Bucket Fisherman 2024
Caver reply :
At the risk of sounding stupid what are "Bucket Fisherman"? I presume they fish with a bucket, but I always hear the local guys talking negatively about them and how they are causing a lot of " damage" to a local lake. How do they cause damage?
jokerjp reply :
Where I'm at bucket fisherman are meat fisherman who keep everything they catch.....frequently ignoring limits (both size and numbers) when I've encountered them in the past.
Brandon K. reply :
Someone who sits on a bucket and throws every fish they catch in it, i.e. my dad
slonezp reply :
They have no regards for size or limit restrictions. Keep everything they catch. Many fish without licenses. Also some will have a cooler in the car and transport their catch to the car. That way they won't get caught if the dnr is checking buckets.
Marty reply :
I don't usually hear them referred to as "Bucket fishermen." Just about all fishermen are familiar with them and disapprove of them. Some years ago I coined a term which I usually use for them, which is "grocery shoppers."
NCbassmaster4Life reply :
Yeah I don't look down on them, just the fact that every state does have a law to abide by. It's not the fact they keep fish, but rather break the law. Rules and Regulations are not written for laughs and giggles, there is meanining behind the laws.
cyclops2 reply :
Well the really good guys can & do clean out whole areas. They can empty streams in a hurry. That includes Eels & chubs.
I used to wonder why. Thanks to this long Great Depression, I do not blame them 1 bit.
Most states do not do much for maintaining fish levels or controlling undesireable speciecs or weeds. Most money goes to operating & retirement costs.
Nature is doing all the restocking.
I can afford to go anywhere in my areas in a boat. I do not get upset at people living off of nature to help make a living / existance..
Raider Nation Fisher reply :
On 1/18/2012 at 10:17 AM, cyclops2 said:Well the really good guys can & do clean out whole areas. They can empty streams in a hurry. That includes Eels & chubs.
I used to wonder why. Thanks to this long Great Depression, I do not blame them 1 bit.
Most states do not do much for maintaining fish levels or controlling undesireable speciecs or weeds. Most money goes to operating & retirement costs.
Nature is doing all the restocking.
I can afford to go anywhere in my areas in a boat. I do not get upset at people living off of nature to help make a living / existance..
Never had them take the majority of fish out of a pond you always fish have ya? Won't keep all the dang sunfish, just the bass. Which is why the pond now has a sunfish population that would blow your mind, and you have to work your tail off to even catch a1lber in it. I have no tolerance for them anymore. There was a big uproar amongst the five that always frequented said pond when someone started hanging razor wire from the trees, and also running it at ankle length down amongst the weeds and shrubs. Apparently one of them almost had his foot removed from some. Not to mention all the clothing tatters we saw on the wire. Whoever did it deserves a medal for their hard work.
BTW it was a private pond in a industrial park. Where I worked. So no they did not have permission to fish there. They continuously cut down and stole the chains and no trespassing signs that were put up to keep people out. After a year of no bucket fishers the bass population is starting to come back in the pond. It only took them 2 months to almost completely wipe it out.
cyclops2 reply :
I am with anybody on nailing tresspassers on ANY private property. I simply call the State Police. What is the difference if the land is or is not posted ?
If YOU DO NOT OWN IT. YOU ARE A TRESPASSER. PERIOD!! No signs means I can walk on anybodys property and treat it like my own? BULL CA CA
BasskingKeith reply :
Yeah, they're irritating, I despise them 
Raider Nation Fisher reply :
On 1/18/2012 at 11:37 AM, cyclops2 said:I am with anybody on nailing tresspassers on ANY private property. I simply call the State Police. What is the difference if the land is or is not posted ?
If YOU DO NOT OWN IT. YOU ARE A TRESPASSER. PERIOD!! No signs means I can walk on anybodys property and treat it like my own? BULL CA CA
You my friend just nailed it on the head.
Oh, and welcome to the site homie.
Caver reply :
Thanks for clearing this up. It's kind of what I figured, but I didn't know they ate them all. Well if the bucket fishermen are eating all the fish out of the pond that people are complaining about by me, they'll probably be dead in a few years anyway.
