Have to Leave the Water to Clean or Cook Fish

1/9/2006  -  PIERRE, S.D. – Game, Fish and Parks officials say that cleaning and cooking is no longer allowed in South Dakota…at least regarding fish while a person is on the water or ice or otherwise actively engaged in fishing, such as from the shoreline.

Regional Law Enforcement Specialist Dave Wicks of Watertown explained that new, uniform size limit restrictions make it so that the cleaning of any fish species beyond “gut and gill” or cooking of any fish species is no longer allowed while a person is on any of South Dakota waters.

“The new 2006 fishing rules have placed a statewide size limit on all walleye, sauger, walleye/sauger hybrids, muskie and tiger muskie, which means an angler can no longer filet or cook any fish while on the water or ice of any South Dakota lake, stream or river,” Wicks said. “In past years, only certain lakes had size limits on them, and on those waters, cleaned fish were not allowed in an angler’s possession. Now, because of the way the newly established walleye and muskie size limit rules are written, all waters must be enforced under these rules.” He added that this rule has to apply to all fish species, because once a fish has been filleted, it is impossible to identify the type of fish.

In the simplest terms, anglers who wish to clean or cook their fish while outdoors must leave the water or ice. And, to be legal to get back on the water or ice, an angler must leave their cleaned fish elsewhere, like in a cooler on shore or at home.

Wicks also reminds anglers that it is illegal to have fish in their possession that were caught from another lake or are from an earlier day’s limit if those fish puts them over their limit for that particular body of water.

“In other words, if an angler is over his or her limit for the lake that he or she is fishing (some lakes have lake specific rules), he or she cannot claim their extra fish came from their limit from the day before or their limit came from another lake that they fished earlier in the day.

“To make this as simple as possible, do not take any cleaned fish onto a South Dakota water,” Wicks said. “People wishing to cook fish outdoors will have to do so on shore, which eliminates doing so in an ice house or on a boat.”

-GFP-

 

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