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Proposed Walleye Regulation Change - Sea Gull, Gull, Saganaga, Sea Gull RIver


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MN DNR News

(Released April 28, 2014)

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is seeking public input this summer on experimental walleye regulations being considered for Saganaga, Sea Gull, and Gull lakes, and the Sea Gull River. All are in Cook County, on or near the Minnesota-Ontario border.

Regulations may include a 17-inch minimum size limit and a bag limit of three fish, with only one fish over 20 inches allowed.

These regulations are being considered in response to concerns from anglers over a lack of smaller walleye in these waters, coupled with DNR assessment data showing declines in the number of walleye of all sizes present.

The minimum size limit is intended to protect younger fish from harvest, to maximize returns from natural reproduction and stocking. The lower bag limit is intended to prevent harvest of too many fish as they grow larger than the minimum size limit. The restriction on the number of fish over 20 inches that can be taken has been included to be consistent with statewide walleye regulations, and to prevent overharvest of the largest walleye in these waters.

Signs advising the public of this proposal will be posted at public accesses on all affected waters over the summer. Public input will be taken throughout the summer, and input meetings will be held in Grand Marais and in St. Paul in late September. Notice of meeting times and places will be published prior to the meetings.

Questions and comments can be directed to the DNR fisheries office in Grand Marais at 218-387-3056, or Steve Persons, Grand Marais area fisheries supervisor, at [email protected].

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Slots seem to do more harm than good being they get put in place and are never adjusted. In time, it seems there becomes an over abundance of fish above and/or below and nothing left in the slot for people to harvest. Look to most slot protected lakes for examples.

Wouldn't it be better for a total inch limit put in place? We already have a 1 over 20" state wide slot, which is good, so for this proposed adjustment, how about we try a 3 fish limit or 56 total inches in possession with 1 over 20"?

I feel this will spread out the harvest to multiple year classes, protect the spawners and limit the total harvest protecting the overall fishery. 3 walleyes in the bag for one person is plenty.

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I still think they should have tags so you limit the number of fish caught per angler with the ability of anglers to purchase additional tags for a fee that would fund additional stocking.

One guy fishes 2x a season and keeps 8 wally's is a criminal who is hurting the fishery but another that fishes 200x a year at 3 fish per day for a total of 600 as long as he eats or gifts them is a sportsman that is helping the fishery. Flawed logic.

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The way MN does slots does not work. Why do they ignore slots that are done for proven biological reasons? Lac suel was netted and over fished just like. Red lake. The mnr studied what size walleye lay eggs that hatch with the highest success rate. Contrary to what the average Joe thinks 8 lb walleye are not your successful breeder. Yes they have more eggs but are not as fertile. Think of it this way do women in there 20 ' s or in there 70's ' have more babies? Well the Ontario mnr using science protect ed the real broader 18 to 21 inch walleye. They allow one over 21 or 4 under 18. MN likes to target the real breeders and protect larger fish then wonder why. There are no young walleye. Also when you create a lake filled with large fish and not a balanced population you deplete the food supply. Look on the Web at published studies of what walleye eat and study after study shows they eat smaller walleye if they eat up other prey species. A fact they ignore at mile lacs. Also they same prey studies show that smallmouth do not prey on walleye. These are all out there. Down south they are getting rid of bass slot limits as well as it creates lakes of giants and no young fish.

Mwal

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I have been fishing the areas the proposed regulations will impact for twenty years now. I cannot disagree with the proposal, as I have seen the fishery change quite a bit the past 10 years. It is perplexing though. The "river" pressure is present early in the year, most years when the fish are still in the river. (early spring/low water the spawn is over and fish are all but gone) but I do wonder what the overall impact is. Remember, Gull Lake and the Seagull River are closed until Memorial Saturday. Think about it----Sag and Seagull have motor restrictions and day use and overnight restrictions and it appears we still have a walleye population problem? Not blaming or pointing fingers but is this a guiding issue? Sag is heavily guided and so much so that Northern Lights is now becoming heavily guided also. I do believe these proposed limits in 2015 will reduce fishing pressure significantly---its a long way to go for 3 fish between 17 and 20. Time to give Powells a call.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Limited number of Permits, River closing, 1 over 20" reg.