Marty reply :
QuoteI used to wonder why. Thanks to this long Great Depression, I do not blame them 1 bit.
It's not that simple. This has always gone on during my 40+ years of fishing, during both booms and busts. There are programs available to help people in need; breaking laws is not the answer.
Gatorbassman reply :
I call them "Government Sponsored Fishermen". We had one find a way past the razor wire fence on Richmond Mill and started fishing the dam right in front of the office. By the time we caught him he had three 4lb bass in his bucket. All he had to say for himself was, "I didn't see a No Trespassing Sign". Like the razor wire didn't give him any hints. Why some people think that you can trespass as long as you are only fishing is beyond me.
RiverFisher13 reply :
I dont have much experience in the matter except once at my cousins pond. He had explicit rules for his renters not to keep any bass, fearing they would destroy the population. Well he went out there one day to find one fishing with a stringer full of them. Worst thing is a turtle had started to eat what been about a 4lber. ticked him off enough to tell them they were no longer aloud to fish the pond.
Bassin_Fin@tic reply :
Most of the time in my experience these guys are the ones that sit around with bobbers or maybe tight lines for cats. ANY sunfish whatsoever from 3 inches up goes in the bucket! Who knows what they do with them! Grind em up and make cat food or what? LOL
The ones that just plain out irritate the sh** out of me are the ones who DO KNOW how to fish rather well for bass and they throw out the 1-2.5 lbers that they should be keeping and walk away with fish in the 4-8 lb range!!! Guess they aren't exactly "bucket fisherman" but there are other well known explicit terms that cannot be used on a family friendly forum to describe these scumbags!
Hyrule Bass reply :
i have no problem with people keeping fish as long as theyre doing so in a legal fashion within the law. what ticks me off is people that constantly complain about others keeping legal fish. that person has a right to keep that fish whether its a 2lber or a 10lber. as long as the law wasnt broken you have no right to complain, ok maybe you have the right to complain, but you still have no ground to stand on if youre mad someone legally kept a 10lber. maybe its not the best thing for the fishery, but that fish wasnt going to live forever anyways, now was it?
basscatcher8 reply :
This is what they started doing at the local lake by me to try to crack down on the ones doing this. They dont expect the undercover to be out there.
The fisherman that are breaking these rules knowingly bug the hell outta me.
bassmedic46 reply :
I was always taught if its not your land you stay off it unless you ask permission, These people are breaking the law.
FishinDaddy reply :
On 1/19/2012 at 11:18 AM, Raider Nation Fisher said:they need to get permission to fish it. I got total dog doing calculus looks from them.
Best line of the thread. Two of my favorite mountain biking spots are county parks with great fishing lakes. If I see someone that's keeping illegal fish I will go up to them and start asking a bunch of questions about the fishing regulations, pretending I actually don't know the rules. I'm not confrontational (cause you don't know who's packing) but if you ask enough questions they all get that look on their face and pick up and leave eventually.
scrutch reply :
How do we get them excited about bucket fishing for asian carp? I'd kinda like to turn this negative into a positive...Keep all ya want boys!
bman310 reply :
As a bass fisherman who fishes Los Angeles City Lakes, I've always considered a "Bucket Fisherman" a fishernan who takes home anything that fits in their bucket. From what I see, they are generally people who are fishing for Catfish or Carp, but they take home any bass they manage to catch, regardless of it's size. Always makes me sick when I see a guy with Zero knowledge of bass fishing using a 10 foot rod equipped with a rod bell, 65 lb braid with night crawler take home a 9 lb bass for dinner.
-b
Captain Shane Procell reply :
Bucket fishermen don't bother me in the least. I know they are trying to put food on the table to feed their family. I often take a portion of my limit (if i have kept any) and pass them out as I'am coming in. It is common to see migrant field hands fishing on saturday and sunday in my area. I know these guys are just looking for something to cook and eat. So helping them out puts a smile on my face.
fishingfourfun reply :
I was raised in south Florida and saw firsthand the "bucket fisherman" mentality. I do however, feel for their plight but the fish are a resource for all people. It is very rarely that I keep any fish for myself but if someone with me wants to keep some I would have no objection if within legal limits. I have even been asked for the fish I caught. In my opinion we have two choices: raise the fee for licenses for more wildlife officers or we can call anytime we see someone not obeying the law.
