Help out a noobie here....never been to the BWCA but am planning a trip this fall with a buddy who has been there. I'm a fisherman, he's not, in fact I'm not sure he's ever fished when he's been up there. Assuming "we" catch some, what is the proper etiquette, or what is acceptable, when it comes to fish remains and the LNT philosophy? I've seen several videos on youtube where the remains certainly aren't packed and carried out, so what do you do with fish remains?

That is a hot topic that has been covered before. The "correct" answer is to bury the remains, away from campsites and portages, and 150 feet from the waters edge.

That is indeed the Politically Correct Answer, but tossing them in shallow water away from any campsites is pure, common sense.
They'll last two hours or less before they've been devoured by a Sea Gull, Eagle, Snapping Turtle, Turkey Vulture,Mink, Pike, Otter, etc.
Whoever thought that burying the entrails is a great idea better spend some time in the environment they make regulations for.
Sheeeeeeeeeeesh!!

Who is the genius who came up with "official policy" to bury fish remains? Now do you understand why faith in "the smartest folks in the room" (government) is so misplaced?

It doesn't take a college degree to figure out the unintended consequences. No one will be able to dig deep enough to actually eliminate the odor and bears and wolves will start to frequent campsites, making "the rounds" as it were looking for fish. This proximity will promote ever more habituation with consequences for bears and people. Now if I, a fellow without a degree, can figure this out why can't they?

The problem is the people who make the rules have never spent a day in the B-dub, and only know where it is because someone told them it's in northern Minnesota. Nothing worse than sitting in camp when the wind blows thru from the direction where the last campers buried 20 or 30 fish carcasses, and some animal has dug them up.

In Quetico we deep 6 them.

quote QueticoMike: "In Quetico we deep 6 them."

As it should be!!

I do the same on Crown Land. Chuck them close enough to camp and you'll soon have camp turtle hanging around, hoping for more. They tread water just off the shore, watching me, which I love.

Even the crayfish get in on the action when you get rid of them in shallow water.

Where do the fish go when they die naturally? Somewhere in the water.

Where do fish go when they are eaten by other fish? Somewhere In the water.

K

quote Kawnipi1: "Where do the fish go when they die naturally?


K"

Well if they have been a good fish, not raided other fishes nests, not eaten someone's kids or spouse or not taken someone's favorite weed bed, then they go to fish heaven.......everybody knows that!

Personally I deep six them out in the middle of the lake. This way the guts are away from camp and bears and animals will not be digging them back up. Also it won't attract seagulls. The main reason I think that they don't want you to dump fish in the water is people are lazy. They would dump fish guts on the shore of the campsite. It would look like a fish graveyard after a few months. We use plastic bags from stores for the guts, dump way out in the lake, and then rinse the bags for reuse.

quote Savage Voyageur: "Personally I deep six them out in the middle of the lake. This way the guts are away from camp and bears and animals will not be digging them back up. Also it won't attract seagulls. The main reason I think that they don't want you to dump fish in the water is people are lazy. They would dump fish guts on the shore of the campsite. It would look like a fish graveyard after a few months. We use plastic bags from stores for the guts, dump way out in the lake, and then rinse the bags for reuse."

+1 exactly.........

I clip carcasses (skin still attached at the tails) back on my stringer, then take it and a handful of ribcages out to deep water to drop off.

I brought two guys from New Jersey up a couple of weekends ago. One of the campsites we stopped at to take a break and swim had fish guts shallow enough were we could touch and see them. Get them out of the way, somewhere nobody is going to notice them. These people obviously washed their dishes right there in the swimming area too so they were idiots, North Temperance they left the morning of 07/09, but for someone who is just new, make sure they are not by a campsite, it can ruin the experience.

ya it's kind of hard to bury fish guts in rock , when we got our last permit in may at the GM ranger station , they've changed there tune on bury fish remains to leaving it for the animals/gulls etc... but what cracked me up was they also stated dont feed the animals there well adapted to feeding themselves.

quote Kobykat: "I brought two guys from New Jersey up a couple of weekends ago. One of the campsites we stopped at to take a break and swim had fish guts shallow enough were we could touch and see them. Get them out of the way, somewhere nobody is going to notice them. These people obviously washed their dishes right there in the swimming area too so they were idiots, North Temperance they left the morning of 07/09, but for someone who is just new, make sure they are not by a campsite, it can ruin the experience."

