Recently I've been wanting to target flathead catfish & after doing some research I've found that they almost exclusively eat live bait & cut bait. But when cut bait isn't available why can't I use live bait? Is it the worry of invasive species? I mean you guys let us use live cray fish as long as they're caught in the same body of water you're fishing, why not do the same with the bait? Is there any such thing as a live bait permit? Thanks in advance.
Answer:
Hello, thanks for your question about using live bait.
The IDFG rules prohibiting using live fish for bait is a cautious approach for reducing the risk of introducing unwanted species. No LIVE bait fish is relatively easy to enforce. Allowing even capture and use of live fish where one is fishing makes enforcement very difficult. We are more restrictive than most states, but we also have suffered less nuisance species introduction than most states.
Another significant reason for the rule is to reduce the risk of disease transmission from far away sources to Idaho’s fish populations. Some of the diseases spread by live baitfish would not only have negative impacts on sportfishing, but they could also devastate Idaho's aquaculture industry.
We realize that prohibiting live bait is an inconvenience to some anglers, but feel the it is necessary to reduce the risks associated with transporting live fish. At this time, there is no "live bait permit" program.
Answered on:
Thursday, August 13, 2015 - 11:05 AM MDT