K_Mac reply :
Captain Shane I completely agree with you. People fishing for sustenance don't bother me, and I have also given away the occasional fish over the years. Within the confines of the law, more power to them. Those that disregard the law give them all a bad name, and if I see it happening I will tell them directly and call the hot-line. Unfortunately there are not enough agents to go around...
Caver reply :
On 1/21/2012 at 7:25 AM, basscatcher8 said:This is what they started doing at the local lake by me to try to crack down on the ones doing this. They dont expect the undercover to be out there.
The fisherman that are breaking these rules knowingly bug the hell outta me.
Wow awesome post. Had no idea they had some guys out there enforcing the rules.
NorcalBassin reply :
I don't have a problem with the guys taking fish home within the regs (we have a lot of put and take lakes around here), but it drives me nuts when I see abuse of the regs or when an area is cleaned out and left to look like an old homeless camp.
scrutch reply :
I have run into a couple bucket fishermen around here that are keeping legal sized smallies from the small river we have running through our town. They were perfectly within their rights to keep those fish. This was during the spawn and the bass were obviously females full of eggs. I took the time to educate those folks on the importance of allowing those fish to spawn. That river is a very small fishery and keeping those fish would make a significant negative impact on the population. Fortunately the bass have been on stringers and after listening to my soapbox speech they let me release the fish. In these cases the people didn't understand the effect they were having on the river. Sometimes it just takes a little patience and education to get these people to see the light.
A-Rob reply :
On 1/21/2012 at 10:29 PM, Captain Shane Procell said:Bucket fishermen don't bother me in the least. I know they are trying to put food on the table to feed their family. I often take a portion of my limit (if i have kept any) and pass them out as I'am coming in. It is common to see migrant field hands fishing on saturday and sunday in my area. I know these guys are just looking for something to cook and eat. So helping them out puts a smile on my face.
That is fine as long the laws are being followed. Where I'm from "bucket fishermen" refers to those poaching (typically piling their fish into their white buckets).
All of us that deer hunt ethically and legally would be livid with people setting up illegal traps and poaching deer. Same thing in my mind, poaching is poaching.
Of course it is unfortunate that stereotypes (such as this one) gives those who are hungry and fishing legally for their dinner a bad reputation...
jmb27 reply :
On 1/22/2012 at 6:18 AM, A-Rob said:That is fine as long the laws are being followed. Where I'm from "bucket fishermen" refers to those poaching (typically piling their fish into their white buckets).
All of us that deer hunt ethically and legally would be livid with people setting up illegal traps and poaching deer. Same thing in my mind, poaching is poaching.
Of course it is unfortunate that stereotypes (such as this one) gives those who are hungry and fishing legally for their dinner a bad reputation...
This. Someone keeping some legally caught fish to eat? Good for them. Yeah, it stinks when I see a guy at the ramp taking home 4 or 5 bass in the 3-6 lb. range after he told me that he "frees the small 1 and 2 lbers to let them grow up." 
He has it wrong, but he was within his rights to do so.
However, most of us know bucket fishermen as those that have little to no regard for the applicable fishing laws (or someone's property rights) and in addition to keeping anything that bites of any size, they often leave their fishing area littered with trash and a complete mess.
Borderline11 reply :
While I haven't personally kept any fish I've ever caught, I've made the decision that I will take a few home this year and try to cook a bit. There are a few bodies of water that I fish pretty hard (but few others even know they exist) where I've found that there is an abundance of fish in the 1-2 lb range. Unfortunately, there is a limited number of fish larger than that. Some of the older fish are starting to have the enlarged head appearance, which I suspect is the result of a lack of nutrition. Others just seem thin bodied, lacking the full, round belly. These smaller bass have limited the food source, restricting the overall growth potential of the entire fish population. A food source is not my motivation, cultivating the body of water to produce healthier, larger fish is. I don't have the resources to stock the properties with feeder trout , so I'm thinking that I may be able to encourage greater growth potentials by lessening the competition for food.
