Why Is It Illegal To Fish With "Live Bait"?

You May Not: Possess or use live fish for game fish bait.

Why is it illegal to fish with "live bait". What's the reasoning behind that rule and what's your opinions on it...Pt Defiance sells live bait...

 

I don't know about the saltwater, but minnows can wreak havoc in freshwater systems. Sometimes minnows are "tainted" with other fish and can lead to a non-native species being introduced into a system, especially when people dumb the remaining bait into the water. Could you imagine Lake Tapps being filled with suckers (of the bait variety) because people were using and dumping them into the lake while fishing for the tiger muskies?

 

Madcap is spot on. In Cali you can use live bait. I grew up using live bait in Clear lake. Now its filled with suckers and such. You can use live bait here in Salt. We use live greenling on spreaders for lings.

 

Well that makes sense in lakes and such but what about this whole salt/fresh water difference. What I posted was from the WDFW website and it does not make any distinction between the two so how is it legal to fish with live bait in salt? What am I missing??? :roll:

 

It's an easy distinction. The live herring/anchovy/greenling are already native living residents in the saltwater, where they are being used as bait.

The minnows, suckers, etc. are not necessarily native in the freshwater areas where they are used as live bait. Especially risky are the folks who would carry live bait from one lake to another, and then dump out the bucket into the lake after they are done fishing.

 

The rules say it is illegal to "use live fish for gamefish bait." Most gamefish are in freshwater. Most fish in saltwater are classified as "foodfish"

There are a few exceptions, such as steelhead (gamefish) that can be caught in salt and freshwater (but mostly in freshwater).

So, while the rule does not make a distinction between salt versus fresh water, it effectively does make a distinction to (mostly freshwater) by specifically prohibiting the use of live fish for "gamefish bait."

 

I think it is a great rule for freshwater areas, When I was in the Army I saw more than a few lakes destroyed by Chubs and other non native species in Kansas when the bass fishermen started using imports from Georgia and other places to balloon fish for bass in hydrilla beds. The chubs got huge and chowed on the smaller native baitfish to the point where they ended up using Rotenone (I think that is what they said) to kill off everything and start over. In Salt I am not sure that there are any baits we commonly use that are not native or capable of surviving if unintentionally released. Atlantic Salmon should be illegal IMO, even though they are not bait. With the Zebra Mussel, asian crab, and other invasive species problems we have to a lesser extaent now, anything to reduce the potential of spreading is O.K. by me.

 

To keep me from catching too much fish

 

OK. I see it now. Thanks! It's all clear. Food fish.......Game fish. Tup:

 

In a state with a Posado law, it's probably deemed inhumane to hook up a live fish for the pain and torture it causes before it's caught a food fish.

 

Charter boat i went on out of westport 2 years ago used live herring for mooching. Imagine having a pair of like, 4/0 hooks stuck through ya when you're alive.

 

Yes... that why I do the sticking and stabbing!

 

it's only illegal to use live fish for game fish bait when fishing in fresh water. it's perfectly legal to use live fish for bait in the salt, and is technically legal to use it for food fish(like sturgeon or salmon) in fresh water, though i don't see any reason to.

it's mainly to prevent the spread of invasive species like minnows in this state. i can recall fishing wenas lake some years ago on the east side, it's full of golden shiners and the big german browns in there are very fond of them. many people bring minnow traps and catch them. however, if a game warden sees you using them while they're still alive, you'll get nailed.