Please help....ban fishing guides from gifting their catch to their clients..........

Guides in Wisconsin fish nearly every day. They have the ability to catch many, many fish; and they do. This is not a concern in itself. What is a great concern is the legal practice of guides who gift their catch to clients.

For those who don't know about this here is how it works: a client hires a guide to take him fishing. On most bodies of water without special regulations that client can catch 3 walleye in one day, so far so good. The guide can also catch his 3 walleye. Six total walleye in the boat. Here is where it gets ugly. That guide can drive back to landing and "gift" his catch to the client. The client then goes home with six fish, even though his daily limit is 3. To top it off, they can drive to another lake and repeat this same practice for 4 more walleye (2 each) and send the client home with 10 walleye.

As you can see this practice is of concern. It's nearly impossible to enforce, meaning it's very easy for the guide to simply allow his client to catch all the fish, which is not legal. Also because of how often guides fish there is a concern that this is an abuse of the resource. If the guide was simply fishing for himself he would not be able to keep that many fish day after day because he would exceed his possession limit. This practice allows the keeping of many more fish than what was intended by current law.

What I don’t know is how this loop-hole in the law can be closed. Walleye in Wisconsin are on the decline and this is adding to the problem. How can this be stopped?

I'm with fin bender on this one.  Easy fix.....make it illegal for guides to gift fish.  Group bagging is already illegal and if guides can't gift fish their clients could only leave with what they actually caught themselves.  The resource would have a more fair allocation of harvest as guides would have to stay within their daily and possession limits.

This practice by guides, while legal,  gives slobos a whole new meaning.  They're also hurting themselves and their business in the long run but will just move on to another body of water to exploit for personal gain.

It's so simple. Went on a trip to Alaska, guide did help catch limit but, he had to register( track) number of fish caught. He didnt over bag but helped get fish for clients. That didnt bother me at all. Now if he caught his limit and gifted it sounded like he would possibly lose his license.

Not sure how you would stop this without ending gifting period be careful what you wish for it would also end the following

gifting fish to the old women on the block that can't fish anymore.

fishing with your buddy and he says I don't/ can't clean fish you take them home this time.

Mother in law wants fish nope not unless you go eat there. 

Donate to the homeless shelter nope 

I think ya get the idea slippery slope

Again have seen some of the posts but only guide I've used was on Lake Erie so not applicable.

Having guides report fish catch/kept might be useful/effective but in this day of less regs is better dnr, not likely.

What about guides who take one group out on the same body of water in the morning getting a limit. Then take another group in the afternoon and get a limit.  

And if you walk off the boat on a day trip with 10 walleyes, your screwed!! Posession is different from limit. It amazes me how people dont understand that simple concept.

Carpio x's 100

daily limit is 5 on walleyes for instance.

total possession limit is 10 i believe.

guide gives you 5 you catch 5 . legal 

Team Lamboat,

Every trip is different.  If you hire me as a guide, and you do not want me to fish, then I will not fish.  In most cases, it depends on the trip and type of bite.  If it's a trolling bite, then I spend the trip tending lines, checking baits, setting up lines, and netting fish.  If it's a jigging or casting bite, then I'm usually fishing alongside the clients.  I'll spend as much time as possible assisting my clients in perfecting their technique.  Capt Jerry

I'm not sure where this practice takes place, but I can assure you it's never happened in my boat, nor will it.  Green Bay waters allow a daily 5 fish limit per person from the first Saturday of May until the first Saturday of March the following year.  NOBODY has ever taken more fish home than their daily limit.  It was stated this is happening daily on Winnebago and Green Bay.  Personally, I highly doubt it.  I speak often with guides from other guide services, and I cannot see them doing this.  Is this a normal practice in  Northern WI?  I hope not.  The resource is worth a million times more someone taking home extra fish, in my opinion.

I’ll tell you what!     If I fork over 400$ for a guide and I only catch 1 or 2 of whatever and the guide helps me out with his catch I’ll tell him Thank You Very Much and put them in my cooler!!!      CARPIO 

Wouldn't this violate the possession limit for the fish. ?

The practice is occurring at a significant rate. You will see evidence of it daily on the bodies of water in the aforementioned counties, just take a look at the photos from last year if you doubt me. It occurs over and over again on the same bodies of water. It is a significant problem.

The comment about jealously makes no sense to me. What am I jealous of? I have no want or desire to destroy a fishery who would be jealous of that?  

Do you think the few extra walleyes the guides give away really makes that big of a difference? I think people should be a lot more concerned about the spearfishing!! Here is another case of jealousy of someone catching more fish!!

put me firmly in the Greenheads4Ever camp ... while there may be some of this going on, most guides know that protecting the resource is good long term for their business... and, no offense, it's hard to believe the the DNR wouldn't know if this was a huge issue... until real hard facts can be produced, I can't get behind feelings that something is wrong... and I think in saying this issue is widespread, you do a great disservice to the bulk of guides that work hard day in and day out to provide a worthwhile fishing and learning experience, not to mention the cabin rental businesses that support these guides to promote their businesses and a great outdoors experience

It happens daily with Walleye on 'Bago and Green Bay as well.

It will never happen on LM for Salmonoids, as captains you have to fill out a Sport Trolling Report that you have to account for everything and every fish harvested. Why Walleye guides do not have to do it I'll never understand.

Yep.. add Lincoln and Oneida to that list too. All over North Central Wisconsin, every photo you see has guides and clients fish comingled. If fact last year in the fish reports section guides freely admitted the practice of gifting fish was what they did....albeit legally. It needs to stop.