Regulation changes in 2019 for Walleye

[Bigfatber]

New regulation changes will go into effect on the 2019 mn fishing opener on Kabetogama, Namakan, Sandpoint , and Crane lakes . The new regs are 18”-26” must be immediately released, with one walleye over 26” allowed in your daily limit and possession limit.

The goal is to try to knock down the over abundance of larger fish that deplete the bait fish and other natural food sources .

The implementation of slots does create problems in the fishery .

If only a male walleye and a female walleye were able to be differentiated things could be done differently with the slots. Being that the slot goal is to protect the spawning , larger females and thus creating more and better spawning and egg production . Unfortunately male Walleye also reach larger sizes and become voracious predators of baitfish , and with a lack of baitfish predatory cannibalization is occurring by eating young of the year Walleye fry and larger , thus cutting back the upcoming new recruitment of walleye in any given lake . I have seen it myself on Kabetogama by finding young of the year walleyes in their belly or having a fish in the live well spit up a 6 or 7 inch walleye , and that’s not a good sign for the future of any lake .All the milt that’s needed can be produced by younger and smaller males for successful spawning. A three year old male walleye is old enough to do such ..

This whole slot thing is good and bad for our fishery , as seen with the ever so ongoing issues we seem to have in most , if not all the larger lakes here in Mn. with special regulations.

IMHO totally eliminating the special regulations on these lakes and putting the daily limit down to two or three fish of any size would be a better route to go . Buy doing this though lots people would grumble about not getting enough to eat… its probably what should have been done a long time ago instead of having these types of regulations…

[BrianHoffies]

Can you say Mille Lacs? Sounds like the same story, different lake.

[Bigfatber]

It’s known that lakes can and do have for whatever reasons natural ups and downs on any given year or multiple years in a row of baitfish and/or other food sources thus creating a scenario were predatory cannibibalization can and does happen , and in turn thus eliminating the amount of young of the year Walleye in that given lake .
Now with that happening there does become a scenario we’re the lake can and does produce a good spawn and hatch of young of the year Walleye, and coupled with a year were the lakes natural amount of baitfish is in a boom cycle ,so to speak , well then the young of the year Walleye don’t get preyed upon as much and thus it becomes one of a few years ,these days ,were a good and plentiful hatch survives to get to be older and catchable fish … the slot messes with he natural progression of the fishery in negative way on the lean bait years. This is happening on Kabetogama and can be seen by many multiple poor past year classes ,and with fewer good past year classes.Now with all this being said there can be other given factors that can and do mess up the spawn such as weather , water fluctuations to name a few . These factors coupled with low baitfish promotes the possibility of cannibalization…

And as Brian H states Lake Mille Lacs is a good example.
There were years on Mille lacs were it was like fishing out of a barrel the bite was so hot , well I’m sure there wasn’t a great amount of natural feed on those years thus creating the HOT bite that would occur.. and obviously the bite can on some years slow up because it’s one of the boom years for baitfish and these become the years we’re you hear a lot Dead Sea complaints .

I have always wondered why minnows cannot be stocked into lakes on lean baitfish years . Oh I forgot it may spread a invasive . Hmmmm !

“It’s not nice to mess with Mother Nature” one might say!

[BrianHoffies]

A bit off topic but what are they saying is causing the Walleye bite on Rainy to be declining? Pressure? Lack of forage? Natural cycle?

[Reinhard]

Interesting topic. In my time fishing Kabetogoma as of two years ago [my last trip there] It’s been my experience that I have had problems catching walleye’s under the previous 17 inch slot. Vast majority were over the slot and up to 27 inches my largest there. I only fish Sullivan Bay and I have only fished in the month of June and spend a week at a resort our friend owns there. Every year I have went there I had the same results. There were plenty of big perch to catch for the meals. My experience may not be a good example of the condition of the fishery there as a whole. The walley on the upper left was 15 inches so you can see the size of the perch. good luck.

http://www.sausageheavenoutdoors.com

Die young as old as possible.

