Our state conservation officers have been busy this past winter. There were three separate incidents of citations being in the last month to individuals that had way over their limit of fish.

One individual was from New Hope and a TIP caller alerted officials to the man’s location where they found him to have in his possession 173 sunfish, 81 crappies and four bass (out of season).

The TIP call led to him facing up to $4,300 in fines and restitution.

Another TIP call in the Detroit Lakes area resulted in five Indiana residents busted for over the limit as well and one man charged with possessing a resident license. The men face over $6,100 in fines and restitution. They had in their possession 239 sunfish over the legal limit.

The third incident involved some Wisconsin men fishing on Winnibigoshish. They had 206 perch over their legal limit. They face over $7,000 in fines.

Is it really enough? How long does it take to rebuild the damage that was done to one of our state’s most important natural resources? I have to wonder how many of these instances go unreported.

The TIP program works &045; it is an anonymous call and the number is 800 692-9093. There are rewards offered if the culprits are apprehended.

As long as we’re on the fishing topic, I read an article by Joe Fellegy the other day that really is a topic of varied opinion. He talked about the two topics I call catch-and-release and catch-and-eat.

Joe is old school and is an eater. Some of the more &uot;fashionable&uot; fishermen are strictly catch-and-release.

It’s all good and I guess I’m probably right in the middle of the crowd when it comes to this topic.

I like nothing better than to catch a nice mess of fish and eat them as soon as possible. Fresh from the lake and into the skillet is the best eating you can have. I also like to take a meal home to enjoy another day. I don’t think I should feel guilty about taking home a meal or two as long as it is within the legal limit.

With the growing fishing pressure on our lakes slot limits are becoming more and more common and we need to stay up on which lakes have these slots. Each year is a little different and most lakes will have something posted at the access if there is a slot limit on a certain species. To be on the safe side take a little extra time to read the handbook you receive when you purchase your license.

I do feel that taking more fish than a person will actually use just because you are able to catch your limit is not away to conserve our natural resources. If it is going to waste, it’s not a good thing. Mr. Fellegy pointed out in his article that taking fish to give to someone else is acceptable to him as long as it is again within the legal guidelines.

I agree with that to a point. My mother-in-law would almost have you swear on a stack of bibles that you’d never throw back her favorite fish, the bullhead, when you went fishing. If you caught a keeper bullhead you had better bring it home for her. A friend of mine who owned a little resort up north told me he always had to catch a mess of bullheads in the fall and take home to Ohio for his mother.

This is what it’s about. The catcher is happy catching and someone is enjoying the results of the catch. I don’t really like the idea of someone catching a bunch of fish (within the legal limit) and then going around trying to unload them on his friends because he doesn’t &uot;eat the things.&uot; I’ve known guys like this and have wondered &045; Why? He was legally within the law but just because you &uot;can&uot; doesn’t always make it the right thing to do.

When I was a young boy and would spend the day fishing Fountain Lake, I’d bring home a stringer of fish for my mother. Can you imagine how great this was? Can you also imagine how happy she was to see a stringer of fish that I’d dragged around on my bike all day? It didn’t take long for me to learn the catch-and-release method.

I think bass fishermen were the first on the scene to practice catch-and-release. Now I know a lot of us have eaten bass before and some no doubt still do, but I have to say, for my part, with that particular species catch-and-release is the answer. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of people like to eat them and there’s nothing wrong with that. I like to fish them because they are fighters and fun to catch.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a catch-and-release or a catch-and-eat person, fishing is a great sport and following the rules and using a little common sense will assure we will enjoy our sport for years to come.

Until next time, play safe, enjoy the outdoors and get out and wet a line someplace.

Remember our brothers and sisters proudly serving our country so we can enjoy the freedoms we have.

(Dick Herfindahl, Outdoors Writer.)