Frog Turds reply :
On 1/22/2012 at 11:33 AM, jmb27 said:Yeah, it stinks when I see a guy at the ramp taking home 4 or 5 bass in the 3-6 lb. range after he told me that he "frees the small 1 and 2 lbers to let them grow up."
He has it wrong, but he was within his rights to do so..
that's an opportunity to educate 
jmb27 reply :
On 1/23/2012 at 5:33 AM, Frog Turds said:that's an opportunity to educate
I did mention that it is better to eat the 1-2 lber and let the bigger fish and their genetics stay in this lake, which is small at 130 acres or so.
At least he was having a fish fry I guess.
A-Rob reply :
For some reason it is tough to keep people under the legal limit let alone releasing the trophy's and keeping the little ones.....Sure sounds easy enough but a lot of people just don't care, it is frustrating.
RyneB reply :
I have bad experience with the bucket fishermen. On the illinois river, there is only one spot that i catch decent smallies from. It is where a creek runs into the river. Well these bucket fishermen (all foreign) line the creek mouth. Throw bait nets. Keep everything they catch from smallmouth too white bass. Then they use the shad they catch to catch smallies, flatheads,white bass, largemouth. Then they keep them. They also leave behind all the garbage they have accumulated. I watched as they left the spot, i took the boat to shore and started picking up there garbage. I counted 46 smallmouth cut up bodies, tons of catfish, several largemouth, and tons of white bass. A lot of the smallmouth they cut up looked to be 12 inches and under. They go down there with 20 plus people, each with 2+ rods. Then they have a couple guys taking the coolers back and forth from the vehicles. The illinois river isnt the greatest bass fishery, so it needs all the help it can get. These guys kill this stretch of river and its frustrating. Our local DNR doesnt care, as long as theyre not harming "the great walleye/sauger," they dont care.
I pulled up to this spot one time and a guy threw a weighted snagging hook at my boat. I keep a .45 in the boat, i almost went postal. Its just a lack of respect. My buddys get a boat load of asian carp and sell them to the bucket boys for good money. I dont even bother.
Christian M reply :
A few friends and I fish a small private pond (about 6 acres) which is stocked by the DNR but the stocking is paid for by the folks who live around the pond, its added to their property tax (about 8 homes). It holds Largemouth, Chain Pickeril, Channel Cats, Bluegill, Black Crappy, Perch, Sun Fish ect. Lucky for us the homeowners are kind enough to let us fish the pond. The biggest bass we've caught & released so far was 6lbs! Those of us that know about this spot generally keep it to ourselves and protect it. We keep it as clean as possible by hanging garbage bags on trees & picking up garbage left behind by morons, there's also the occasional chasing out "bucket fisherman" which is always fun. Well two seasons ago we pulled up bright and early to fish our spot and there was a guy standing knee deep in the water, with his dress slacks rolled up, using live bait, with a big cooler hidden in the bushes. Needless to say we approached and asked what he was doing with the cooler and where his fishing license was?? In a really hard accent he replied something along the lines of "I have license" then he tells us that he owns a sushi/hibachi restaurant right up the road!! So we got on the horn and called the local game warden who had approached us once and after a few minutes of friendly conversation gave us her direct cell number. Next thing u know our friend was dumping his cooler and hightailing it off the property fines in hand! The part that really bugged me was thinking about how many times he probably caught the "Fresh Seared Panfish" special out of this industrial runoff pond??!! Thank God I never ate there.
