Wild Caught V Tank bred

[Andy Sager]

I actually meant that at the end of a sampling (collection) session out in the wild, to return a portion of the caught fish back to the body of water they were collected from. It's a sustainability practice that is thankfully getting more popular with regular collectors.

On that note, getting ready to spend a few hours in the swamp tomorrow to see what I can drag up.

Got ya. Thanks for clearing that up. Great advice and practice

This was brought up to a guest speaker from the NJ fisheries Dept. when we wanted to bring small fish from the local lakes home to grow up until they were too large for our tanks. ( These were the metal framed tanks so the sizes were limited back then. ) That was the the response as I recall. It has stuck with me for a long time!!


Good luck swamping

 

[jetajockey]

I'm pretty sure that's still the advice that they give today as well. I do know that when the inspectors come here their main concern is how accessible our property is to any waterways.

 

[Ricky 1]

You guy's live in amazing places, very jealous.......lol

 

[r-pain]

Do you think it is ok to take a wild fish from a river and put it in a tank, or, now that most are tank bred why have wild caught, my question is, how many of you have wild caught fish..........or had them, and why?

I'm raising some bass, a war mouth, blue gills, and a crappie in my 75 gallon tank. It's awesome and no problems and legal but releasing them back to wild is illegal. According to people on this forum I have to kill my fish when they get too big, but I'm gonna release them into a small personal pond of my friend.

 

[Brookster123]

Actually andy.. farm fresh eggs from an aunt and sadly it's turkey bacon, I'm a fatty. Always feel smarter after reading your posts, same goes for other members reading and writing. I still have so much to learn about this hobby, i haven't been this interested in anything since I learned my trade. There is so much great info. In here. For free! Its amazing! Threads like this are a great vehicle in releasing this wild caught info. back into the wild so long as it stays civil!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Mebbid]

I'm raising some bass, a war mouth, blue gills, and a crappie in my 75 gallon tank. It's awesome and no problems and legal but releasing them back to wild is illegal. According to people on this forum I have to kill my fish when they get too big, but I'm gonna release them into a small personal pond of my friend.

From everything ive heard, its illegal to keep game fish when they are out of season. At least in the us.

 

[Ricky 1]

I sometimes think some laws don't look at the bigger picture, not just fish keeping but lot's of others.......just my thoughts.....

 

[Mebbid]

I sometimes think some laws don't look at the bigger picture, not just fish keeping but lot's of others.......just my thoughts.....

Assuming that was directed at my comment. Theres a lot of reasons for it. The spreading of disease is a big one. Hemorrhagic septicemia is a big one here in michigan. If it can be prevented from speeading into a waterway by the restriction of releasing fish that were caught and kept then released into a different waterway, thats 100% worth it.

Next is the tainting of fish lines. Many hybridize with others that they wouldnt mix with in the wild.

Then lastly, theres introduction of fish into unnatural waters which is a major problem.

 

[Andy Sager]

In reality, if you take a new or freshly sterilized tank to use for these fish, in theory, there should be no disease that the fish doesn't already have within them so releasing them shouldn't be an issue. As I said, IN THEORY. If you have tropical fish in other tanks in the home or facility, then it's a whole other ballgame and the dangers of foreign disease increases.

As for keeping game fish out of season, I believe it depends on the state as to what is a game fish and the terminology of possessing vs catching. In some areas, the waters are unfishable out of season but if I were to have a fish in a tank that came from that body of water in season, how would you know? But that doesn't apply for things like Sunfish/ shellcrackers as these are not "gamefish" in many states. It's still an issue with releasing them to native waters after exposure.

As for R-Pain's issue with the bass getting too big, you can always get a larger tank if you don't want to dispose of the fish. Then again, this is the issue with many fish that we get as small fish but get HUGE as adults. If you aren't in for the "whole game", beginning to end, should you really be getting fish that get that large to begin with?

Just my opinion

 

[Ricky 1]

Not at all M; just a generalization, we get a lot from the EU in UK, believe me some are really over the top.........having said that, we would probably get more disease from bringing fish in rather than putting them out..........

 

[Mebbid]

In reality, if you take a new or freshly sterilized tank to use for these fish, in theory, there should be no disease that the fish doesn't already have within them so releasing them shouldn't be an issue. As I said, IN THEORY. If you have tropical fish in other tanks in the home or facility, then it's a whole other ballgame and the dangers of foreign disease increases.

As for keeping game fish out of season, I believe it depends on the state as to what is a game fish and the terminology of possessing vs catching. In some areas, the waters are unfishable out of season but if I were to have a fish in a tank that came from that body of water in season, how would you know? But that doesn't apply for things like Sunfish/ shellcrackers as these are not "gamefish" in many states. It's still an issue with releasing them to native waters after exposure.

"In theory" are the key words of this phrase. Then we have to look at the honesty of the person keeping the fish. Are we supposed to take it on their word that the fish came from that waterway, was never kept with other fish, or was kept in a freshly sterilized tank? It'll be a cold day down below before I would trust people about that.

As for the game fish, yes it does make a difference in the state. Here in michigan it seems to be a little more strict, but then again our water ways are a bit more important to our state than others.

 

[Andy Sager]

Assuming that was directed at my comment. Theres a lot of reasons for it. The spreading of disease is a big one. Hemorrhagic septicemia is a big one here in michigan. If it can be prevented from speeading into a waterway by the restriction of releasing fish that were caught and kept then released into a different waterway, thats 100% worth it.

Next is the tainting of fish lines. Many hybridize with others that they wouldnt mix with in the wild.

Then lastly, theres introduction of fish into unnatural waters which is a major problem.

+1 to it all. Here's a list of some of the fish found in FL that are not native and some have created havoc in the native fish population:
Nonnative Freshwater Fish


(and this is just the freshwater fish. Don't get me started on the marine fish or reptiles )

 

[Mebbid]

I understand that. The asian carp that are making their way into the great lakes arent as bad as the lionfish

 

[Andy Sager]

"In theory" are the key words of this phrase. Then we have to look at the honesty of the person keeping the fish. Are we supposed to take it on their word that the fish came from that waterway, was never kept with other fish, or was kept in a freshly sterilized tank? It'll be a cold day down below before I would trust people about that.

As for the game fish, yes it does make a difference in the state. Here in michigan it seems to be a little more strict, but then again our water ways are a bit more important to our state than others.

I hope you didn't think I was opposed to all this because I'm with ya 100%. I feel once the fish is out of the native water, it's your responsibility until it dies in your tank. It's why you need to really be serious about keeping fish long term if you want to do this. I've released a number of fish over my time fishing that I would have loved to keep at home...... for a little while only.
As for trusting people, Need I say more??