OutdoorMissouri.com

Here is a quote from our local agent in the weekly paper.
".....lines may not be left unattended for more than 24 hours or must be completly removed.Even if you remove the hooks,the remaining equiptment must be totaly removed unless it is to be used within 24 hours....."

I guess this means you can't leave limb lines after the hooks are removed to use off and on thru the summer even if they are labled.I was not aware of this and wonder how strictly this is enforced?Oh,well,guess its just as easy to take the line also.

it was that way last year also. i put out trottlines last weekend with my father inlaw and he is checking them every evening so that we can bait and run them this comming weekend. its suprising how many fish you can catch on bare hooks! and what's in the fish you catch.



last Sunday we ran the lines and had a 9-10lb blue cat with a 11-12" white bass in his gut, who knows how long it took him to get that sucker down!



last year or year before we had a lot of rain after putting lines in at truman and couldn't reach our lines for 2weeks when we checked them though there was a 52lb flathead on the line he was very lively and wasn't on the line that long, and no other fish or baits.

Cook, that goes for trotlines to or any other type of line(throwlines ect). Technicly if you were to run your trotline every weekend all summer you could'nt leave it in. You'd have to take it up and reset it every weekend instead of just removeing the hooks.
This rule has been in effect for several years, even before the truman trash law caused a change in jugline regulations. It's been in effect for close to 10 years along with the label law.
'Primarily' it too was a trash law, brought about by people gripeing about seeing lines hanging from tree's along the river/lake. Thing is most folks can't tell an active from a trash line without seeing a fish on it or picking it up. many can't tell even then.
A small part of it had to do with hooks being left as those that did leave them usualy left the hooks as well. You'd be surprised(maybe not) at some of the cheap and expensive hooks as well as their size ive seen on old lines.

As for the enforcement, unless the lines covered in moss and obviously old with your name attached i can't see how they could enforce it. The agents sure not going to set there and watch the line for 24 hours to see if you run it.

When i limbline i use a lot of the same limbs over and over. So i keep the lines and retie them to the same tree limb each time, it's not that hard.
As for trotlines im not real big on leaveing something ive got 75-$100 in setting in the water for a week or two unattended.

Guess I'm a bad boy-but will change my ways!

Cook, I was aware of those laws but it's good to get them posted so we are all "refreshed". I tend my trotline every morning and every evening. I'm lucky to be in a position to have time to check it before work daily. I'm with Wolfman, if I were going to be gone for even a couple of days, I'd take my whole rig up. It's just not that hard to do and It might save it from somebodies knife. Mine is also tagged with all the info required which, to me, is a double-edged sword. My tag makes my line more noticable from a farther distance. I'd rather it was incogneato......

If you rod and reel fish you never have to worry about any of these issues!!!

Yeah TR, i like to hide my limblines back under the limbs, use brown line so it blends in to. I just love to find where some do gooder a$$hole has come along and cut it down, stole my fish or just taken it and wraped and knotted it around the limb. Hideing the trotline is even more important.
Ive had folks come up when i was within a 100 yards of my lines setting another one, see my line, stop and take the bait off, toss it in the water then wrap the line around the limb. Needless to say they soon saw the error of their ways when i pointed out they were breaking the law, elaborated on their inbred heritige and pointed out how close they were to an a$$ whipping.
Messing with another mans trot/limb lines is paramount to messing with his kids. Ought to be legal to shoot them!

Wolfie, that's like taking food from your mouth, right? Ethical catfishermen probably should do their best to eliminate trash if they see it. There are certainly enough horror stories to villify cat grabbers.

BTW: According to last Sunday's KC Star, the blues are hitting pretty nicely on LOZ right now. If you can handle the holiday weekenders, be a good time to put some fish in the freezer.

I can remember when old trotlines were everywhere and a real pain. My Lab caught his foot in one on a Duck hunting trip once and that caused some anxious moments. Given the fact that the law is to prevent waste, can you remove the drops and leave the main line?

even with no hooks lines must be checked every 24hrs, or removed completely to be in compliance with the law.

JHawk, sad part is a very few mess it up for the many. Funny part is the law was brought about partly by the beer swilling trash chucking river floaters gripeing about seeing limblines as they made their summer floats. I was glad to see the MDC start cracking down on littering by flaoters a couple of years ago. I just loved to be sitting there fishing and see candy wrappers or pop/beer cans come floating down river and 5 minutes later here came a couple of canoes full of drunks. Lines n hooks cost money and most normal people don't just throw money away.

I usualy end up bringing back more stuff then i take when i go fishing. He!! i don't even leave a gum wrapper in the woods when im hunting. You pack it in your can [email]d@mn[/email] well pack it back out.

Truth be told it's a conspiracy by them Uppity Vermin catching BASS fishermen and their cousins, Bass fishermen wannabes the crappie fishermen. Their just jealous of catters cause we catch more cats and ours is BIGGER!

It's like comparing rifle buffalo hunters to archery deer hunters. And how do you figure "more" ? I can catch and release far more bass per hour on public waters than I can cats. 'Cept behind bagnell, it's all I can do there to keep them itty bitty cats off my minner while fishing for whites.

Now bornbad, your just not holding your mouth right and fishing the right waters...lol I can catch n release far more cats in a day of fishing then you'll ever hope to catch bass. And unlike the bass most of the cats will be keepers. Not them scaley lil worm ridden worm eatting dinks that make good Cat food!...lol

i've been known to set a line or 5. i usually put mine in on friday evening.....bait and tend them all night....take them out saturday morning. it works good for me. i only want enough for the freezer anyways.

Not wishing to stray too far off this subject, but I have a question. Last year, I lost two jugs. Yes, I was watching them, they just went down and never came back up. My question is this, one of these days, them jugs are going to show up somewhere, as trash, with my name and addy on them. Should I be expecting a ticket in the mail?