Legal Question about cast netting

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey I know you can use cast nets for taking minnows, but if you catch a larger carp in the cast net can you keep it and use it for bait? I think the answer is yes, since you can take carp with about any method known from archery to stabbing with a spear and etc.... If you know the answer can you let me know... I'm not finding it in the regs right off... Thanks J
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[SkunkedAgain]

Sorry should have went to google first... found this...
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Taking carp


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You may use a variety of techniques—including

angling, traps, archery, dipnets, cast

nets, liftnets, seines, crossbow, a handheld

spear from above the surface of the water, or

underwater spearfishing—to take carp in any

water during its open fishing season.

It's out of the 2018 Utah guidebook, so looks like it is legal... Only problem is how badly the carp tear up a casting net... Just thinking sometimes I can't get a carp to bite, but they are surfacing all around me and so I was wondering if you could catch one with that method... Now I have a new way to get that fresh bait... Thanks J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]You answered your own question. But even though it is legal it is not recommended...for the reasons you identified. They really trash a net.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Back in the days when I had access to some of the drain channels at the Farmington Bird Refuge I could often get a cooler full of mixed carplets and chubs with a couple of good throws of the cast net. But timing was critical. Had to be while they were draining the big ponds in the early fall. If I missed it the canals were stagnant and no minnows. But on one trip I thought I might give it a try anyway. Made a beautiful throw...and then about got dragged into the water by 3 huge nasty carp. I managed to get them dragged out onto the bank but had to spend about an hour getting them untangled and trying to salvage my net. It was a new net...before the carp. It was a "holy" net afterwards.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat,
I tried to find a carp the other night, but no luck or maybe good luck cause they didn't ruin my net. Hopefully I'll find some minnows soon I'm about out. Been doing better with cut bait lately anyway. Thanks for the insight. J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I am running low on my minnow supply too. My fave spots have dried up...literally. Not enough water to sustain minnow life.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Cut bait sometimes works better than a whole minnow. If you use chub meat strips they release a lot more scent into the water than a skin-covered minnow. But there are times for both...when nothing else works as well.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]On my last couple of trips to Willard I did just as well tipping my fligs with crawler...instead of minnow. I know a few other guys have been doing well with crawlers too. Always something different and every trip is a new trip.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Other night when I took TrickyFish out, he was using crawlers and out caught my cutbait by a bunch.... My poor can of worms were almost shot, so I used the last few later in the night and got a few fish, but the size was small... Had lots of hits on the cutbait, but just couldn't hook those small fish on big hooks and big bait...

Ya know I know there are a lot of bigger fish around, but I sure can't make them bite lately... don't know if they have moved to different areas, or if they are there and just not liking what I'm offering... Sure wish I knew if I needed to move, or use a different offering... Guess I need to try both and see if either help....

I mean I have moved, but I am fishing similar type areas, and have changed baits and hooks and bobber verses Carolina rigs... so I am changing things up, but nothing seems to change the result of small fish... I haven't tried the drift fishing yet, maybe I need to do that and see if that will stir up a little size.... Maybe next trip... Later J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Your reasoning is sound...but not your execution. Yes, you have to keep moving...first to find fish, then to find active fish, then to find active larger fish. And then when you do find them you have to serve what the bigger fish want to eat...at the right depth and the right speed.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Simple...but never easy. However, it ain't the destination but the journey that is the most fun.
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[SkunkedAgain]

I keep forgetting the thing about the journey, guess that comes from wanting to get there quicker, since I have limited time to play... Looking forward to more time after retirement, so I can pay more attention to the journey... but probably all comes back to priorities... If I don't take time now, probably won't do it then either.... Better get that figured out before it's too late... Thanks J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]The wrong time to discover that you missed out on the fun of the journey is when you get to your destination...and then realize all the things you ignored along the way.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]You and your spouse grow old. Your kids become grandkids, etc. You no longer recognize the old fart staring back at you from the mirror...as you wonder whatever happened to that handsome young devil you used to see.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Much better to be patient and make memories along the way than to end up at a destination you may not have planned on...wondering if you should maybe have taken more stops and spent more time enjoying the other places a bit more.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Not being philosophical. Just speaking from the reality of experience. Shoulda, coulda, woulda.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]In the meantime, it is better to make time...and not excuses. Much harder to FIND time when you are in the middle of a hectic life schedule. And never wish your life away...hoping for that nebulous time in the future when you have all the time in the world. The only time that will be will be is when you have run out of time on this earth.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Well said and good advice to strive to heed.... Just like everything has it's season of harvest, if you don't take advantage of it when it's on, you miss it... The farming in me keeps me focused on taking care of things in their seasons... However, a lot of time that keeps me harvesting when i should be spending time on other things... good and bad, the path I've chosen I guess... Good to realize other priorities exist though so I can choose between them... Thanks Pat.... Later J
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