+1 The key is away from camp. I too reattach the carcass to a stringer and paddle to a shallow bay away from camp, portage and normal traffic areas. Keep it shallow so the crayfish can do the final cleanup.
Someplace with lily pads or sparse weeds is ideal. I.e. not visible in clear, deep water.

I deep-6 all fish remains--no sense in feeding seagulls (aka: albino shit-hawks).

The reason that this is technically illegal here in Minnesota is that many (most?) folks are so lazy that they would just toss the remains into shallow water off of boat landings and campsite, where they are a disgusting mess for other users.

quote QueticoMike: "

quote Savage Voyageur: "Personally I deep six them out in the middle of the lake. This way the guts are away from camp and bears and animals will not be digging them back up. Also it won't attract seagulls. The main reason I think that they don't want you to dump fish in the water is people are lazy. They would dump fish guts on the shore of the campsite. It would look like a fish graveyard after a few months. We use plastic bags from stores for the guts, dump way out in the lake, and then rinse the bags for reuse."

+1 exactly........."

+2
Deep six them in water at least much more deeper than you can see and hopefully won't resurface. Deeper the better actually.
Make sure the air bladder is broke. I don't like them to be dumped in shallow water because rotting dead fish in front of a campsite the next bunch of campers would be very disgusting. Seen that once with the cleaned carcasses of 4 nice lake trout 6 feet out from camp. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I wonder if the reason not to deep six them is a carry over from the rest of the state where it would be illegal. Also I could imagine a lake with a lot of cabins and 100's of people dumping the fish guts in the water.

I have seen in hot weather fish dumped in the water where there still would be oxygen on the bottom. Well a very fast breakdown of the fish by bacteria produced gas in the flesh causing them to surface.
That should rarely happen without much flesh left from skinning. Just deeper the better.

quote Kobykat: "I brought two guys from New Jersey up a couple of weekends ago. One of the campsites we stopped at to take a break and swim had fish guts shallow enough were we could touch and see them. Get them out of the way, somewhere nobody is going to notice them. These people obviously washed their dishes right there in the swimming area too so they were idiots, North Temperance they left the morning of 07/09, but for someone who is just new, make sure they are not by a campsite, it can ruin the experience."

agree

quote Pinetree: "...Seen that once with the cleaned carcasses of 4 nice lake trout 6 feet out from camp. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth..."

Well why did you eat them in the first place???

quote jhb8426: "

quote Pinetree: "...Seen that once with the cleaned carcasses of 4 nice lake trout 6 feet out from camp. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth..."

Well why did you eat them in the first place???"

LOL

I did 2 trips in May this year and each time I picked up my permit at a different outfitter. Both of them said the the FS changed their mind and doesn't want you to bury fish remains anymore but still want you to take them back in the woods away from the water. Both of them said not to walk from the campsite but to get in the canoe and go paddle somewhere away from campsites and portages to do it.

Whichever way other people do it...... back in the woods or in the water.... I just hope they paddle away from camp to do it somewhere. Several times my dog has found fish remains just outside of a campsite and one time on Perent we decided on a campsite and luckily for us while we were eating a quick snack before setting up the wind shifted and we got a whif of dead fish so I walked back towards the latrine and about 20 feet off the trail was a huge pile of remains.

Last year when I went to Crocodile w/ big duckling someone left a big pile of remains in shallow water near the campsite.

quote QueticoMike: "

quote jhb8426: "

quote Pinetree: "...Seen that once with the cleaned carcasses of 4 nice lake trout 6 feet out from camp. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth..."

Well why did you eat them in the first place???"

LOL"

Took me a second to figure your comment out(I was a little slow) before I laughed. Figure of speech on my part. Maybe should of said a bad imprint left in my mind of the occasion. QueticoMike pretty sharp there LOL.

Several years ago there was an article in BWJ about fish remains. My summary/memory(hopefully my memory is working today) of what the article said was that scientifically the best thing to do is to deep six them away from shorelines, but if you follow the rules and take them back in the woods you should paddle away from your campsite and find a spot where you can land your canoe and walk back into the woods. It said whichever way you do it...... deep six or back in the woods..... that you should paddle away from camp somewhere to do it.

quote Pinetree: "

quote QueticoMike: "

quote jhb8426: "

quote Pinetree: "...Seen that once with the cleaned carcasses of 4 nice lake trout 6 feet out from camp. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth..."

Well why did you eat them in the first place???"

