Section 830.40  Devices

a)         Commercial Fishing

1)         Devices used in the waters listed in Section 830.10 shall conform to all regulations as outlined in Article 15 of the Fish and Aquatic Life Code [515 ILCS 5/Art.15].  Hoop nets, basket traps, trot lines and dip nets may be used in all of the aforementioned waters.

2)         It shall be unlawful:

A)        To use trammel nets and gill nets except in the Illinois River up to Route 89 Highway bridge, the Ohio River and the Mississippi River, unless authorized by a Special Use Permit issued pursuant to Section 830.80;

B)        To use seines except in the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio and Wabash Rivers (except seining will not be permitted in Boston Bay and its connected backwaters above the mouth of Boston Bay in Mercer County); and

C)        To use trammel nets or gill nets in the Ohio River with less than 4 inch bar mesh netting, except that, from May 1 through October 31, bar mesh size cannot be less than 4 inches or greater than 4.5 inches.

b)         Commercial Musseling

1)         Devices used in waters open to commercial musseling shall conform to all regulations as outlined in this subsection (b) and in Articles 1 and 15 of the Fish and Aquatic Life Code [515 ILCS 5/Arts. 1 and 15].

2)         It shall be unlawful:

A)        To use hand forks;

B)        To use basket dredges, mechanical devices and hand dredges in the taking of mussels;

C)        To harvest mussels in the Ohio River except by using crowfoot bars; and

D)        To tether or hold mussels in any containment device.  Mussels must be taken to the boat or released each day.

3)         Brail or crowfoot bars must be 20 feet or less in length.  No more than 3 bars may be possessed in each boat.

c)         Crayfish Harvest

Seines are the only commercial devices legal to use to commercially harvest crayfish in waters open to the commercial harvest of crayfish.  They can be of any length, but not more than 6 feet in depth with a bag not more than 6 feet in height with a mesh no greater than ½ inch bar measurement.

(Source:  Amended at 39 Ill. Reg. 11034, effective July 22, 2015)