I believe the requirement to…

I believe the requirement to show proof of purchase of live bait is an excellent way of preventing bait from crossing management zones introducing invasive species and disease.Requiring anglers to dispose of their bait after two weeks is unfair. Live bait is an expensive part of fishing. many anglers including myself keep leftover bait in their homes. I keep an aquariumin my home to keep minnows alive between fishing trips to reduce this cost. I have never kept more than my allowed ten dozen minnows or transported minnows between management areas. I can keep my minnows alive for over a month by keeping them in the aquarium and use my unused bait, rather than buy more the next weekend. I buy 10 dozen minnows for a weekend of walleye fishing at a cost of up to $10 per dozen. when the fishing goes well I use all of these minnows. Sometimes I use as little as one dozen of them. When this happens I keep my minnows to use the next time I go fishing. Since I fish often, I save hundreds of dollars in bait costs over a year by keeping my minnows alive between trips. If I am forced to throw out up to 10 dozen minnows after two weeks, there is a cost of up to $100 to replace them for my next outing. I know many anglers who keep their unused bait in a tank for future use. We don't always get out again the next weekend and would be forced to dispose of our bait and buy again for the next outing.

I believe that forcing anglers to dispose of their bait after a set time limit will lead to more bait buckets being dumped into the water. if an angler knows they will not be fishing again within two weeks they will not bring their bait home. unfortunately, some of these anglers will not dispose of their bait properly and dump it into a lake, rather than take it home. by removing the stale date for purchased minnows, more anglers are likely to keep their bait alive at home, rather than dispose of it in a potentially dangerous manner. Unfortunately not all angers are concious about the implications of dumping bait as it is the easiest way to dispose of it. I think if anglers have the option to keep their bait they are less likely to dump it into the lake.

I see no benefit to the stale date on purchased bait as long as anglers are able to prove where their bait originated with a reciept. The timing of the purchase is irrelevant to the spread of disease and invasives. this only leads to increased costs to anglers using live bait and an increase in the amount of bait that must be disposed of. tf people are forced to dispose of more bait, some of that unused bait will end up being dumped into lakes. by allowing anglers to keep their bait alive and at home, they are less likely to dispose of their bait in an irresponsible manner. two weeks is far too short of a window to use the bait I purchase

[Original Comment ID: 208640]