# Ohios Interesting fishing rules



## fffffish (Apr 6, 2004)

When fishing (Trolling) by yourself is it legal to troll with 4 poles with lures in the water?

If you said no you would be wrong 

You can run 4 rods as long as 2 of them do not have hooks on the lures they are called decoys.

If you do not believe me call Dave Brown or Phil Hillman at the district 3 headquarters (330) 466-3802 they will be embarrassed to tell you it is true. 

Isn&#8217;t that a heck of a loophole for the poachers


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## Bobinstow90 (Apr 13, 2006)

Help me out here. Does that mean you can put any number of lines in the water with anything on them as long as ONLY TWO rods/lines have hooks?

Couple yrs back a steelie guy talked about running a "Christmas Tree" as a steelie attractor. The idea was run it as an attractor, with no hooks, in front of your hooked lures. Fish come to the attractor, fade off, and then hit the hooked lures.

Interesting ideas. 

Wish the state would place more definitive laws on the books. 

Judges need to get their head out of their ... and hammer poachers. What went on with poaching in the Western Basin this yr is a joke.

Sorry for the thread drift.


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## luredaddy (May 25, 2004)

Thanks Rick! Now I will not be upset when I see the multiple rods at West Branch and Milton. All this time I thought they were cheating. You know, they may have had chum bags on the other rods, like they do in the Keys. 
John


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## fffffish (Apr 6, 2004)

John
We complained about the guys running 4 rods at West branch and Milton and that is what we were told by district 3 headquarters 4 rods per person as long as 2 of them do not have hooks on the lures. Here is the kicker you are not allowed to ask the guy doing it to see his lures. We have already started a campaign to close this loophole. But for now those guys are not poaching they are only running decoy lures. How&#8217;s that saying go (ya sure)

Bobinstow90 only 2 decoy setups is what i think it says


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## luredaddy (May 25, 2004)

WOW!! That is unreal.


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## reel (Dec 15, 2004)

If you are fishing with more than 2 rods with 2 lures per pole or more, I guarantee you will catch less fish than if you are legal. 
Trolling or still fishing. No new laws needed.
...


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## papaperch (Apr 12, 2004)

I always obey the 2- rod limit but have never seen any sound reasoning behind it. Example : Spider rigging a method perfected down South calls for the use of multiple rods. When using this method I would like to use four poles. But the regs limit me to two.

Now , why would the use of say four poles give me an unfair advantage over the fish ? If fishing for walleyes the legal limit would still have to be observed. If panfishing my personal limit would restrict how many I would harvest.

Fish populations down in the Southern states seem unaffected by the use of multiple rods so what does it hurt ? As long as it is a law I will obey it but it just makes no sense to me at all.


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## swantucky (Dec 21, 2004)

I have to agree with Papaperch, does it really matter how many rods are in the water as long as legal limits are respected?? Maybe there are situations that I am unaware of where more lines in the water would put undue stress on a particular fishery??


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## Bobinstow90 (Apr 13, 2006)

reel said:


> If you are fishing with more than 2 rods with 2 lures per pole or more, I guarantee you will catch less fish than if you are legal.
> Trolling or still fishing. No new laws needed.
> ...


Reel....I do not understand what you are stating.....sorry.

Can you explain?


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## ezmarc (Apr 6, 2004)

I was told that the rod limit is more geared toward bank fishermen than boaters. Without a rod limit a person could put out 10-20 or 30 or more rods.


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## papaperch (Apr 12, 2004)

Yes a bank fisherman could put out a hundred rods but could he effectively fish them all. But explain in detail what a limit of say 5-6 rods per angler would hurt or even four. Laws and regulations that help protect the resource make sense. For example " no night deer hunting " because the animal would be placed at a huge disadvantage. Limits on certain fish species that tend to be less numerous for instance : Musky , Walleye and most of the top predator species.

Say if I kept Musky ( I don't ) and I caught my limit of 2. Would it be any different if I fished with 1-2 -3-4 rods. Is it any less sporting ? Or would it detract form a real trophy if caught on the third rod if legal ?


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

you will get pulled over (so to speak) if you have more than the limit of rods per person if the odnr is in the area. a friend got a ticket for it ,and he was 10 miles out. why give them a reason to check you out?


