# Fishing with corn (maize) is illegal. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128 "2005-04-19T20:58:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Level3Navigator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Level3Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Level3Navigator)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/1 "2005-04-19T20:58:11Z")
So it is that time of year, when a man begins to contemplate the hills and mountains, the streams and lakes, imagining the joy of taking his two sons fishing. Of moving out into the wilderness, to become one with his instinctual need to hunt and gather, to grow his beard out as long as he please, and to revel in the heady scent of campfire smoke and mountain pines, away from the restraining influence of spouse and society. So I’m checking the fishing equipment and the fishing regulations and found an interesting clause in the [2005 Utah Fishing Regulations and Information](http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/proclamations/2005_fishing/05_fish_proc.pdf) , namely: > [@](#): > > Section 7 > (1)(a) Fishing is permitted with any bait, except corn, hominy, and live fish. > (b) Possession or use of corn or hominy while fishing is unlawful. So… what gives? Why is corn (maize) such an awful thing to fish with? Does it cause an unfair advantage? Some awful fish disease? Fish diabetes? ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/2 "2005-04-19T21:08:57Z")
Well a guick Google search with the terms ‘fishing’ and ‘corn’ seems to indicate that it’s a fantastic bait - multiple sites recommend it highly. So I would guess that maybe if they didn’t restrict the use of corn as bait, your area would be quickly overfished? IANAFisherman, nor a Game Warden. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/3 "2005-04-19T21:11:11Z")
I Googled “illegal to fish with corn” and got very few hits other than an old blog that contained this line: > [@](#): > > The fisheries stock the streams and rivers up there with farm-grown trout, and the keepers feed the fish corn from the time that they are little fingerlings until they turn them loose. They’ll bite on that bait like a crack-whore on a rock. Take it for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/4 "2005-04-19T21:14:00Z")
I found this [page](http://www.carpfishing.8k.com/state_of_the_state.htm), but it sounds like the author has an ax to grind, so I don’t know how accurate it is > [@](#): > > This paranoia of corn [bait in Utah] stems from the late 60’s and very early 70’s when corn was commonly used as a bait for Rainbow Trout. Many fisherman of the era, thinking if a little was good, a lot would be better, began to chum (groundbait) with whole dry kernel corn. Often this was a fifty or hundred pound sack of feed corn tossed over the side of their boat. The DWR held a common misconception of the time that the consumption of dried corn would kill trout. This was later proven in laboratory tests by the Pennsylvania Division of Boating and Fisheries to be absolutely false. > > Anyway, since chumming was seen as un-sportsmanlike conduct, a total ban on fishing with corn for all species of fish (“A pound of prevention is worth an ounce of cure”) has been kept on the books for over 30 years with no scientific reasoning behind it. To this day the DWR is afraid someone might be tempted to chum with dry corn again. As fisheries director Tom Pettengill put it in a recent email to me: “We just don’t want to go there”. ---
**Author:** ![leroy\_the\_mule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6a8cbe/32.png) [@leroy\_the\_mule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leroy_the_mule)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/5 "2005-04-19T21:30:34Z")
Corn and live fish are legal as bait in every state I have fished in the upper Midwest, and are very popular and effective. I have not fished Utah, but in western Colorado I found fishable waters and catches were a lot harder to come by than in the Midwest. I am going to guess that the Utah DNR is trying to extend the availability of a limited fish population. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/6 "2005-04-20T00:17:11Z")
In PA, you can chum w/corn all you want, but you could get charged with _littering_. ---
**Author:** ![Scarface\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Scarface\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarface_Z)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/7 "2005-04-20T01:13:37Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I Googled “illegal to fish with corn” and got very few hits other than an old blog that contained this line: > Take it for what it’s worth. I call BS on that blog. Every hatchery I’ve been to fed their trout pellet food, [similar what is advetised here.](http://www.ccmoore.com/pellets2.htm) Hmm, I always thought canned corn was deadly to trout because they couldn’t digest it. Perhaps I was taken in by Fish & Game propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/8 "2005-04-20T17:26:00Z")
> [@uncited blog](#): > > They’ll bite on that bait like a crack-whore on a rock. Admittedly off-topc, but that line reminds me of a [King of the Hill](http://www.fox.com/kingofthehill/episodes/0203.htm) episode where Hank unknowingly fishes for bass with crack. ---
**Author:** ![KeithP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/85e7bf/32.png) [@KeithP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithP)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/9 "2005-04-20T17:27:52Z")
So, what kind of corn is best to fish with? Creamed corn? Yellow? White? Indian? What about cornbread? When fish eat corn and poop does it reconstruct itself and come out in whole kernels like in people? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/10 "2005-04-20T18:26:29Z")
This measure is in place to protect the fly fishing tourist trade. Corn is nigh-irresistible to trout. Trout are frequently overfished, to the point that many states maintain costly restocking programs. States do this because fly fishing is an important tourist draw. If people get to “cheat” by fishing for trout with corn, it can quickly deplete the fish population and undercut the state’s efforts to promote fly fishing. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/11 "2005-04-20T18:47:06Z")
