# Corn to become legal bait?



## bekins24 (Sep 22, 2015)

https://www.ksl.com/?sid=40044672&nid=1288

Take a survey, might not matter anyway but at least you can feel like you made a difference. haha


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

Why is corn illegal anyway? Its been illegal for as long as I can remember. Seems like my old man told me when I was a kid that its because fish cant digest it and die regardless of you landing them or not.


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## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

I have read studies that while it is not the easiest to digest (for fish or humans) it really poses no real true threat. Humans and fish do not digest the hulls but do get most of the nutrients as it passes through the digestive tract. I know that corn that has been processed at high temperatures is much easier to pass through and helps the process. Fish can die from eating relatively large portions of corn at once especially if it has not been processed or is raw.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

While corn isnt the best for fish, it certainly has been disproven it kills them:

http://fishandboat.com/images/pages/qa/fish_regs/corn_chum.htm



> Commission fisheries biologist Tom Bender at our Benner Spring Fish Research Station conducted a study in 1992 that examined the impact of corn on trout. For the study, two groups of hatchery rainbow trout were held in separate tanks and tested for 54 days. In one tank, 20 rainbow trout (average size 8.3 inches) were fed a diet of whole kernel corn. In the second tank, 20 rainbow trout of the same size were fed a standard trout pellet diet.
> 
> *During the 54 day study period, no mortalities occurred from trout of either study group.* However, study results did show that the trout fed with a corn diet did not digest the corn particularly well. The growth observed by the corn-fed trout during the study period was only about half of that observed from the trout that were fed the standard trout pellet diet.
> 
> *The conclusion from this study was that there appears to be little reason for concern about the short term health hazards for rainbow trout when whole kernel corn is used for bait. *Although there are better diets for trout than whole kernel corn, _*this study confirms that mortality does not occur when trout ingest whole kernel corn.*_


-DallanC


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Can't wait to chum for carp england style

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

swbuckmaster said:


> Can't wait to chum for carp england style
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


And here is the real reason they took it away originally. Folks would buy institutional sized cans of corn and mega chum an area where they were fishing, leaving huge messes, not to mention the chumming aspect itself. Apparently, the practice was worst at the old Strawberry, where vast areas would be "carpet bombed " with corn.

(My comment above is not an indictment on the practice of chumming for carp, which I doubt I would have any problem with, except that it likely would still be illegal. I don't think they are proposing to change any chumming laws.)


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## Cooky (Apr 25, 2011)

I doubt corn is as good a bait as us old guys remember, especially without chumming.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

The nice thing about using corn way back when was that if you forgot to bring lunch corn and Velveeta cheese was a pretty good meal.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Open a big old #10 size can of corn put it on the coals with a lb. of butter, who needs fish? >>O


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

Catherder said:


> And here is the real reason they took it away originally. Folks would buy institutional sized cans of corn and mega chum an area where they were fishing, leaving huge messes, not to mention the chumming aspect itself. Apparently, the practice was worst at the old Strawberry, where vast areas would be "carpet bombed " with corn.
> 
> (My comment above is not an indictment on the practice of chumming for carp, which I doubt I would have any problem with, except that it likely would still be illegal. I don't think they are proposing to change any chumming laws.)


This is the key question that should be asked...is the ability to use corn worth the potential messes that it would/could cause? I think that the practice of using corn to chum with could potentially really cause a major mess at smaller but popular fisheries like Panguitch. I can imagine the shorelines littered with corn and corn cans...how long would corn be floating around the lake?

If they do decide to allow the use of corn as a bait, maybe they should institute some kind of law that allows only one can per boat so that excess chumming is not practiced.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

I agree it will cause a huge mess in and around lakes and reservoirs. Nobody is going to open a bag/can of corn and take it home with them after it has sat in the hot sun all day. It will end up on the shore or in the water. Bad idea IMO.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

wyoming2utah said:


> This is the key question that should be asked...is the ability to use corn worth the potential messes that it would/could cause? I think that the practice of using corn to chum with could potentially really cause a major mess at smaller but popular fisheries like Panguitch.


People never stopped chumming... even until now. Yes its illegal... but it doesn't stop the hoards from using dogfood, eggshells, frozen blood or certain pasta.

*I knew a certain guy who used to get road kill deer and sink them in strawberry to act as chum.* He also used to freeze a bucket of blood and hang it under his boat, over the gps marked sunken carcasses. Man that guy caught some really big fish.

