# What would you do...???



## Hook N Book (Apr 7, 2004)

Here's my fish story from the weekend. This actually happened to me, it was the first time I've ever seen it and I'll likely never see it a again.
My fishing partner hooks a nice sized fish and was having a little problem bringing the fish to the surface. The water clarity was perhaps 18"-24" and I couldn't see the fish to net it. Once I spotted it I thought I was having a bout of double vision. Once I got a closer look there were indeed two fish. Now using my superior netting skills I was able to net both fish in one quick scoop.  It turns out the second unhooked fish was a couple of pounds heavier then the hooked fish. The total weight was close to 10 lbs. between the two fish.
I'm sure the fish were right in the middle of their spawning ritual and thus the close proximity of the fish.
Here's my question;
Has anyone else ever experienced this and is it a legal catch on the unhooked fish...???? :T


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## Dazed and Confused (Aug 31, 2004)

Not sure if it is the same senerio or not but once while my girlfriend and i were in our spawning ritual,her dad caught both of us and it was not legal.

We have been happily married for 28 years since.


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## Saildog (Aug 2, 2004)

Not sure if it's legal or not, but if I was a fish this is how I'd want to go.


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## misfit (Apr 5, 2004)

dazed,that happened to me once,but i escaped the net


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## billybob7059 (Mar 27, 2005)

I would say no it's not a legal catch if you didn't hook it in the mouth. But that is pretty darn crazy. I would never think it would follow the other one like that.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

My take on it is like this. (By the way I have never been fortunate enough to have this happen to me.)

If both fish were determined to have been legally hooked prior to the one coming unhooked in the net then I would say it is a legal catch. After all guys do the same thing all the time on the perch. The species should not make a difference. As far as the fish becoming unhooked that should not matter either as that too happens quite often when the fish gets in the net.

No matter how you look at it that is a pretty cool catch.


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## Hook N Book (Apr 7, 2004)

Dazed and Confused said:


> Not sure if it is the same senerio or not but once while my girlfriend and i were in our spawning ritual,her dad caught both of us and it was not legal.
> 
> We have been happily married for 28 years since.


That's a good one...! And it sounds like your FIL is a very understanding man.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Hook,

That is a pretty common occurrence on the reefs this time of year, including being able to also net the one, or one's that are with the hooked walleye.

This weekend Shakedown was talking about all of the followers on Friday. On Saturday I watched Tee net one of Big daddy's walleye that was in the 5 lb range, they said there were 2 0r 3 more with it about the same size.

As far as the legality of keeping it, I have no idea


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## Tee (Apr 5, 2004)

Yeah I saw it twice this weekend. On Friday I had a 17" or 18" on and had a few fish following it up to the boat. Then on Saturday I almost had 2-5lbers in one scoop! Big Daddy and I saw those fish and were like  . I think Lundy and Shakedown heard the all of the commotion as they were in close proximity.


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## Hook N Book (Apr 7, 2004)

I've seen other species follow a hooked fish so it does make sense especially since it was likely the peak of the spawn. I would think once the unhooked fish see's the boat, net or a person it would immediately dive or scatter. It certainly wasn't the case with these fish. A charter captain in the same campground I'm in had described the fish as being suicidal over the weekend, boy was he accurate on that one.


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## woodworker2001 (Jan 23, 2006)

Had that happen to us week ago easter out on flat rock..... there were actually 3 fish total. they scattered before netting. very interesting thing to observe though.


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## Fishing-Miller23 (Jul 16, 2005)

Dazed and Confused said:


> Not sure if it is the same senerio or not but once while my girlfriend and i were in our spawning ritual,her dad caught both of us and it was not legal.
> 
> We have been happily married for 28 years since.


That is funny!


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

Had the same thing happen to us this past Saturday, too bad our netman (me) was not savvy enough to get them both in the net.


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## jeffmo (Apr 7, 2004)

in ontario a fews years back i did the birdnest trick with my baitcaster and by the time i got it un-tangled(anything worth doing is worth doing right!!!)and started reeling it in,i THOUGHT i has a bunch of weeds on the hook of the spoon.well,the "weeds" started pulling back.when it got it up to the boat i saw that i had hooked a small pike and a larger one had came up and latched onto him.i netted both of them and had to actually pry the larger ones jaws open get get the small one loose.


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## Papascott (Apr 22, 2004)

If the water clarity is low it can be common to net the followers. I watched a charter captain take a deep sweep with the net in fairly muddie water. He scooped up 6 fish laughing his butt off. He told the customer to pick one, and let the rest go. It is my understading that only the fish caught with hook inside the mouth would be legal.

Scott


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## ostbucks98 (Apr 14, 2004)

To answer the question. No, it is not legal to keep the fish.


Now here is a good question.A few years ago I was playing with some bluegill to pass the time.I hooked about a 4" gill and as I was reelling it in through some lily pads a bass about 2 pounds nailed it.I landed the blue gill with the bass still chomped down on it.The bluegill was hooked threw the bottom lip and the bass had the bluegill upto its gill plates in its mouth.I released them both even giving the gill a second chance,lol.How would the law pertain to that.


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

ostbucks98 said:


> To answer the question. No, it is not legal to keep the fish.
> 
> 
> Now here is a good question.A few years ago I was playing with some bluegill to pass the time.I hooked about a 4" gill and as I was reelling it in through some lily pads a bass about 2 pounds nailed it.I landed the blue gill with the bass still chomped down on it.The bluegill was hooked threw the bottom lip and the bass had the bluegill upto its gill plates in its mouth.I released them both even giving the gill a second chance,lol.How would the law pertain to that.


 I agree that Hook N Book's second fish was illiegal if it was in no way attached to his lure or the other fish. In other words if he simply netted a free swimming fish then that could likely be considered netting and not catching by angling.

However, in the case that Ostbucks98 pointed out that fish is totally legal provided that there is no minimum size limit for keeper bluegills. If there were a minimum size limit I suppose that could get more complicated as to whether someone was using an illegal bait. But it is totally legal to use bluegills to catch fish, bass included.


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