Well it isn't much of an issue when you haven't reached your bag limit and are in possession of a valid fishing license.

Very problematic when you check somebody over the bag limit and they say they only caught their limit and were given the rest.

Or check somebody else who has no license at all but says they weren't fishing and somebody "gave" them fish.

I doubt accepting one fish would be an issue... If someone is limiting out, it's unlikely they'd be offered a gift fish... and actually a little suspect if they accept the gift if they've already limited out.

That being said, back in September I went on a vacation to Minnesota. My friends up there are big into fishing - who wouldn't be, when you have an awesome lake every mile? - While I was there, we did a lot of bank and dock fishing for bluegill, and by the end of the week we had caught about 40 of them.

When I left, they sent all 40 fish with me.

Since the daily limit in Minnesota is 25, they wrote a note with their name, phone number, address and Minnesota Fishing License number and taped it to the top of the cooler. That way I wouldn't get in trouble if the Minnesota DNR happened to stop me before I left the state.


Edit: Also, I wish we had bluegill like they do... Some of the sunfish we caught in Minnesota were the size of our crappie. So far, the only bluegill I've found in Texas are comparatively tiny... 4-7 inches instead of 7+.

Maybe I just haven't found the right spot.

I doubt this is used as often as it should be but in reality, it is pretty basic, should be quick to fill out and keeps everyone and everything legit. If you are in the habit of gifting fish, you may want to keep a copy or two on your boat, with your fishing license, etc. Note that a "hand written copy" is allowed also, so if you don't have the form, just make sure you include the necessary information:

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdforms/media/pwd_980_l2000_wildlife_resource_document.pdf

So I'm wondering if Minnesota is like Wisconsin. I have two brothers who relocated there with their job and I have been several times and fished some of their many "lakes". Basically if it has water year round they call it a lake, I've seen stock ponds bigger than some of their lakes.

Total Agree....