Some mighty crazy stuff going on now... doubtful corn will do anything too much worse.



> I can imagine the shorelines littered with corn and corn cans...how long would corn be floating around the lake?


Corn doesnt float... I dont ever remember seeing corn can litter around 'Berry back in the day (Clarks camp etc etc). I'll bet its alot less than the floating nightcrawler tubs floating around / cluttering up the shorelines.

One final thing... normal off the shelf corn isnt all that great for fishing (within states that allow it), there are SPECIFIC types of corn that need to be used. The average idiot grabbing a can of Libby Corn and heading to the lake is mostly wasting his time.

PS: Disclaimer... no I don't use corn. But I've used Zekes Rocky Mt Gold in Corn flavor for decades.

-DallanC


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## dubob (Sep 8, 2007)

*Corn - much ado about nothing*

From the Guidebook we have this:



> Chumming is prohibited on all waters except Lake Powell. Please see the _Rules for specific waters, Lake Powell _on page 32 for more information about chumming at Lake Powell.


And for Lake Powell it says:



> Chumming is allowed, but _you may chum only with legal baits_ or dead striped bass, as specified in Utah Admin. Rule R657-13-12.


Regardless of the law, folks are chumming somewhere in Utah - probably every day. Why? Because they think the rules don't apply to them and enforcement is difficult due to funding and manpower available to cover every body of water in the state. Fishing ethics is in way too short supply in way too many folks in Utah.

Legalizing corn as bait - IMHO - will not have any real impact on the illegal act of chumming in Utah. Those that are inclined to do so will continue to do so; those inclined not to do so (those that actually do have a set of ethics) will not start to do so if corn becomes legal.

It has been proven scientifically that it doesn't harm fish that consume it. So from a bait standpoint, there really isn't a scientific reason to prevent its use as bait. I'm not generally a bait type fisherman, so I could care less if its legal or not. But I have no objections to others using it if that is their choice.

The bottom line is this; if its legal to have with you while fishing, it absolutely WILL be used as chum by some. So the DWR has to decide if pleasing those that would like to use it is worth the additional headaches it will create for the already overstressed law enforcement division. Tough call for the DWR.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

As for it leading to more trash on the shore, probobly will, I cant believe how much crap I can pick up in a 10 foot area while shore fishing. Probobly could catch more fish if I spent less time picking up other peoples trash. hwell:


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

With all the other bait that is available why is it really needed? I grew up using it but haven't missed it, I still catch fish. JMHO


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Regarding those saying that chumming already occurs, so what does it matter; 

Yes, I will agree that chumming does occur and as DallanC described, some folks will go to extraordinary and sneaky lengths to do it. However, to me, that is just the point with corn. The act of chumming goes from a somewhat hard or expensive thing to pull off to a rather easy act to get away with. All you need is to spend $10-12 at Costco for a case of large size cans of corn and a can opener. Enforcement would be difficult, to say the least. 

Way back when I was a teen, I worked with an older guy that used to do this at Strawberry. They had a large boat and would sleep overnight on it. They would buy about 6 cans of the institutional sized cans and dump them over the side the night before, sleep overnight, and start fishing the next day. His description of the engorged rainbows they would catch was somewhat comical. I strongly suspect that we would rapidly see the same things happen if corn were legalized.

I am inclined to favor allowing in in places like Utah lake, for carp, where the carp and other species would be more likely to clean up after themselves when chumming occurred.


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## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

The survey seemed rather loosely formed. I have never seen a setup like it before to query users. You had to say you bait fished to even get to the corn question. I also did not see a way that they limited individuals from submitting the survey multiple times as there were no identifiers, unless they were tracking every IP which is unlikely. Results could be heavily stacked.

Interesting conversation. On one hand affordable bait helps attract other users who otherwise might not be able to afford the sport. On the other hand it makes cheating the system alot easier.

Definitely would be unfortunate to see more shoreline and water liter during the summer at many of our lakes.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

backcountry said:


> Definitely would be unfortunate to see more shoreline and water liter during the summer at many of our lakes.


And there isn't a lot now? Whenever I go shore fishing there are powerbait and salmon egg bottles laying around not to mention old fishing line, pop cans, and big gulp containers on the shore. And it doesn't matter what piece of water I go to.

Perhaps if they would get the State Park Rangers off of their duff and out of the shacks where they sit around and drink coffee all day and out along the shorelines they might curtail a little of this litter.


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