Johnny b

I talked to the state biologist this morning who is in charge of Vermilion, champaign and ford counties. If you shoot a potential state fish here is what you got to do. The first thing is to find a certified scale to weigh it on. The state does not have any scales. it is up to you to get it weighed and have your witness sign the DNR Form. As of right now he was not sure if a picture of the fish is good enough to be sent in with the certified weight and signed form. I have one more call to call if you can send just a picture or the whole fish. When A Pole & line fish it is required to send in the whole fish. It may be a little lax for bow fishing. It would be a good idea to do some research to find the bioligst in your area. The forms may be printed off the state web site. www.ifishillinois.org click on bowfishing/spear fishing link. When you do you will see ole Cliff holding a big head that snuffy shot, also Kendall at a fishing clinic. You can also print out the minumum weights required to register a fish. good shooting

Johnny b

well just as i expected. in the past few days i have talked to two different grocery stores that have certified scales and there is no way they will allow a fish to be brought in and weighed (health dept issues). Even if they did they have no way to certify it was weighed on a certified scale. Still have a meat market to check out. It is easy to say a requirement is to have it certified, a lot harder to comply. leave it to ILL.

1Shot2Kills

Hmmmmm, wouldn't an actual bait and tackle store be a good place to get weight certified?

carpsniper

It would IF they had a certified scale.

Most (the vast majority) do not. When you look at the prices of certifiable scales and the fact that they have to be taken in and ceritfied every year (another $25/year minimum)... For a scale that is likely to never be used, I don't blame them.

Johnny b

We are competely open to any one who has any ideas as to who would have a certified scale that would be open to weighing some stinking fish on. Then how do you prove it was a certified scale. If you took the name & Cetification # and was signed by the owner is that proof?

HNI_Christine

Jarad took his big fish to a meat processor to have his fish weighed on a certified scale. He spent a lot of time and money (for ice, gas) to find a certified scale to accept the fish.

I can't remember which certified scale Darin used for his bighead carp. But he was lucky to find one that would take a 92.5 lb fish. (his fish is not recognized by the state record program, even tho' it was weighed on a certified scale and DNA tested).

The club records program is much easier to deal with.

I could get the club scale certified.... but then you'd have to hunt me down to get the fish weighed.