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## Ruminator (Apr 6, 2004)

Overall total catch rates would go up per fisherman, potentially raising seasonal catches per fisherman. 

But for me(I never get out), that only means I might keep one dozen fish a year instead of the four I've caught and kept so far this year.   

My wife was just telling me last night that she feels bad about how little I've gotten out this year.


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## ocdfishguy (Dec 7, 2004)

I have always thought that two more rods would be alright, when I am out on the boat by myself ( I dont do it). The ODNR could make some extra money by selling a extra rod stamp for your license. That might be a win-win situation.


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## Micro_Mini_Angler (Jun 15, 2006)

good idea OCD


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## chaunc (Apr 11, 2004)

ocdfishguy said:


> I have always thought that two more rods would be alright, when I am out on the boat by myself ( I dont do it). The ODNR could make some extra money by selling a extra rod stamp for your license. That might be a win-win situation.


But since you're paying money for an extra rod, shouldn't you be able to catch an extra limit with that rod, to cover costs?
You see. Even that would cause problems. If paying extra, for the same limit of fish... just doesn't add up, does it?


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## dKilla (May 1, 2007)

chaunc said:


> But since you're paying money for an extra rod, shouldn't you be able to catch an extra limit with that rod, to cover costs?
> You see. Even that would cause problems. If paying extra, for the same limit of fish... just doesn't add up, does it?



Sure it does...you're giving yourself a better shot at catching the same limit.

You're allowed 2 rods now...do you get 2 limits? No. 
Seems pretty simple.


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## papaperch (Apr 12, 2004)

Indiana our next door neighbor allows three rods per fisherman. Several Southern states permit way more. Now just because the law permits the use does not mean you HAVE to use that many. I have fished with several people in Ohio that prefer to use one rod.

I like the ability to be versatile as possible. Out of all the replies to this none have stated exactly what harm it would be doing. In reality there would not be any. That is why it is a useless regulation.


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## bassattacker (Mar 14, 2007)

Pros:

more poles to fish with

more areas baited for a wider variety of tactics for placing ur baits in different types of conditions

who says u always have to use 3

generated extra revenue for the odnr to be put to good use darn it LOL (like add more wildlife officers to protect our fishing areas or purchase more land and waterways)

Cons:

Quicker Limits less time enjoying the sport we love

gives the ones that dont abide by the laws more to work with(like they dont already, but just makes them a lil closer to being legal)

u better hope u got a friend with u if all the poles start getting hit at the same time LOL(this isnt really a bad problem but does suck when u dont know which one to crank on first lmfao) this is just incase u lost one of the three



i dont see really why they dont raise it to three, but at the same time i can see the saying if it aint broke dont fix it coming up.


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## dKilla (May 1, 2007)

bassattacker said:


> Quicker Limits less time enjoying the sport we love


U don't have to stop fishing when u reach the limit....just stop keeping. You can spend as much time as you like.


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## seethe303 (Dec 12, 2006)

dKilla said:


> U don't have to stop fishing when u reach the limit....just stop keeping. You can spend as much time as you like.


agree 100%. 

not all of us fish to get a limit.


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## joe01 (Apr 16, 2004)

I can't remember has it allways been 2 rods?


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## chaunc (Apr 11, 2004)

dKilla said:


> Sure it does...you're giving yourself a better shot at catching the same limit.
> 
> You're allowed 2 rods now...do you get 2 limits? No.
> Seems pretty simple.


The guy was saying to charge a price for using an extra rod. Regulations state that you can already use 2 rods to get 1 limit. Was there a new rule implemented or are you just being funny.  Forget it. Its not worth debating.


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## MSmith2004 (Sep 12, 2006)

i assume all this fuss is using more than 2 at once. I usually have 4 in the boat (rented boat ) with something different on but only actually use one at a time. Hard to troll in a row boat.


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## dKilla (May 1, 2007)

chaunc said:


> The guy was saying to charge a price for using an extra rod. Regulations state that you can already use 2 rods to get 1 limit. Was there a new rule implemented or are you just being funny.  Forget it. Its not worth debating.



He asked (hypothetically) if he bought a stamp to use an extra rod, would he also get an extra limit...The answer is no. NO matter how many rods, you would still have the same limit.


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