guy at upper twin giving fish away

I was fishing twin lakes a couple days ago.over to the right of me was a guy named joe and i have witnessed this a few times as of late. he catches his first fish and puts it on the stringer. and every other fish after that he tryed to give away he goes as far as giving it to people out walking dogs or running. my question is this is illegal right? i mean this dude catches and gives away so many fish that he would have had his limit 2 or 3 times i said something to him about it as i was walking back to the car to call it a day and he asked how i did i explained a got a couple nice fish but threw everything back to catch another day. and he should not give so many fish away. the guy isnt a bad guy he is a friendly guy who clearly has some skill fishing bottom with powerbait. but if he is doing this all the time alot of trout are going to people who arent interested in actually catching fish i wondered watching him give his 3rd fish away that day how many he gives away over the course of a year i dont know maybe i am wrong maybe it isnt a big deal and why should i care. like i said the guy is cool to talk too just think thats wrong.

Catch and release is a concept some folks just can't get their head wrapped around.
If he isn't breaking any rules, I'd guess I'd just bite my lip and be on my way.

§ 61.1. Commonwealth inland waters.

(5) Fish may be given to another person, but the fish shall be counted in the donor’s creel limit and neither donor nor the recipient may kill or possess (while in the act of fishing) more than the limit allowed.

http://www.pacode.com/sec...apter61/chap61toc.html

It should be noted that the recipient must possess a valid license.

I am familiar with Joe. He is fishing for the tags. It appears this is his solution to the pile of floaters he would leave behind in the past.

It is still highly illegal and unfair on others who pay for their fishing license and fish to get a couple of trout either for sport or to eat. I know mostly the trout will die off if or when the water gets too warm but that is not the point at all in this case....and the way the weather this spring is going there are few more weeks of trout fishing the local stocked lakes...Why should one guy break the rules like that to the detriment of everyone else???....

I do not think that the recipient needs a fishing license,at least I could not find it in the regs. I can see giving some away,but unless  they are injured I think it is better to release them if you don't want to eat them so that they can be caught again. We have slowed him down some,but Joe's bigger fault is how he handles them while trying to unhook them,even the ones that he throws back. You can take the tag off of a fish without hurting them as we do & as proved by the ones that we catch that have marks on their gill plate.  sam

mr.crappie
I do not think that the recipient needs a fishing license,at least I could not find it in the regs.   sam

just read big Steve's post. Just a few posts back.

Click the link in Steve's post. Scroll down to (5). The fish given away counts towards the daily limit for both people. Deductive reasoning suggests that the limit for someone without a license would be 0. So if you give a fish away to someone without a license, at least that person would be in violation. Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong, but if im not, take your buddy with you that doesn't have a license, and you (they) can keep as many as you care to catch, regardless of limits.

Fish'nguy, I may be wrong,but I believe that any fish over your limit that is not immediately returned to the water unharmed puts you in violation no matter how many bodies of water that you fish or who you give them to.  sam

Agree no skill usingng power bait. That stuff should be band. Every trout that eats it should be roped not released because the few times I use it every trout swallowed it to there butt. I used it when my kids where young,just for the action and ease to catching fish. As to the giving away,5 fish may be kept or given away. After 5 your a poacher.

slabfinder
Trout are worthless, once froze thier mush. You can keep all the trout you want.

Well...that was helpful....

Who cares they're just dumb fish and Seghis pays out more $$ on tags. Only worth wild thing at twin is yoga pants and sports bras.