Counting limits

[trollingman]

I just bought my first fishing boat with a livewell. I enjoy panfishing but find it somewhat difficult to keep track of how many fish are in there. On a stringer it's easy to count them, but once you have a bunch of gills and crappie swimming around it's pretty impossible.

Any tips? I don't want to get back to the dock and find out I have too many.

Thanks.

 

[Bailey Boat]

A cheap golf stroke clicker is what I use when I need to keep count of whatever. 6.99 to 9.99 at most any sports related store... Amazon maybe??

 

[sonny1]

Walmart sells a simple small counter.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

I think that is a good problem to have!

 

[trollingman]

A cheap golf stroke clicker is what I use when I need to keep count of whatever. 6.99 to 9.99 at most any sports related store... Amazon maybe??

Do you use a counter for each species?

 

[trollingman]

I think that is a good problem to have!

True! But being over the limit with DNR is not a problem I want to have.

 

[airshot]

Those small hand held counters are availiable everywhere, most bait shops in my area have them, walmart, Dicks sporting good and Amazon all have them....less than 10 bucks each for the good ones. I have one strapped to my cooler handle with velcro....in my area, Perch are popular and the 30 per person limit gets expensive if you go over. Last I heard it was 105 dollars for up to three over then jumps up about 20 for each additional fish. Counters are cheap compared to a fine !!

 

[Bailey Boat]

Both of my counters have 2 sides, supposedly one for shots to get to the green and the other for strokes on the green. BUT.... one side for bream and the other for crappie??

 

[FuzzyGrub]

True! But being over the limit with DNR is not a problem I want to have.

When the bite is hot and heavy, not sure I trust myself with a clicker. Did I click or not click on that one? I'm sure it helps, but if you want to be 100%, have to count them before coming to the dock. Transfer to 5gal pails, then back.

Crossing back from Canada, each of the three of us counted the walleye fillets and made sure each had a patch of scales on it. Of course, they only asked verbal questions and never checked them.

 

[Lost But Happy]

When the bite is hot and heavy, not sure I trust myself with a clicker. Did I click or not click on that one? I'm sure it helps, but if you want to be 100%, have to count them before coming to the dock. Transfer to 5gal pails, then back.

Crossing back from Canada, each of the three of us counted the walleye fillets and made sure each had a patch of scales on it. Of course, they only asked verbal questions and never checked them.

Of course!! lol

 

[airshot]

When the bite is hot and heavy, not sure I trust myself with a clicker. Did I click or not click on that one? I'm sure it helps, but if you want to be 100%, have to count them before coming to the dock. Transfer to 5gal pails, then back.

Crossing back from Canada, each of the three of us counted the walleye fillets and made sure each had a patch of scales on it. Of course, they only asked verbal questions and never checked them.

I hear ya when it comes to being unsure with the counter !! My system is....we all have a large collection of plastic bags that everyone and there brother hand out ....I keep a handfull in my boat as trash bags..and..fish counting bags!
I do not use a livewell, if it goes into my cooler of ice, it gets cleaned and eaten !! Fish taste much better off ice than in a warm livewell !! I keep a bag in my cooler on the ice, when I have ten in the bag, I tie it shut, easy to look in and verify the ten perch or bluegill !! Then start using another bag, until that one gets ten in it then tie that one up. Etc..etc... I have found that a couple small coolers ( one for each person) is much easier than having one large cooler...small coolers stay colder longer with less ice and the small cooler lets me use discarded water bottles to freeze. Again we end up with numerous thin plastic water bottles that get refilled and frozen, a few of these will keep a small cooler nice and cold where a larger cooler needs a whole bag of ice which is getting expensive. This method has helped keep my count accurate, gets rid of excess plastc bags, reuses the empty water bottles and the pladtic bags also keep the inside of my cooler cleaner from fish stuff...if you know what I mean. With each person having there own cooler, if they overbag, not my issue !!

 

[Bailey Boat]

Ahhhhh, the advantages of catch and release........ I haven't kept a fish in about 25 years. If you go fishing with ME you'll need to bring a cooler with ice and keep your own count.....

 

[sonny1]

Oklahoma fish and game is requesting people to keep the smaller bass and not release them. Overpopulation of 1-3 pound bass in all lakes. They even supple recipes for cooking them. Years of catch and release worked a little to well from what they reported. Minimum size limit on flathead is gone to for the same reason.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

Oklahoma fish and game is requesting people to keep the smaller bass and not release them. Overpopulation of 1-3 pound bass in all lakes. They even supple recipes for cooking them. Years of catch and release worked a little to well from what they reported. Minimum size limit on flathead is gone to for the same reason.

They need to stock some muskies!

 

[sonny1]

They need to stock some muskies!

I believe they tried doing that in some of the lakes around the Kansas border. Have no clue on how it worked out.

 

[Still Afloat]

Ya, I catch and release for the most part so counting isn’t that critical. When I do keep fish it’s typically one or two on ice.

Maybe a small coin container would work. Just toss in a penny for perch, nickel for a crappie, etc. However, your pockets might smell a bit fishy by the end of the day.

 

[airshot]

The whole family loves to eat fish, so about once a month I have a fish fry, not many left when we are done!! We also use fish for Thanksgiving, no turkey here, and for NewYears. Christmas gets a honeybaked ham but otherwise, we eat a lot of fish. Gotta justify my boating expenses ya know....feeding the family....!!

 

[Crazyboat]

I just bought my first fishing boat with a livewell. I enjoy panfishing but find it somewhat difficult to keep track of how many fish are in there. On a stringer it's easy to count them, but once you have a bunch of gills and crappie swimming around it's pretty impossible.

Any tips? I don't want to get back to the dock and find out I have too many.

Thanks.

Keep a jar, Tuper wear or baggy on the boat, every time you catch a keeper, drop a washer into the bucket, jar Tupper wear.

 

[flatheadsteve]

We typically only keep a few catfish or maybe a couple walleye every year for the fryer. We do keep a lot of bluegill/ green sunfish mostly for bait. We are allowed 30 per day per fisherman with 60 In aggregate. If the kids are with me that's a lot of fish! On days we are loading up on bait and filling the livewell I make the kids call out the number as they put it in livewell so we can keep track.

 

[Bailey Boat]

I was fishing with a DEDICATED (as in if it had eyes and a butt hole, keep it) bream eater one day (I had my fly rod if that tells you anything) and we had been at it for 5 to 6 hours and the bream looked like maggots in an outhouse when you looked into the livewell. A warden came along, checked our license and asked if we had any luck. We said we had a "few" and he opened the livewell lid, looked inside and said "looks like you guys have a double limit but I'm NOT counting all of those. We quit fishing, he left and we went home to clean fish. I honestly don't remember the number but it was close or slightly over.