Do you know what "Possession Limit" means? Its not your daily limit.

[Levy]

This is just a friendly reminder. I know board members are more likely to read the regulations than the average joe (I hope) but for those of you who don't know this I only aim to educate people in something that can only lead to better fisheries if people choose to follow provincial angling regulations.

Over this summer I have done a lot of fishing and I have run into a lot of people bragging about their catches. Almost everyone I talk to doesn't know the difference between a daily limit and possession limit. Most of them had no clue that there is a possession limit. I had one guy telling me he had 20 walleye in the freezer from the last seven days of fishing, and another guy showing me nine splake, browns, and rainbows ranging from 4 to 7 pounds that he had caught over three days (daily limit 3 trout, possession limit 5 all species combined in SK). Possession limit is the maximum number of species you are allowed within your possession at any time. It doesn't mean you get to catch your daily limit every day your out camping and take every fish you catch home and smoke it or give it to your family members.

This is done to keep people from overfishing lakes, hoarding natural resources and letting fish go to waste (ie. freezer burn). A person and or family can only eat so much fish. I think anyone who can afford the gas and fishing gear to go fishing can afford to buy fish at a supermarket and follow provincial regulations.

[Levy]

Daily Possession
The number of fish you are allowed to keep while fishing in one day is equal to the limit listed for each species or group of species at the lake or stream being fished, including any fish eaten or given away that day.
When you are fishing at any lake or stream, you may not have in your possession more fish than the limit, or fish other than those of legal size, listed for the lake or stream being fished.

Trip Possession
The number of fish of each species you may possess at the end of a fishing trip, regardless of the number of days fished, is equal to a 1 day limit for the water body fished and includes fish stored at home.

Province-wide maximum possession – All fish kept from any lake or stream, from any Watershed Unit, count as part of the province-wide maximum possession that must not be exceeded. The maximum number of fish you may have, including fish at your home and fish caught under a special harvest licence, for each game fish species or group of species is listed below:

Trout and Arctic Grayling – 5 in total, combined of:
0 bull trout (native to Alberta);
2 Northern Dolly Varden (stocked in Chester Lake only);
1 golden trout;
2 Arctic grayling;
3 lake trout;
5 cutthroat trout;
5 rainbow trout;
5 brown trout;
5 brook trout.

Mountain Whitefish – 5 in total.
Walleye and Sauger – 3 in combined total.
Northern Pike – 3 in total.
Yellow Perch – 15 in total.
Lake Whitefish and Cisco (Tullibee) – 10 in combined total.
Goldeye and Mooneye – 10 in combined total.
Burbot (Ling) – 10 in total.
Lake Sturgeon – 0
Non-game fish – no restriction on the numbers kept.

[huntsfurfish]

Limits?

Didn't know we had limits.:)

Thanks for posting.

[HuyFishin]

what's the possession limit and size restrictions at jackfish lake just west of Edmonton, I seen a foreign family holding a small pike what looked to be about 16-17 inches long hauling a canoe up with the baby pike in there hands. I wanted to call fish and wildlife but I walked into the lake and submerged my phone in the water by accident.:argue2:

[Simmer29]

I was there yesterday, pike limit is 3 over 63cm...that would have been an appropriate call to make......Would be nice if people left some fish in the lake for everybody to enjoy....good thread!

[Gslice]

Just curious though, would fish and wildlife ever knock on your door and check your freezer?

Getting busted for going over on daily limits is easy to prove, but how would you prove the rainbow in your home is store bought or fished?

Mike

[RavYak]

I think the only time they would check your home freezer etc is if they caught you poaching and figured you would have a bunch more at home as well. Only other reason they might check is if someone reports you. Obviously they aren't just going to randomly walk to a persons houses checking freezers for fish.

Bought rainbow trout usually have plastic wrap containers etc not to mention few people actually buy them... Caught rainbow trout usually end up in a ziploc or something like that if they even make it to the freezer.

[saskpikeman]

This is just a friendly reminder. I know board members are more likely to read the regulations than the average joe (I hope) but for those of you who don't know this I only aim to educate people in something that can only lead to better fisheries if people choose to follow provincial angling regulations.

Over this summer I have done a lot of fishing and I have run into a lot of people bragging about their catches. Almost everyone I talk to doesn't know the difference between a daily limit and possession limit. Most of them had no clue that there is a possession limit. I had one guy telling me he had 20 walleye in the freezer from the last seven days of fishing, and another guy showing me nine splake, browns, and rainbows ranging from 4 to 7 pounds that he had caught over three days (daily limit 3 trout, possession limit 5 all species combined in SK). Possession limit is the maximum number of species you are
allowed within your possession at any time. It doesn't mean you get to catch your daily limit every day your out camping and take every fish you catch home and smoke it or give it to your family members.