Before any of those regs Sag was in good shape.

Whats changed, I wish the obvious answer wasn't danced around so much.

SM Bass, whether you think of them as predictor or not you have to account for them

as competition for prey. Both SM and Lg Bass had and explosion of successful spawn to adult across the Arrowhead. I know some guys love going after the SMB in Northern Mn but these fish do not belong here.

Seriously, the size of Sag compared to the limited number of permits, the lake is underutilized.

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totally quit fishing Sag a few years back because of all the stinkin little bass. I don't have the answers, but I'm glad that Red has been such a success story so I have a new home:) Hopefully they'll get Sag figured out...

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I am correct in saying that walleyes are not native to Sag and Sea Gull? They been there a long time, but like all the lakes in that particular area, the native sportfish are only pike, lake trout, and whitefish. So...maybe Sag's make up might include factors that can limit walleye populations at times.

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Gunflint that's interesting. Do you by chance know when and how Bass and Walleyes were introduced?

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Smallies and walleyes were originally introduced to an x amount of lakes by the railroad. They would dump milk cans full of fry at the bridge crossings. Over time the fish would migrate to connecting lakes. Then the DNR started stocking walleyes in other lakes. And in some instances smallies have been illegally "stocked" in some lakes.

I fish saganaga and sea gull because of the fact they both have some dandy smallies. Last year we caught several in the 16 to 19 inch range. I'm guessing sag has a good night bite? Everytime we're there, we can literally set our watch to when the walleye brigade heads to the lake. It's about a 30 minute steady stream of boats.

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I thought smallies and walleyes were native to all of Minnesota. Certainly a lake of that size and structure. Are you sure that is not just a story?

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I heard this from two people that lived on Sag. Ralph ,the last owner of Chik Wauk Resort. Betsy Powell being the other.She and her husband frank lived year round on and ran a resort up an arm on the canadian side of Saganaga.I was told the DNR initially dumped canisters of walleye into the water off the dock at Chik Wauk . Betsy said the sm. northern in that bay had a feast. The next stocking was done out on the reefs,she said. In the book about Betsy,(Betsy and Saganaga}it says walleyes were stocked in the 30"s. I wish I had asked more questions, but given my age at the time all I wanted to do was get out and fish.I stayed at Chik Wauk more than a few times back in the early 70"s, infact while camping up that way in 1980, I went over for a visit and helpped him take down the swinging bridge he had built over water to the cabin high up on the ridge at the entrance to the second sm. bay. Back in the early 70's Ralph had asked me if I wanted to buy his place.I was in my early 20"s from Chicago and couldnt have even come up with a downpayment. This you will find of interest,his asking price $200,000.00. Two years later he sold to the gov. for what I heard was $400,000.00. Because of jobs changes and starting and running my own business for 25 years, i didnt get back up that way until the later 90's.Thats when I met betsy and a few years later mark,(Gunflint) and through him steve (northlander). Ive got site # 3 reserved 4 different times this year,if your up that way, stop by site 3. WI. plates,truck camper and 2 yellow labs and its me in site # 3.

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I think one thing that everyone discounts is technology. I am pretty sure anyone who fishes with a graph, flasher, side sonar and temp gauges will admit that they are more efficient with them than they are with out them. Not sure about the possible increase of numbers of anglers, but even with out an increase in angler hours, being more efficient at taking fish will have an impact.

A good graph can take someone who knows little and help them catch a few fish, someone who has a fair knowledge can take a pretty decent amount of fish, and someone who has some true expertise can totally hammer the fish.

There are some who are catch and release guys on walleye but I think most think of them as a meal.

