Taking / Catch and Release after your limit

What restrictions or prohibitions are in place after you have filled your daily or yearly bag limit?

The idea of boat limits complicates things a little when saltwater fishing, but its pretty straight forward in freshwater. When you reach your daily or yearly bag limits in freshwater, you're done fishing for that species. You can definitely continue fishing, but you have to target another species. It all comes back to the definition of "take." Take, under the California Endangered Species Act, is defined as “to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill, or ATTEMPT to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill.”

You basically have to stop targeting whichever species you are at your limit, daily, yearly, or possession. 

You can still target other species, but if you continue to "by-catch" the species you've already limited out on, then you either need to move locations or stop fishing. 

From experience, this happened to me when I already had a limit of striped bass, but wanted to target Halibut without moving my fishing area because I knew they were also in the area.  I continued to catch striped bass and one or two small Halibut.  I released them all but was later approached by a DFG warden, and suggested me to move locations because my ratio of striped bass was higher than halibut.

I had heard once you catch a sturgeon you have to stop fishing for sturgeon the rest of the day. I suppose if you catch your yearly limit of sturgeon you wouldn’t want to get caught fishing with a typical sturgeon setup. Catch and release with no tags left might be frowned on?

You cannot target sturgeon once your daily or yearly limit is reached. No grey area on this. If you catch three the first there days of the year you MIST wait till the following year to do it again.

I had heard once you catch a sturgeon you have to stop fishing for sturgeon the rest of the day. I suppose if you catch your yearly limit of sturgeon you wouldn’t want to get caught fishing with a typical sturgeon setup. Catch and release with no tags left might be frowned on?

No, it's not just frowned upon. As Rob said, it's a clear violation.

I had heard once you catch a sturgeon you have to stop fishing for sturgeon the rest of the day. I suppose if you catch your yearly limit of sturgeon you wouldn’t want to get caught fishing with a typical sturgeon setup. Catch and release with no tags left might be frowned on?

No, it's not just frowned upon. As Rob said, it's a clear violation.

I didn’t say it would just be frowned on. I believe it is a violation but when I tried to research it I couldn’t find in clearly spelled out. But that’s how the regs are. Since I couldn’t point to a reg that said it as clearly as I would like, I figured I’d ask the peanut gallery to chime in. No need to hyperventilate. No one is challenging the ruling. 

Hmmm...I have a sturgeon card with all these catch and release lines but no tags...guess I'm out til' 2019?  Guess this thread answers my question.  Wish I was ignorant sometimes...Stripers here I come...what is that?...a pump...that's odd...double surf rig with barbed hooks is a solid striper bait setup...do stripers like mudshrimp?

Hmmm...I have a sturgeon card with all these catch and release lines but no tags...guess I'm out til' 2019?  Guess this thread answers my question.  Wish I was ignorant sometimes...Stripers here I come...what is that?...a pump...that's odd...double surf rig with barbed hooks is a solid striper bait setup...do stripers like mudshrimp?

I’ll gladly follow you to your favorite spots and fish in your place. You can even take photos of me holding what would’ve been your fish. 

Hmmm...I have a sturgeon card with all these catch and release lines but no tags...guess I'm out til' 2019?  Guess this thread answers my question.  Wish I was ignorant sometimes...Stripers here I come...what is that?...a pump...that's odd...double surf rig with barbed hooks is a solid striper bait setup...do stripers like mudshrimp?

I’ll gladly follow you to your favorite spots and fish in your place. You can even take photos of me holding what would’ve been your fish. 

Gladly...I never imagined this scenario coming home to roost...I always want what I cannot have...

Hmmm...I have a sturgeon card with all these catch and release lines but no tags...guess I'm out til' 2019?  Guess this thread answers my question.  Wish I was ignorant sometimes...Stripers here I come...what is that?...a pump...that's odd...double surf rig with barbed hooks is a solid striper bait setup...do stripers like mudshrimp?

I’ll gladly follow you to your favorite spots and fish in your place. You can even take photos of me holding what would’ve been your fish. 

Gladly...I never imagined this scenario coming home to roost...I always want what I cannot have...

Just size down the hook and use a mono leader...now you are fishing for stripers

Does anybody have a source that says that once you have filled your sturgeon tags for the year you are no longer allowed to target them for catch and release?

I don’t have my computer with me and I’m not getting much results just on my phone. Perhaps this is the problem Ken was mentioning in his first post?

Does anybody have a source that says that once you have filled your sturgeon tags for the year you are no longer allowed to target them for catch and release?

I don’t have my computer with me and I’m not getting much results just on my phone. Perhaps this is the problem Ken was mentioning in his first post?

I put 1.17 together with 1.80. But 1.17 says “daily bag limit” not yearly bag limit. That left me unsure if the prohibition on hunting and pursuing more than a daily bag limit applied. Sturgeon is unusual because of the yearly bag limit. What are the rules if targeting abalone or anything else with a yearly bag limit. I’m guessing you can’t be out prying up and releasing abalone without valid tags that allow for the taking of abalone.

1.80. Take.
Hunt, pursue, catch, capture or kill fish, amphibians, reptiles, mollusks, crustaceans or invertebrates or attempting to do so.

The word "take" in the rulebook isn't limited to just keeping, possessing, and taking home.  "Pursue" which by definition, "to follow (someone or something) in order to catch or attack them", falls under 1.80 Take.

Its a very safe assumption, that targeting any species once you have your limit (daily, yearly, or otherwise) is a no-no under 1.80 and 1.17 as traildad pointed out.

traildad, in 1.17, it points you to continue reading into 27.60, which then points you to 27.70 through 28.62 for special bag limits based on species. 
Also Abalone have a daily, possession and yearly limit.  Daily AND possession limit is 3 and calendar year limit is 12. 29.15c

Daily Limit - DFG Code, section 18 describes “bag limit” as the maximum limit, in number or amount, of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles or amphibians that may lawfully be taken by any one person during a specified period of time.

Possession Limit - DFG Code, section 19 defines “possession limit” as the maximum, in number or amount, of birds, mammals, fish, reptiles or amphibians that may be lawfully possessed by one person.

I don’t think abalone is a good point of reference since there is no catch and release tradition for shellfish. There is for sturgeon. There is a hugely popular c+r fishery in the Columbia and willamete system.

DFG Code §18 doesn’t say anything about “daily”.