# Little Man Restrictions Below Weir



## pinhead (Oct 4, 2008)

So if I am reading the new regulations correctly, the limit of steelhead below the Weir on the Little Man is only 1 steelhead. So, let me put out a hypothetical scenario and a call for what would you do.

You put in up river from the wier and are drifting to the mouth. Your truck has been parked at the mouth of the river in stronach after you were dropped off. (Yes a long day on the water, but it is a nice run in the winter). Anticipating a potential slow day and not knowing what you might find on this float session, you find yourself with a limit (3) of steelhead before you reach the weir. You are now done fishing but are a significant distance from your truck......

What would you do?


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## IamI (Sep 28, 2011)

im not to smart but i dont know a lot too. but i'd just take a picture with my cell phone, and float down to the truck:idea: it has a time stamp and other info to help with that problem your thinking of!


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## fishinDon (May 23, 2002)

row, row, row your boat....


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## mudbat2128 (Sep 7, 2004)

If the D.N.R. sees you with more fish than your allowed to possess on a certain stretch of river your getting a ticket. why not just leave your truck at the weir and take out there.


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## o_mykiss (May 21, 2013)

mudbat2128 said:


> If the D.N.R. sees you with more fish than your allowed to possess on a certain stretch of river your getting a ticket. why not just leave your truck at the weir and take out there.


What he said


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Pinhead,
Mudbat has it correct. If you are in possession of three steelhead on a river reach where the limit is one, you are very vulnerable to being ticketed by a Conservation Officer. 

If your goal is to harvest three fish, my advice would be to avoid that reach of river. Luckily on the Little Man there are plenty of other reaches to float.


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## MrFysch (Feb 9, 2008)

Unless things have changed the Little man is closed below the Weir in the winter anyways.


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## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

MrFysch said:


> Unless things have changed the Little man is closed below the Weir in the winter anyways.


Opens next week Nov 15th until the first of the year if I remember correctly.


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## pinhead (Oct 4, 2008)

diztortion said:


> Opens next week Nov 15th until the first of the year if I remember correctly.


Correct, and no change in at least the last 20 years. 

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## limpinglogan (Sep 23, 2009)

if you have three fish in a stringer and you catch #4 and immediately release it are you in violation?


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Logan,
By letter of the law, yes you would be in violation. However, our COs certainly have judgement that they can exercise in that situation. It's no different than when bass or walleye tournament angler "cull" their catch.


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## WALLEYE MIKE (Jan 7, 2001)

M. Tonello said:


> Logan,
> By letter of the law, yes you would be in violation. However, our COs certainly have judgement that they can exercise in that situation. It's no different than when bass or walleye tournament angler "cull" their catch.


Problem is there is no consistency among most CO's. Some will ticket you for fishing after you got your limit and some might go by what you have in livewell, cooler or stringer. 

At this time I am involved into getting a ruling that will clarify the law so we all know what to expect when a limit is achieved.


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## Benzie Rover (Mar 17, 2008)

Mark - I want to give a HUGE thanks to the fisheries folks for having the courage to implement some protection of vulnerable populations of steelhead that rely on natural reproduction. Having the 1 fish rule on systems that rely on natural repro, such as Lil M and Platte, will help sustain quality runs despite the natural variability of wild stocks. As a bonus, this will also help fishing quality significantly by keeping a lot more viable fish to catch in the system during any given run. On small systems it is not at all uncommon to re-catch fish from November through late February as many chromers get caught and released after they are aggressive chrome bullets in October and these very fish provide a lot of anglers with additional bonus catches later in the season. I've caught several fish in several different rivers with reg hook scars, 'bomber jaw' or a tag of clipped off line hanging out of the mouth from a gut-hook. All local river-rats I know have been enthusiatically helping to enforce the Platte's new rule by telling other dudes that are unaware and I am sure most serious Lil M regulars will do the same. Folks that want 3 on a rope have A LOT of stocked river systems to go to for meat. Let's keep viable spawners spawning!


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## STEELHEAD JUNKIE (Feb 20, 2010)

Protect Wild Steelhead!


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## Kisutch (May 26, 2011)

The problem with this reg is that it covers very little stream. If we really were serious about protecting this stream then the one fish kill should have covered the entire length.


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## diztortion (Sep 6, 2009)

Kisutch said:


> The problem with this reg is that it covers very little stream. If we really were serious about protecting this stream then the one fish kill should have covered the entire length.


And the mouth.


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