Crackdown on fishing with breakfast sausage

We never tire of the police/public safety dispatches from the mean streets of Minnesota’s smaller communities.

They are, we suspect, as good an indication of the nature of things as the more serious items from the big city.

Question: Is it legal to fish without a license as long as you’re using breakfast sausage for bait?

The Brainerd Dispatch conservation officer log has as the answer:

CO Joyce Kuske (Little Falls) checked one angler fishing from a pontoon that hurriedly put the pole down when the officer approached. CO Kuske asked the angler if they had a license and the angler stated they did not have a fishing license and you don’t need a fishing license if you’re fishing with a piece of breakfast sausage as bait.

Two anglers and one youth were checked shore fishing on the Mississippi River who also did not have valid fishing licenses.

CO Kuske watched the two anglers and youth fishing before checking them and sadly when checked the father of the youth attempted to get the youth to lie for him asking the child, “Daddy wasn’t fishing was he?” The second angler ended up arrested on an outstanding warrant.