Legality/technique question

[cruiser1234]

Hit up Farrington on Tuesday. Came away with a trout and nice perch, few smaller ones as well. But my step dad also caught a pike. About 20 inches 3ish pounds. He caught the pike on a trout hook! Right where we were catching the perch. I'm guessing it may have been coming to get a perch saw the shiner an went after that instead. My question is if I catch a small perch, sunny, etc. that's in season and of legally size can I re hook it and use it as bait and if so how would you rig that up? Weigh it to the bottom? Let it swim free? Wounded it? Where would you hook it? Any advice/ info would be appreciated.

[AndyS]

You can even hook trout and use them for bait also as long as you don't have over your bag limit, and must be of legal size. That is coming from F&G !

[acabtp]

yes, it is legal to catch and use your own live bait. good way to get into some real big fish.

lots of different ways to fish that kind of bait... under a slip bobber, live lining (letting the bait swim wherever it wants), or on the bottom all have their places.

one thing though: please only use bait you catch from the same watershed as where you are fishing (to limit the spread of any possible fish diseases or parasites)

have fun!

[gwl2oneida]

I often wondered the same thing. Thanks for clearing that up.

[kmaty]

Pike at farrington! Awesome! I will be there after work today and will be sure to put a 6rod spread out with the other thousand schmucks! Spot burn!

[cruiser1234]

Caught a 30 inch 6 pound pike out of there a year or so ago I posted on here as well, so if I spot burned I did it in the past as well. Also, you better get in touch with the fisherman cause Farrington was the spot light lake of the week and they did a whole article on what's in there and went on and on about the Pike. O and thanks to those of you who made useful comments.

[AndyS]

No such thing as spot burn. The Fisherman Magazine has in depth articles every month on freshwater spots. Google Earth, Google Maps, NJ Fishing Digest.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/fishplc.htm

[Eskimo]

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In my opinion, "spot burning" is when somebody exposes an otherwise little-known body of water on mass media as a great place to catch big fish.

The inevitable result of that publicity being the sudden appearance of an army of yahoos, comrades and amigos eager to rape the body-of-water of its gamefish.

If a spot is on Fish & Game's stocking list, it's not an easy place to spot-burn.
I can respect that some anglers may want to minimize the publicity the lake receives to keep it off the radar of the undesirables, but it's technically not spot-burning.

Anyway, the only legal issue I have ever run into with bait is a pet store that wouldn't sell me goldfish because I intended to use them as bait. So, if you intend to use goldfish as bait, don't bring a bait bucket into the store and make sure you tell them it's to feed your Oscars.




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[acabtp]

Originally Posted by Eskimo

Anyway, the only legal issue I have ever run into with bait is a pet store that wouldn't sell me goldfish because I intended to use them as bait. So, if you intend to use goldfish as bait, don't bring a bait bucket into the store and make sure you tell them it's to feed your Oscars.

the pet shop was correct... goldfish are not legal to use as bait because they are a type of carp, which are illegal to stock into NJ waters (without a special permit). do not use goldfish for bait.

the state defines baitfish as golden shiner, banded killifish, mummichog, spotfin killifish, rainwater killifish, American brook lamprey, fathead minnow, bluntnose minnow, tadpole madtom, margined madtom, all shiners, daces, minnows, chubs and the American eel. sunfish/perch/trout follow game fish regs, but you can use them as bait if you wish.

[AndyS]

Anyway, glad you got out and caught a few, congrats on the nice pike !