has anybody talked with the dnr to see why they outlawed castnets
I am just curious as they seem like they would be good at catching bait.

Technically I think they were always illegal. The wording was never clear one way or the other.
It was brought up more than a few times last year, and word probably traveled that it needed to be cleared up.

thanks. does anyone know how they decided that a seine is diff. than a cast net? they both catch bait.

If it made sense, you wouldn't be in Minnesota.

Well, I talked with a fisheries manager down in St. Paul today about some other topics and ask him about this one.

He said because our waters hold the prize game fish (Walleye and Yellow perch), these fish’s young are photo positive and feed in deeper waters up by the surface. The cast nets and I found out the Umbrella Dip net can be used to harvest bait’s in deeper water. The seine net can only be used primarily in shallow water and not has much of an effect on the photo positive game fish minnows up to 3” long.

The cast net and umbrella dip net are used primarily down south for thread fin and gizzard shad in deeper waters.

Basically minnow nets for shallow use are legal; while minnow nets that have capabilities of being used in deeper water are illegal.

Oh, we are the only state "prize" gamefish. Anyone here really believe cast nets would adversely effect walleye numbers? How many people would actually use them?

I can't wait until they take away the limit on flatheads because they eat prize gamefish. I love Minnesota. You own a bar and the state says you cannot allow smoking in it. You can't use a cast net because it will make the Minnesota walleye extinct.

I know, why do I live here. Because I love it despite these things.

They are illegal because it would be too easy for me to get bait. I have heard they work good for getting catfish bait.