A child's first fishing trip is exciting for both parent and child. A fun experience can lead to future years of fishing enjoyment. Here are some simple tips for taking kids fishing.

Pack plenty of snacks and cold drinks

Make sure there are restrooms near

Morning trips are best - the fish bite better and kids have more energy

Pick a sunny day with moderate temperatures

Keep the trip short - a couple hours at most

Leave your fishing rod at home

Emphasize that fishing is fun, catching is a bonus

Take plenty of breaks from fishing

Have fun!

Take pictures

Plan alternate activities to do if the weather turns bad or your child gets bored

Remember you are taking the kids - they aren't taking you

Walleye anglers will be required to adhere to a slot limit on a portion of the Mississippi River despite an omission recently discovered in the 2007 Iowa Fishing Regulations brochure. The brochure stated "… all walleye from 20 to 27 inches caught from Lock and Dam 12 to the Missouri state line, must be immediately released alive, and, no more than one walleye above 27 inches may be taken per day on these pools." However, state officials noted the wording should have read "from Lock and Dam 11 to the Missouri state line," which would include pool 12. "Basically, the text inadvertently and mistakenly omitted pool 12 from the wording, a 26-mile river pool from Dubuque to Bellevue," said Iowa DNR Fisheries Bureau chief Marion Conover. "However, we still intend to enforce the slot limit on that stretch of the river." The decision to adhere to the regulation was based partly on a long-standing agreement with Mississippi River border-states Wisconsin and Illinois, who said they would enforce the rule on their sides of the river. To avoid confusion among anglers, Iowa officials agreed to do the same. DNR officials will be providing fishing license vendors in the affected area with additional educational materials to note the omission and remind anglers of the regulation. The daily bag and possession limits on the Mississippi River are an aggregate five and 10 walleye, sauger and/or saugeye, respectively. For more information, contact Alan Foster at 515-281-887
--Posted on BigFishTackle.com

Chumming refers to the process of scattering ground up fish (known as chum) in the water as bait, and is illegal in Wisconsin, since it would result in waste being deposited on a stream or lake bed. However, chumming is acceptable if the angler can retrieve the fish attractant/bait after he or she is done fishing (such as fish parts in a mesh bag). Remember that depositing any sort of fish entrails into the water is illegal! All waste should be thrown into the trash, not the water.

Answer: Yes, you may keep game fish with an open season in an aquarium provided it was obtained by one of the following means:

1. Game fish may be collected by angling and transferred to your aquarium. If you choose this option, you must have a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) sportfishing license and abide by the season, length, and bag limits for the lake/stream from which you obtain the fish. You would not be able to keep any sublegal fish in your aquarium. You may keep the fish during the closed part of the season if they were originally collected during the open season. The fish in the aquarium are considered part of your possession limit for as long as you keep them. You may ask others to collect fish for you, in which case they would need a fishing license and would abide by the fishing regulations for the particular lake/stream.



2. You may purchase game fish from an aquarium shop or fish farmer and keep the receipt as proof that the fish were purchased (not collected from the wild). This would allow you to keep sublegal fish in your aquarium, and the number of fish held could be greater than your possession limit. You can find a listing of Wisconsin fish farmers in a publication called the Wisconsin Aquaculture Directory. It is published by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection. It is available to be downloaded on their Web site at: Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection [exit DNR]. Among other things, it lists the names, addresses and phone numbers for many of Wisconsin's fish farmers and the type of fish they rear.



3. School groups that wish to collect fish from the wild and hold them for educational purposes should obtain a scientific collector's permit from a DNR regional fisheries expert. Alternatively, fish may be collected as in number 1 and 2 above, if the educational aspects of holding the fish are not the key reason for maintaining the aquarium.

For more information on the open seasons for Wisconsin game fish, please see the current fishing and related regulations.