This is done to keep people from overfishing lakes, hoarding natural resources and letting fish go to waste (ie. freezer burn). A person and or family can only eat so much fish. I think anyone who can afford the gas and fishing gear to go fishing can afford to buy fish at a supermarket and follow provincial regulations.

Might be different in alberta but you are mistaken about possession limits in sask, the possession limit is the daily limit on all species , like you mention the stocked trout limit is 5 combined total all species. But this is also the daily limit unless a special regulation.

[Okotokian]

Daily possession limit is pretty clear. Province-wide possession limit is clear. But this Trip Limit.... hmmm

Trip limit includes fish in the freezer at home. Sooooo if you have two rainbows at home (legal) and you throw a line in a river with a one trout daily possession limit, and you keep one, you have just violated the trip limit. Heck, according to the regs you were in viloation as soon as you steppd foot in the river, at least the way it is written in the regs. According to the regs the trip limit equals the daily limit, including any fish at home. You are within the daily and provincial limits but you just blew the trip limit. See? Confusing.

And yet if you give away your fish each evening in camp you can go on and on and on? ;)


And if I keep eating fish every other day my Provincial limit keeps coming down, so I can keep fishing and retaining. But If I don't eat or give away for a while I have to stop retaining. Makes no sense.

Mind you, it's all theoritical to me, as catching anything close to a daily limit of legally or desirably sized fish is rare thing for me. LOL

[Gslice]

I think the only time they would check your home freezer etc is if they caught you poaching and figured you would have a bunch more at home as well. Only other reason they might check is if someone reports you. Obviously they aren't just going to randomly walk to a persons houses checking freezers for fish.

Bought rainbow trout usually have plastic wrap containers etc not to mention few people actually buy them... Caught rainbow trout usually end up in a ziploc or something like that if they even make it to the freezer.

That makes sense. But just to play advocate, what if you kept 6 stocked rainbows from a privately owned lake (like Arbour Lake, which allows up to 8 rainbows/month) where provincial laws have no jurisdiction...? It'd be hard to prove this one...

[RavYak]

The trip possession is very poorly worded, no surprise there though since the AB regs are a joke and very difficult to read... Heck there are daily limits, trip limits, maximum possession limits, watershed limits and individual lake or stream limits... Who makes up all this crap...

What I believe it is trying to say is that if you are fishing at a lake with a limit of 3 fish and you already have 1 fish from that lake at home you may only bring 2 home. Kind of stupid and not enforceable.

Gslice, if you are catching fish either in a private lake or in another province etc you need to have some sort of proof to support where the fish came from. I am not sure what they consider as proof if a pass/receipt or say Sask fishing license is good enough but I would have to think so though because how else are you going to definitively prove it.

Oh and as for if they searched your freezer after you stocked up at a private lake I am not sure what would happen. Would think they would have to take your word for it but not sure...

[Wild&Free]

That makes sense. But just to play advocate, what if you kept 6 stocked rainbows from a privately owned lake (like Arbour Lake, which allows up to 8 rainbows/month) where provincial laws have no jurisdiction...? It'd be hard to prove this one...

The onus should be on the prosecution to prove that you caught the fish elsewhere, but the way the system is going it's more likely you'd have to prove where you caught them. Probably the main reason we never hear about someone being charged with being over the possession limit unless they were caught poaching.

[huntsfurfish]

Don't find it difficult at all:)

Quite clear actually.

[Sundancefisher]

the odds of getting checked is worse than winning a lottery. Only those caught poaching would like have greater scrutiny on their home freezer.

Only person I heard of being checked was a guy living on Maligne Lake. People reported him going out fishing a lot and always had just his limit when checked. Then they figured out he was going back then going out again...sometimes multiple times a day.

If I recall...he had over 500 trout in his freezer when caught.

[huntsfurfish]

the odds of getting checked is worse than winning a lottery. Only those caught poaching would like have greater scrutiny on their home freezer.

Only person I heard of being checked was a guy living on Maligne Lake. People reported him going out fishing a lot and always had just his limit when checked. Then they figured out he was going back then going out again...sometimes multiple times a day.

If I recall...he had over 500 trout in his freezer when caught.

Sounds like a Hoarder:)

[Riverbc]

In BC, possession limit is a 2 day limit, and once you return home they are no longer considered part of your possession limit.
From page 88 of BC Freshwater regs

possession quota … the number of fish of any
species that an angler may have in his/her
possession at any given time, EXCEPT at
place of ordinary residence (see above).
In most instances, the possession quota is
two times the daily quota. See Tables for
exceptions.