> [@KeithP](#): > > So, what kind of corn is best to fish with? Creamed corn? Yellow? White? Indian? What about cornbread? When fish eat corn and poop does it reconstruct itself and come out in whole kernels like in people? For trout, the drill I’ve heard goes like this: Throw out some frozen corn (separate kernels, not big lumps.) Then bait your hook with a thawed kernel or two. The theory is that the trout will bite, and spit out, the frozen corn. When they get your thawed corn, they’ll eat that. **Why do trout want corn?** It resembles fish eggs, which they naturally eat. Carp are a game fish in the UK, (so I’ve read) and many other places. We Yanks snub the carp, and we call it a trash fish. So, **corn and carp.** I’m sure there are many variations, but here is one. Start with dried corn, and boil it with strawberry jam and lots of sugar. Carp are vegetarians, and they allegedly like sweet and red. Make a rig, as follows. On the end of your line, attach a one-ounce weight (lead is unfashionable now.) From there, attach about 18’’-24" of line. At the end of that, a small lump of plastic foam for flotation and a hook with one or two of your boiled sweetened corn kernels. Cast out your rig, which will suspend the bait a couple feet off the bottom. Toss out some sweetened corn to attract the carp, and wait. When you get a bite, you are in for a fight! ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/12 "2005-04-20T19:14:05Z")
When I read the thread title, I thought is was referring to fishing in a corn maze. Crack anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Level3Navigator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Level3Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Level3Navigator)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/13 "2005-04-20T20:02:48Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > When I read the thread title, I thought is was referring to fishing in a corn maze. Sorry for the disappoinment there, Philster. I was just trying to be clear for our international community… > [@Philster](#): > > Crack anyone? So are you recommending cracked corn as bait? Is that legal? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Level3Navigator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Level3Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Level3Navigator)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/14 "2005-04-20T20:16:13Z")
> [@Scarface Z](#): > > Every hatchery I’ve been to fed their trout pellet food, [similar what is advetised here.](http://www.ccmoore.com/pellets2.htm) > Hmm, I always thought canned corn was deadly to trout because they couldn’t digest it. Perhaps I was taken in by Fish & Game propaganda. The fish pellets being fed in the hatcheries has been my experience here, also. So I highly doubt the “they get fed corn as fingerlings” blog as well. The idea that they want to limit the fishing makes some sense, though. Thanks to everyone for that insight. I guess the follow on question is: Why do trout love corn so much, rather than, say, wheat, oatmeal, sorghum, or something else from the [Gramineae](http://www.maizegenetics.net/germplasm/phylogenetics.htm) family. Is it the color? The scent? The strange colors the trout see after they’ve taken a hit? ---
**Author:** ![PETERFI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PETERFI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PETERFI)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/15 "2005-04-20T20:40:33Z")
🆒 This brings new meaning to the lyric: “Jimmy cracked corn and I don’t care” Perhaps Jimmy was fishing! Peter [Http://thePeterFiles.blogspot.com](Http://thePeterFiles.blogspot.com) ---
**Author:** ![Sequent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Sequent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sequent)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/16 "2005-04-20T21:28:46Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > For trout, the drill I’ve heard goes like this: Throw out some frozen corn (separate kernels, not big lumps.) Then bait your hook with a thawed kernel or two. Hijack here: excuse me, aren’t we promoting illegal activity? Let’s say this thread, instead of being about illegal fishing bait that grows naturally and is commonly used because it works so well, were about an herb that grows naturally all over the world and, despite having been used medicinally for thousands of years and depsite having been made illegal by some puritanical, misguided law in the mid-1930’s, is commonly used because…it works so well. 😉 Then someone (no dis intended to **AskNott** ; it could be me or anyone) comes along and gives advice concerning how to use said herb. MODERATOR ALERT! THREAD SHUTDOWN IN PROGRESS! Don’t get me wrong, I’m just saying… ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/17 "2005-04-20T21:47:46Z")
> [@Sequent](#): > > Hijack here: excuse me, aren’t we promoting illegal activity? Let’s say this thread, instead of being about illegal fishing bait that grows naturally and is commonly used because it works so well… Okay, so I’m in Mexico. Can someone tell me how to use corn as bait here? It’s not illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/18 "2005-04-20T22:11:06Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Okay, so I’m in Mexico. Can someone tell me how to use corn as bait here? It’s not illegal. Glue corn to the dynamite before throwing it into the lake ? ---
**Author:** ![Level3Navigator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Level3Navigator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Level3Navigator)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/19 "2005-04-20T22:41:22Z")
> [@Sequent](#): > > Hijack here: excuse me, aren’t we promoting illegal activity? Easy there, Sequent. If you will carefully read the OP, I am not asking “How can I get away with using corn while fishing,” I am asking why it is illegal and (later) why fish find it so attractive. If someone posted a thread on the afore mentioned “herb” and what medicinal use it has, and how the “medicinal substance” works, and then some yahoo came along and posts information on how to GROW the stuff… Well, it ain’t the thread, it’s the poster who is out of line. Besides, further research indicates that the situation we are discussing here is illegal only in Utah and Oregon, as far as I can gather. As few of us Dopers as there are in those two states (sorry folks), as compared to the whole board, I think we are well within the boundries of legal discussion. That being said, however, in no way do I wish to encourage any illegal activity. Check with your state’s regulations and guidelines. Blah, blah, blah. Etc. etc. etc. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128/20 "2005-04-20T23:23:18Z")
> [@Sequent](#): > > Hijack here: excuse me, aren’t we promoting illegal activity? … > > Don’t get me wrong, I’m just saying… Most US states, and most of the rest of the world, have no regs against fishing with corn. Although the OP asked about Utah (which prohibits it,) the post I quoted had no location and gave no indication that the poster was in Utah or any no-corn state. **KiethP** asked what kind of corn works best, and I gave it my best shot. Some areas tailor their fishing rules to prevent overfishing, and I have no problem with that. At least one Canadian province prohibits barbed hooks, and nearly every place has some limits on the size and number of fish you may take. I do not advocate breaking the fishing rules anywhere. I’m just hoping for a fish locator that tells me whether the fish are laughing at me. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fishing-with-corn-maize-is-illegal-why/300128.md?page=2)