slonezp reply :
On 1/26/2012 at 7:39 AM, RyneB said:I have bad experience with the bucket fishermen. On the illinois river, there is only one spot that i catch decent smallies from. It is where a creek runs into the river. Well these bucket fishermen (all foreign) line the creek mouth. Throw bait nets. Keep everything they catch from smallmouth too white bass. Then they use the shad they catch to catch smallies, flatheads,white bass, largemouth. Then they keep them. They also leave behind all the garbage they have accumulated. I watched as they left the spot, i took the boat to shore and started picking up there garbage. I counted 46 smallmouth cut up bodies, tons of catfish, several largemouth, and tons of white bass. A lot of the smallmouth they cut up looked to be 12 inches and under. They go down there with 20 plus people, each with 2+ rods. Then they have a couple guys taking the coolers back and forth from the vehicles. The illinois river isnt the greatest bass fishery, so it needs all the help it can get. These guys kill this stretch of river and its frustrating. Our local DNR doesnt care, as long as theyre not harming "the great walleye/sauger," they dont care.
I pulled up to this spot one time and a guy threw a weighted snagging hook at my boat. I keep a .45 in the boat, i almost went postal. Its just a lack of respect. My buddys get a boat load of asian carp and sell them to the bucket boys for good money. I dont even bother.
What? You say the IDNR doesn't care?LOL
I think it's more that they are spread thin and it's extremely difficult for them to enforce the rules. They are not only enforcing fishing/hunting rules but also any other illegal activities that take place. Here's a link with all the stuff that is caught. http://dnr.state.il.us/law3/report/index.htm They are supposed to be hiring 15 additional officers this year, which should help.
RyneB reply :
Not saying they dont care. But on several occasions i have called the IDNR and reported the incident. I stayed in the area for several hours and noone showed up. Its just frustrating, I respect everything they do, but if theyre spread so thin, hire more officers.
Raider Nation Fisher reply :
On 1/26/2012 at 7:39 AM, RyneB said:I have bad experience with the bucket fishermen. On the illinois river, there is only one spot that i catch decent smallies from. It is where a creek runs into the river. Well these bucket fishermen (all foreign) line the creek mouth. Throw bait nets. Keep everything they catch from smallmouth too white bass. Then they use the shad they catch to catch smallies, flatheads,white bass, largemouth. Then they keep them. They also leave behind all the garbage they have accumulated. I watched as they left the spot, i took the boat to shore and started picking up there garbage. I counted 46 smallmouth cut up bodies, tons of catfish, several largemouth, and tons of white bass. A lot of the smallmouth they cut up looked to be 12 inches and under. They go down there with 20 plus people, each with 2+ rods. Then they have a couple guys taking the coolers back and forth from the vehicles. The illinois river isnt the greatest bass fishery, so it needs all the help it can get. These guys kill this stretch of river and its frustrating. Our local DNR doesnt care, as long as theyre not harming "the great walleye/sauger," they dont care.
I pulled up to this spot one time and a guy threw a weighted snagging hook at my boat. I keep a .45 in the boat, i almost went postal. Its just a lack of respect. My buddys get a boat load of asian carp and sell them to the bucket boys for good money. I dont even bother.
That woulda been the last hook he ever threw. My 9mm would have made sure of that. Cause I got 30 little friends and one in the chamber. Unless I have both glocks with me, then I have 60 little friends and two in the chambers. I love high cap magazines.
slonezp reply :
On 1/27/2012 at 7:21 AM, Raider Nation Fisher said:That woulda been the last hook he ever threw. My 9mm would have made sure of that. Cause I got 30 little friends and one in the chamber. Unless I have both glocks with me, then I have 60 little friends and two in the chambers. I love high cap magazines.
Raider, This is IL. We have the strictest gun laws in the country to go along with high crime rates. The only state without some type of CC
NCbassmaster4Life reply :
On 1/27/2012 at 7:21 AM, Raider Nation Fisher said:That woulda been the last hook he ever threw. My 9mm would have made sure of that. Cause I got 30 little friends and one in the chamber. Unless I have both glocks with me, then I have 60 little friends and two in the chambers. I love high cap magazines.
That's when my expertese swimming skills come in lol.
Gangley reply :
Strictest gun laws and high crime rate......why does it not surpise me that the two go hand in hand?
Chattahoochee reply :
An armed society is a polite society. And Salt Loads deter trespassing pretty well.
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