LOL"

Took me a second to figure your comment out(I was a little slow) before I laughed. Figure of speech on my part. Maybe should of said a bad imprint left in my mind of the occasion. QueticoMike pretty sharp there LOL."

That wasn't my comment about why did you eat them, my only comment was the LOL after I read what " jhb8426 " wrote. Just wanted to give him his just due for the comment :)

quote ducks: "Several years ago there was an article in BWJ about fish remains. My summary/memory(hopefully my memory is working today) of what the article said was that scientifically the best thing to do is to deep six them away from shorelines, but if you follow the rules and take them back in the woods you should paddle away from your campsite and find a spot where you can land your canoe and walk back into the woods. It said whichever way you do it...... deep six or back in the woods..... that you should paddle away from camp somewhere to do it. "

agree

Thanks everybody for the input. If we're fortunate enough to catch some, sounds like I'll just deep six them in deeper water, away from camps/portages.

When sending them to the bottom in deep water, make sure that the swim bladder on each fish has been cut open so that they will sink. I've forgotten to do this and had them come floating back to shore.

quote SouthernExposure: "When sending them to the bottom in deep water, make sure that the swim bladder on each fish has been cut open so that they will sink. I've forgotten to do this and had them come floating back to shore."

Correct ,sometimes they will sink for awhile,but that extra buoancy(sp) and bacteria breakdown and gas buildup could and does bring them to the surface on occasion.

Don't even try to bury fish remains as you cannot dig deep and the smell will stink up the area attracting critters. A campsite we just camped on had fish remains near it and it was not nice. Quetico recommends dropping the remains in deep water and let the water critters eat the dead fish up. Makes sense to me.

quote Pinetree: "

quote SouthernExposure: "When sending them to the bottom in deep water, make sure that the swim bladder on each fish has been cut open so that they will sink. I've forgotten to do this and had them come floating back to shore."

Correct ,sometimes they will sink for awhile,but that extra buoancy(sp) and bacteria breakdown and gas buildup could and does bring them to the surface on occasion."

That's also why it's usually pretty easy to find drowning victims after about 3-4 days...

We put the fish guts in our empty beer cans and sink them in deep water.

Great idea, so the small forms of aquatic life have something to eat when they move into one of the newly developed "Candominiums!" :)

Page 35 of the fishing regulations states:

"You can’t dispose of any rubbish (including parts of fish, fish guts or other animals),
poisonous substances, fish line or chemicals harmful to aquatic life into public
waters, onto ice, or onto lake and stream shores."

Since Minnesota controls the fishing regulations in the BWCA the forest service cannot tell its visitors to break Minnesota regulations. You could be ticketed for deep sixing the guts.
Now I don't see any harm to the lake environment to putting fish guts in the lake or on rocks away from camp in the wilderness but the statewide regulations are meant to cover all the lakes. What a mess there would be if people started to throw the guts by docks, launches, or public and private beaches. Many people are ignorant of the consequences
of dumping fish guts just anywhere or too inconsiderate of others so the law is there.

When I first went to the BWCA we did bury the guts away from camp on an island one time, we cheeked on it the next day and something had already dug it up and they were gone.

Over the years the FS has changed their recommendation at least 4 time that I remember.

We do not always follow the letter of the law, just saying.

Jay

quote Big Tent: "Page 35 of the fishing regulations states:


"You can’t dispose of any rubbish (including parts of fish, fish guts or other animals),
poisonous substances, fish line or chemicals harmful to aquatic life into public
waters, onto ice, or onto lake and stream shores."


Since Minnesota controls the fishing regulations in the BWCA the forest service cannot tell its visitors to break Minnesota regulations. You could be ticketed for deep sixing the guts.
Now I don't see any harm to the lake environment to putting fish guts in the lake or on rocks away from camp in the wilderness but the statewide regulations are meant to cover all the lakes. What a mess there would be if people started to throw the guts by docks, launches, or public and private beaches. Many people are ignorant of the consequences
of dumping fish guts just anywhere or too inconsiderate of others so the law is there.


When I first went to the BWCA we did bury the guts away from camp on an island one time, we cheeked on it the next day and something had already dug it up and they were gone.


Over the years the FS has changed their recommendation at least 4 time that I remember.


We do not always follow the letter of the law, just saying.


Jay
"

That is part of the problem it is a statewide law. I t would be nice to get a law change so you could dispose in the waters for the BWCA.
But like always some would throw them everywhere and how would Conservation officers or Forest rangers enforce poor judgement and such. It could open and create a mess?