. Will i do it again, most likely. The law is law, however, my action wasn't meant to take advantage of it. At the end, he has his limit, i have my limit and it was rare opportunity for us. we all happy. i don't castnet, i don't fish without license, i don't keep undersized fish. I don't trash the place. And most of the time, i get skunked. You can criticise me if you must, but you better swear to the lord you have never done that in your life. I have absolutely no problem a person helping his son/daugher/friend/etc to reach their limit as long as it's within the limit.

In my opinion, there's no one to blame for him getting the ticket. However, if i was the warden and the fisherman didn't know well about the law, i'll simply give him a warning and give the benefit of doubt. That's just me, the way i would have handled it.

I know each of you, when you go to work you do your job to the best of your ability. That is what these Wardens are doing, try to look at it in that light. I am not getting on a soap box just trying to show a different angle to look at it from. Also, these tickets that he writes generates funds for stocking/improvements to the lakes we all fish. We all need to do our share to keep teaching others about the right & wrongs of fishing.

if you catch and keep 25 fish you cannot go give those away and catch and keep 25 more. if you gave your daily limit to a little old lady and go back, each fish you keep is putting you over your daily limit. that is the point of this entire thread.

I think I finally got the posession and bag limit thing.....

Daily bag is 25. If I go to fork for 4 days I can still only have 50 in my cooler on my way home....

Am I correct??

Guess there will be a fish fry a couple of nights!!

guys, let's see the stringer of a limit first... then worry about the law...

i don't know about you guys. i don't think i am gonna have an opportunity to break the law anyway .. I've never caught any limit for crappie... most i have caught was about 15 or 16.. that was two years ago.. i wish i have the problem we are discussing here...

You are correct, 50 in possession.

Funny how sometimes the bag limit seems confusing to some for fish, but nobody seems to have a problem understanding you can't kill 15 doves, give those away and go back and kill 15 more, and give those away and go back and kill 15 more the same day. Same for ducks, quail, ect. Also, applies to fish.