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[Bigfatber]

BrianHoffies wrote:
A bit off topic but what are they saying is causing the Walleye bite on Rainy to be declining? Pressure? Lack of forage? Natural cycle?

I agree the fishery up at Rainy is off somewhat from not so long ago . Could be all of of the above , hard to say , it just fits into the same situations as I have previously discussed in the posts though . It’s just another example of one of our bigger waters that’s slipping, that just so happens , once again , to be a special regs lake . These special regs just don’t add up to be a great thing , our regs all need to re thought out and managed in a better way . Our Mn DNR is a farce . Lakes are fragile , poor management is obvious, it is what it is until , and I truly mean until management by our DNR is corrected . Enjoy what it is for now , but it sure ain’t the fishery off old anymore . There was a time when Rainy , Mille Lacs , Kabetogama, Winnie , Leech ,were known as Crown Jewels , you just cannot say that anymore , sad but true . I’m glad i personally at age 61 have been there and done that on all our big Crown Jewels when times were good , I have seen some fantastic fishing in my life for many years on these lakes ,oh yes it was a great time back in those days when these lakes really shined . . Remember when LOTW had a 20 fish walleye sauger limit , I do . Piss poor management ,and not a clue of what to do , is the way it is . Enjoy what your given I guess . I sure wish the children of today could see what I have in over 50 + years of fishing our big waters and smaller lakes also . . It ain’t the same , by no means . Tisk Tisk Tisk , shame on you DNR ! Who else can you blame ? Just curious …

[chris63]

I remember the headline(early 70’s) in the red star (then star/tribune):”The dead sea”.This was an opinion piece about Millelacs lake.This was LONG before BIG DNR “management” money was around.The lakes have a natural cycle of up and down in fish populations.Large limits do have an affect on numbers too.Im not sure what effects fish populations more.I think the DNR is generally doing a good job.IF some have better management solutions to solve fish populations i’m sure DNR fisheries will listen.We like to “Blame” some agency every time something doesn’t go the way we want it to.Just think how many anglers would regularly fish Millelacs/LOW/Rainy etc if there was still any size 6 fish limit.(Walleyes)All the Lakes Large or not feeling the effects of improvements in finding and catching fish.More and more people all the time.Personally Im thankful to live in a state where we can enjoy the lakes and woods we have! Good luck fishing or whatever!!c63

[Reinhard]

I was ok with the up to 17 inch. Now it’s up to 18 inch. We rarely keep our limit ever regardless where we fish. The one over 26 is meaningless anyway [for me anyway] for I would never keep one that large. I would like a 4 limit walleye limit myself state wide. I look to the future for the anglers after me. good luck.

http://www.sausageheavenoutdoors.com

Die young as old as possible.

[BrianHoffies]

Biggest problem I see with VNP is there are a lot of people from outstate that vacation there. They have been dreaming of catching Walleye and when they arrive it can at times be tough. I see a lot of 12″ Walleyes getting cleaned. I think a bottom length also should be included so we don’t lose the little fish before they become a eater size fish.

But looking beyond the fishing it’s a beautiful area and one that everyone should visit at least once.

[chris63]

Is there any info on the number of anglers and/or if they are residents or not??? The resort owner(that I know) operates on Kab states rentals are about 50to60%out of state repeat customers. Don’t know for sure but camping permits seem like mostly midwest folks not necessarily just Minnesota.Good luck with the New regs I hope the fishing continues to be good.c63

[arneb04]

