Catching sunfish?

[Cloudk]

Was wondering the legality of me going out to catch a sunfish, than putting it in my aquarium. I live in WA state. I was thinking it'd be fine. But if someone knows for sure, or could point me in the direction to find such info. It'd be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[DMD123]

It would be a good idea to look at the 2014 Washington State fishing book for guidelines. In the 2013 edition I think it states something about 'it is illegal to transport live game fish without a permit'. I would assume this means you can not fish from waterways in Washington State and add them to an aquarium.
Here was the 2013 book http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01500/wdfw01500.pdf

 

[Hope_WA]

I live in WA state.

Me too. Are you east or west of the Cascades?

I'm curious to find out the answer to your question too. Someday (far in the future) I'd love to do a tank with native fish.

 

[Cloudk]

Western. About 30min outside of Everett, right b4 u start up the pass. Planning on 300gal native. 2 turtles, lrgmouth bass, sunfish, central stoneroller, and maybe a channel cat. If i move I'll get a gar or bowfin instead of cat.

 

[Hope_WA]

Tri-Cities.

 

[shipmonkey]

No games fish allowed in Wa, and I believe there is a further prohibition in the book mentioning that it is also illegal to catch non-game fish as well.

Found it,

Page 12 of the guide," You may not: Transport live fish without a permit."

 

[Cloudk]

I emailed the WDFW asking about owning the fish I'm interested in. Laws seem to change alot. So figured it'd be easier to just ask the source I'll update this post with their response.

 

[SickSauce]

its legal til you get caught

 

[Cloudk]

I'd like to b able to post pics on the internet without fear of the government busting down my door at 1 am. But nice idea

 

[Cloudk]

If I'm not allowed to transport live fish. I guess I've broken the law by moving . I can't see them punishing people for moving, so I'm thinking the laws are different if you are buying the fish. I'll probably end up doing that anyway. Going around catching everything seems like a pain in the bum... Nothing i want is posted as illegal in the restricted species list on MFK. So I'm rather confused. Its illegal but its not... Makes no sense. I guess we'll see what they say