From Page 15 of the Tidal regs

The aggregate possession limit for all salmon from all waters is twice
the daily limit. No person may have in their possession more than eight
salmon in aggregate, except at a place of ordinary residence.


Obviously the definition of possession limits differ for each province. Know the difference for your province, and check the regs if you're going to fish in another province.

[Red Bullets]

The trip possession is very poorly worded, no surprise there though since the AB regs are a joke and very difficult to read... Heck there are daily limits, trip limits, maximum possession limits, watershed limits and individual lake or stream limits... Who makes up all this crap...

What I believe it is trying to say is that if you are fishing at a lake with a limit of 3 fish and you already have 1 fish from that lake at home you may only bring 2 home. Kind of stupid and not enforceable.

Gslice, if you are catching fish either in a private lake or in another province etc you need to have some sort of proof to support where the fish came from. I am not sure what they consider as proof if a pass/receipt or say Sask fishing license is good enough but I would have to think so though because how else are you going to definitively prove it.

Oh and as for if they searched your freezer after you stocked up at a private lake I am not sure what would happen. Would think they would have to take your word for it but not sure...


With todays forensics they would be able to determine exactly where the fish came from.

[Nova]

Might be different in alberta but you are mistaken about possession limits in sask, the possession limit is the daily limit on all species , like you mention the stocked trout limit is 5 combined total all species. But this is also the daily limit unless a special regulation.

Unless I am reading the regs wrong and have been for years, Saskatchewan is a possession limit and not a daily limit. Changed a long time ago IIRC. Cut and paste directly from the regs:

GENERAL LIMITS
Anglers may take and possess one limit of each species of fish. For example, one angler can have both 5 pike and 4 walleye in his/her possession. The limit includes any fish that are eaten or given away. For example, after fishing day one, the angler keeps 4 walleye and eats one of the 4 that day. On fishing day two, the angler can keep 1 additional walleye as he/she still has 3 walleye in possession from the day before. Fish that are at your camp, being transported by you or by someone else for you, or stored for you are included in your limit.

[Levy]

Unless I am reading the regs wrong and have been for years, Saskatchewan is a possession limit and not a daily limit. Changed a long time ago IIRC. Cut and paste directly from the regs:

GENERAL LIMITS
Anglers may take and possess one limit of each species of fish. For example, one angler can have both 5 pike and 4 walleye in his/her possession. The limit includes any fish that are eaten or given away. For example, after fishing day one, the angler keeps 4 walleye and eats one of the 4 that day. On fishing day two, the angler can keep 1 additional walleye as he/she still has 3 walleye in possession from the day before. Fish that are at your camp, being transported by you or by someone else for you, or stored for you are included in your limit.

If you read pages 13 to 31 in the saskatchewan regulations you will find daily limits are broken out there by a catch and release designation of either CR1, CR2 or CR3 on page 13. Also you should look at the lake you are fishing as there is a special regulations column beside each lake that includes information such as "stocked trout limit 5, only one
may exceed 55 cm; open all year", catch and release designation, and information pertaining to where you are allowed to fish in the lake.

[Junglefisher]

Daily possession limit is pretty clear. Province-wide possession limit is clear. But this Trip Limit.... hmmm

Trip limit includes fish in the freezer at home. Sooooo if you have two rainbows at home (legal) and you throw a line in a river with a one trout daily possession limit, and you keep one, you have just violated the trip limit. Heck, according to the regs you were in viloation as soon as you steppd foot in the river, at least the way it is written in the regs. According to the regs the trip limit equals the daily limit, including any fish at home. You are within the daily and provincial limits but you just blew the trip limit. See? Confusing.

And yet if you give away your fish each evening in camp you can go on and on and on? ;)


And if I keep eating fish every other day my Provincial limit keeps coming down, so I can keep fishing and retaining. But If I don't eat or give away for a while I have to stop retaining. Makes no sense.

Mind you, it's all theoritical to me, as catching anything close to a daily limit of legally or desirably sized fish is rare thing for me. LOL

Possession limits are there basically to stop people filling their freezers with fish.
There are times where you could limit out on certain fish day after day.
So you, the wife and two kids take your 20 trout a day out of a lake that's just melted. Day after day for 2 weeks and you've got 280 trout in the freezer.
Sure, if you were eating those 20 trout a day, you could do the same, but who is going to do that?
Fish you give away are still part of your daily limit, but not possession limit.

[Wild&Free]

With todays forensics they would be able to determine exactly where the fish came from.

The testing would cost more then the fines.