It amazes me how demanding people can be when it comes to fish and game management. I think people need to understand “management” means long term viability, and not optimal success year after year after year. Fish limits have changed over the years as agency staff and researchers have learned stresses and corresponding responses of game populations. We don’t have 20 fish limits anymore because they learned. Also keep in mind that agency staff and researchers have to deal with the constant development of tools that allow fisherpeople to be so much more successful than they ever were before. Bigger boats that get more places faster, bigger screens with better data transposed on them, and cameras you physically stick down an ice hole so you can watch when your bait gets bit. Not to mention the studies of fish and game ecology that helps produce lures and attractants that tap into basic physiological responses more efficiently than before (think of plastic lures that look, smell, and taste like the real thing). It’s an impossible job to keep on top of all these things, while effectively managing peoples expectations of how productive a lake “should be” vs the reality of nature, cycles, pressure etc… And also, just because you think it should be done differently doesn’t make you any more right than anyone else. It’s not a job I would want, and I think folks need to be happy that we have a structure in place that provides for some management whether it’s stocking or trying to build the fishery base during low cycles because without that, no matter how ineffective you think it might be, there would literally be nothing left.

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[chris63]

Agreed…well said! Now git after em!c63

[Bigfatber]

arneb04 wrote:
It amazes me how demanding people can be when it comes to fish and game management. I think people need to understand “management” means long term viability, and not optimal success year after year after year. Fish limits have changed over the years as agency staff and researchers have learned stresses and corresponding responses of game populations. We don’t have 20 fish limits anymore because they learned. Also keep in mind that agency staff and researchers have to deal with the constant development of tools that allow fisherpeople to be so much more successful than they ever were before. Bigger boats that get more places faster, bigger screens with better data transposed on them, and cameras you physically stick down an ice hole so you can watch when your bait gets bit. Not to mention the studies of fish and game ecology that helps produce lures and attractants that tap into basic physiological responses more efficiently than before (think of plastic lures that look, smell, and taste like the real thing). It’s an impossible job to keep on top of all these things, while effectively managing peoples expectations of how productive a lake “should be” vs the reality of nature, cycles, pressure etc… And also, just because you think it should be done differently doesn’t make you any more right than anyone else. It’s not a job I would want, and I think folks need to be happy that we have a structure in place that provides for some management whether it’s stocking or trying to build the fishery base during low cycles because without that, no matter how ineffective you think it might be, there would literally be nothing left.[/quote

I agree more hrs fished , better equipment , technology, lots of gadgets that effect the fishery for all the big special regs lakes to endure. But having the lakes with a out of balance of young and mid age , to the older and mainly larger walleyes is not healthy. If stocking is out of the picture , the young fry must grow bigger to maintain the balance , and potential harvest that makes sense for were the lake should be. If you become familiar with all of these large special regulations lakes in our state the upcoming recruitment is for the most part way down , with the one off better year classes here and there at any given of these lakes . Another example of true miss management is late , late ice out years when the opener arrives and it’s liights out fishin and catching and every boat out and about is pullin in female after female fish that are so ripe with eggs that there just dripping all over the boat , and this my friend is not a good place for a lakes eggs to be placed , now is it . I’ve seen many spring we’re this scenario happens , not good , things should be different , the DNR should be handling the situation , and when the next year arrives and assessments are done and it looks like another poor year class is upon us , well gee I wonder why ,given all of the above .. managing our lakes needs to be done different , money needs to be there to do such properly and it’s not … oh things are just fine they say , they ain’t !!

[chris63]

Kevin pederson is the supervisor at international falls Dnr fisheries office.They (4 staff workers)will answer your questions/concerns about Kab.Lake management is complicated and goes slowly. If you have ideas/input I’m sure the lake specialists will listen. C63

[Reinhard]

According to the original post the goal of the slot of 18 to 26 inch [released] is to cut down on larger walleye’s for a variety of reasons. Well the 17 inch to 26 didn’t do the trick and why would the 18 to 26 inch make any changes. I’m no expert and this is a forum also to ask questions with fellow posters who fish this area.

I have a hard time catching walleye’s under the slot. I will call the folks Chris mentioned and ask them about it. I’m only one person so like I said before, my results by no means are science. Putting back 18 to 26 inch would be the opposite of what the goals should be. But then I don’t keep anything over 20 inches anyway. So I will call and see what the deal is. good luck.

http://www.sausageheavenoutdoors.com

Die young as old as possible.

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