Authority: IC
14-10-2-4; IC
14-22-2-6
Affected: IC 14-22
Sec. 2.
(a) Except
as provided under section 16 of this rule with respect to the Ohio River, this
section governs the lawful methods for fishing under this rule.
(b) An individual may take fish with the aid
of illumination of any of the following:
(1)
A spotlight.
(2) A
searchlight.
(3) An artificial
light.
(c) An individual
may take fish with not more than three (3) poles, hand lines, or tip-ups at a
time. Except as provided in subsections (g) and (k), an individual must affix
to each line or pole not more than:
(1) three
(3) hooks;
(2) three (3) artificial
lures; or
(3) a combination of
hooks or artificial lures not to exceed a total of three (3).
(d) An individual must not take
fish from:
(1) waters containing state-owned
fish;
(2) waters of the state;
or
(3) boundary waters;
by means of a hook dragged or jerked through the water with
the intent to snag fish on contact.
(e) An individual must not take trout or
salmon from a water of the state unless the fish is hooked in the
mouth.
(f) An individual must not
fish with more than ten (10) limb lines or drop lines at a time. Each line:
(1) shall have not more than one (1) hook
affixed;
(2) must bear a legible
tag with the name and address of the user or the individual's customer
identification number issued by the department; and
(3) shall be attended at least once every
twenty-four (24) hours.
A limb line or drop line shall not be used within three
hundred (300) yards of a dam that wholly or partly crosses a water of the
state.
(g) An
individual must not ice fish on waters of the state, except as follows:
(1) A tip-up (a device that uses a flag to
signal when a fish takes the bait from a fishing line) must:
(A) be constantly in sight of the user;
and
(B) have affixed a legible tag
bearing the name and address of the user or the individual's customer
identification number issued by the department.
(2) An ice fishing shelter must visibly bear
the name and address of the owner or the owner's customer identification number
issued by the department in three (3) inch block letters on the outside of the
door.
(3) An ice fishing shelter
that is on the waters between sunset and sunrise must have, on each side of the
structure or shelter, at least one (1) red reflector or a three (3) inch by
three (3) inch reflective material strip.
(4) An ice fishing shelter must be removed
from the waters before ice-out.
(5)
Except from January 1 through February 15, an ice fishing shelter must be
removed daily.
(h) An
individual must not take fish with more than one (1) trotline, set line, or
throw line. A line must have not more than fifty (50) hooks affixed. A trotline
must be:
(1) anchored to the bottom;
or
(2) set not less than three (3)
feet below the surface of the water.
A legible tag with the name and address of the user or the
individual's customer identification number issued by the department must be
affixed to each trotline. Each trotline must be attended at least once every
twenty-four (24) hours. An individual must not take fish from Lake Michigan
with a trotline, set line, or throw line.
(i) An individual must not take fish from a
lake with free-float lines or fish from a river or stream with more than five
(5) freefloat lines. Not more than one (1) hook shall be affixed to each line.
A free-float line:
(1) shall bear the name
and address of the user or the individual's customer identification number
issued by the department; and
(2)
must not be constructed of glass.
Each free-float line must be in constant attendance by the
person fishing.
(j) An individual must not possess a fish
spear, gig, gaff, pitchfork, bowfishing equipment, crossbow, grab hook, spear
gun, club, snag hook, or underwater spear in, on, or adjacent to any of the
following:
(1) The Galena River (LaPorte
County).
(2) Trail Creek (LaPorte
County).
(3) The East Branch of the
Little Calumet River (LaPorte and Porter counties).
(4) Salt Creek (Porter County).
(5) The West Branch of the Little Calumet
River (Lake and Porter counties).
(6) Portage Burns Waterway (formerly known as
Burns Ditch) (Porter and Lake counties).
(7) Deep River downstream from the dam at
Camp 133 (Lake County).
(8) The
tributaries of these waterways.
(k) An individual must not fish:
(1) the waterways described in subsection
(j);
(2) the St. Joseph River and
its tributary streams from the Twin Branch dam downstream to the Michigan state
line (St. Joseph County); or
(3)
the East Fork White River from Williams Dam to the Huron and Williams Road
bridge in Lawrence County from March 15 through April 20;
with more than one (1) single hook per line or one (1)
artificial lure. Single hooks, including those on artificial lures, shall not
exceed one-half (1/2) inch from point to shank. Double and treble hooks on
artificial lures shall not exceed three-eighths (3/8) inch from point to
shank.
(l) An
individual may take smelt from March 1 through May 30 only from Lake Michigan
and only by the use of dip nets, seines, or nets as follows:
(1) One (1) dip net not to exceed twelve (12)
feet in diameter.
(2) One (1) seine
or net:
(A) not to exceed twelve (12) feet
long and six (6) feet deep; and
(B)
having a stretch mesh larger than one and one-half (1 1/2) inches.
Each seine or net shall have affixed a legible tag with the
name and address of the user.
(m) An individual may, by means of a fish
spear, gig, spear gun, or underwater spear, take only any sucker, carp, Asian
carp, gar, bowfin, buffalo, or shad and only from the following rivers:
(1) West Fork of the White River from its
junction with the East Fork upstream to the dam below the Harding Street
generating plant of the Indianapolis Power and Light Company in Marion
County.
(2) East Fork of the White
River from its junction with the West Fork upstream to the dam at the south
edge of the city of Columbus in Bartholomew County.
(3) White River from its junction with the
West Fork of the White River and East Fork of the White River to its junction
with the Wabash River in Gibson, Knox, and Pike counties.
(4) Wabash River from its junction with the
Ohio River upstream to State Road 13 at the south edge of the city of Wabash in
Wabash County.
(5) Tippecanoe River
upstream from its junction with the Wabash River to one-half (1/2) mile below
its junction with Big Creek in Carroll County. An individual must not possess a
fish spear or fish gig in, on, or adjacent to the Tippecanoe River from
one-half (1/2) mile below its junction with Big Creek in Carroll County
upstream to the Oakdale Dam that forms Lake Freeman.
(6) Maumee River from the Ohio state line
upstream to the Anthony Boulevard Bridge in the city of Fort Wayne.
(7) Kankakee River from the Illinois state
line upstream to State Road 55 bridge south of the city of Shelby in Lake
County.
(8) St. Joseph River in St.
Joseph and Elkhart counties.
(n) In addition to any other lawful method,
an individual may take a sucker, carp, Asian carp, gar, bowfin, buffalo, or
shad by:
(1) bowfishing equipment or crossbow
from Lake Michigan; or
(2) spear,
gig, spear gun, underwater spear, crossbow, or bowfishing equipment from
another lake.
(o) An
individual may take a sucker, carp, Asian carp, gar, or bowfin with not more
than one (1) snare only between sunrise and sunset.
(p) Except as specified at subsection (j), an
individual may use bowfishing equipment or a crossbow on rivers and streams to
take any sucker, carp, Asian carp, gar, bowfin, buffalo, or shad.