[huntsfurfish]

The testing would cost more then the fines.

Yes it would, but they will still do it if there is a good "probability".

[BGSH]

x2, know your daily limites ect.. and it's good to know what species are in the lake before you head out :)

[Nova]

If you read pages 13 to 31 in the saskatchewan regulations you will find daily limits are broken out there by a catch and release designation of either CR1, CR2 or CR3 on page 13. Also you should look at the lake you are fishing as there is a special regulations column beside each lake that includes information such as "stocked trout limit 5, only one
may exceed 55 cm; open all year", catch and release designation, and information pertaining to where you are allowed to fish in the lake.

I was under the impression that limits on the CR waters as well as special regulations are all still possession limits and do not revert to daily limits? With the exception of CR3 where there is a daily limit allowing you to keep 1 fish out of these 4 species per day: lake trout, pike, walleye/sauger or artic grayling.

[Red Bullets]

The testing would cost more then the fines.

F&W has a forensics lab that they employ forensic scientists at. They are on the payroll so it is just a matter of systematic procedure and not so much individual case costs.

I would think the provincial fish biologists would have already developed a data base of certain fish species DNA samples from alot of the lakes. When population or size studies are done I am sure they are also collecting DNA samples too. With all this in place, tests are not as costly.
I would think if they do successfully charge someone, that someone will have to pay a fine. Those fines absorb the cost of the testing.

I don't think it is a matter of cost when the law comes into play.

The Western Canadian Game Warden magazine has a monthly section called "under the microscope" that talks all about forensics and such. Always an informative read.

[RavYak]

You honestly believe F&W can determine what lake a fish came from based on their DNA???

Like humans DNA is different to every fish so unless they are recording DNA samples from every one of the millions of stocked fish I doubt it... Not to mention all these fish in all these lakes come from the same sources(for stocked trout anyways).

They might be able to determine what lake through other means but I doubt they would even try.

[Red Bullets]

You honestly believe F&W can determine what lake a fish came from based on their DNA???

Like humans DNA is different to every fish so unless they are recording DNA samples from every one of the millions of stocked fish I doubt it... Not to mention all these fish in all these lakes come from the same sources(for stocked trout anyways).

They might be able to determine what lake through other means but I doubt they would even try.


IMO, as far as I know...
You do have an excellent point regarding DNA being different in every fish.

Fish that are native species like pike or whites would most likely have genetic markers identifying them to a specific population or lake. Stocked fish would be more generic.

If a person was to test a 3 whitefish, one from Gull, one from Pigeon, and one from South Buck lake, genetics would show that the pigeon lake and gull lake whitefish were of the same strain and the South Buck lake fish not the same.
This is because the whitefish in Gull lake were transplanted from the Pigeon lake several years ago.

[Levy]

I was under the impression that limits on the CR waters as well as special regulations are all still possession limits and do not revert to daily limits? With the exception of CR3 where there is a daily limit allowing you to keep 1 fish out of these 4 species per day: lake trout, pike, walleye/sauger or artic grayling.

Im not sure where we are getting our wires crossed here... I thought you were initially implying that all waters in saskatchewan had a daily limit the same as the general possession limit. I was simply pointing out that special harvest limits are put in place that are different than the general possession limits. For example CR1 and CR2 waters have a possession limit of 2 Walleye/Sauger for a specific waterbody but the maximum possession limit for Walleye/Sauger is 4. I do agree that the possession limit for specific CR waterbody is the same as a daily limit but if you were to go to a different waterbody not under CR regulations could you not fulfill the general limit outlined in the regulations?

[kenh]

Just curious though, would fish and wildlife ever knock on your door and check your freezer?

Getting busted for going over on daily limits is easy to prove, but how would you prove the rainbow in your home is store bought or fished?

Mike

long weekend in august there were numerous cabins and deep freezes checked at turtle lake Sask. Never heard the results but I hope I read about them.:mad0030:

[Nova]

Im not sure where we are getting our wires crossed here... I thought you were initially implying that all waters in saskatchewan had a daily limit the same as the general possession limit. I was simply pointing out that special harvest limits are put in place that are different than the general possession limits. For example CR1 and CR2 waters have a possession limit of 2 Walleye/Sauger for a specific waterbody but the maximum possession limit for Walleye/Sauger is 4. I do agree that the possession limit for specific CR waterbody is the same as a daily limit but if you were to go to a different waterbody not under CR regulations could you not fulfill the general limit outlined in the regulations?

I think we are on the same page. I think maybe the confusion is in my interpretation of what saskpikeman was saying. Initially I thought he was implying that our possession limit is a daily limit, but after re-reading I'm no longer sure.