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Face it guys. With our electronics, our better tackle, rods, lines and reels, with better boats, and more access to better information, we've all become better fishermen. And better fishermen have a greater impact on the population. Now add SMB and smelt to the mix and somethings gotta give. Everyone wants to blame the "other guy", be it the DNR, tribal fishermen, or those gluttonous guys who are just too good at what they do, but they never take a look in the mirror. The truth of the matter is that we(corporately) are our own worst enemy when it comes to over harvesting the resource. You can't have the numbers of educated, well equipped fishermen we have today and still expect the catches of yesteryear, when the old level wind, a 6hp motor, and a june-bug spinner ruled the day.

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The other thing is that being walleyes are invasive... They most likely would have had a period where their numbers were very high. At least till food disappeared. Might help explain some of the good ole days stories.

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Walleyes aren't acting as invasives, despite not originally being in those drainages in Cook County. They wouldn't be coming down off a founder's effect just now.

The fact is, no one knows what has caused the big drops in walleye abundance on Sag. I've heard about chemical leaching from the forest fires, overfishing, introduction of spiny water flea, range expansion of black basses, poor year classes catching up to the fishery. The truth, in small bits in pieces, may be in some of those accusations.

One thing that I have to ask about is whether it truly is a harvest problem on a limited entry system, as Surface Tension points out. Is there a severe shortage of spawning stock, thus the slot limit? Or is it a recruitment issue? The best way to get those answers is to contact the authorities mentioned in the press release, which I plan to do.

I enjoy fishing Sag but I've found the fishing much better in other waterbodies nearby, albeit within the same drainage. Something is amiss on Sag for some reason. The proposal calls for a 3 fish bag. Only once in the last ten years have I caught more than 3 keeper walleyes on Sag (Full disclosure I only fish the lake a couple days a year)!

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Supposely a individual named Art Nunstead put walleyes in Sagananga(what year?),just know it was before the C.C.C. programs.

He probably got fish from the than called MN.Conservation Dept. Fish and Wildlife at that time. It would be interesting if somebody could come up if a exact year.

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Art Nunstedt, I believe, built the resort that I referred to as Chik Wauk in an earlier post. This was in the early 30s. Russell Blackenburg along with Art Nunstedt built and privately owned the last mi. or two of the Gunflint Trail. I suppose they wanted to make it easier to get guests to their resorts on Saganaga.Putting it all together he probably owned the resort when walleye were first introduced into Sag, and perhaps was more invovled than that? It all fits into the same time frame that Betsy Powell told to me.The first official stocking according to her was off the dock at Chik Wauk. Off topic , but related to area, The Land of Sky Blue Water, Hamms beer commercial were at least in part filmed on Seagull Lake. Ralph, owner of Chik Wauk told me this, in the 1070"s when I stayed at their resort.Im 63 so,ask an old timer if they remember those commercials. Also ralph told me that the Linders stayed at their place to do some filmimg, they wanted to stay for free in exchange for advertising. Ralph wouldnt go for that, they had to pay like all others. This, i suppose didnt get them off on the right foot so to speak and perhaps was a reason Ralph said that he wasnt all that impressed with there fishing skills. It took them a few days to land a nice walleye and that they then, filmed that same fish, again and again being caught. The filming took place in the sm. bay just behind his resort,all which would have been visible to anyone watching.My guess this was sometime in the 60"s as the linders were just developing their business. Turnned out the linders did alright by themselves didnt they. Had to put back staying up there for opener,as was told they would still be snowed in at the campground and ice up at East Bearskin Lake. Sorry if I upset anyone with my winded post.

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Put the limits on. It's not like many people are pounding the eyes out of that lake. I know that the population isn't very dense or ever has been or could be on a fish per acre basis. The Lake isn't that fertile and the eyes that are there hit what you put in front of them. They are big because they grow old and have a forage that allows them to be large.

Rainy would be an apt comparison. My grandfather had a cabin there in the late 60's to mid 70's. We caught limit after limit almost all of the time up there. I talked to someone in the 80's and they said you would have a very tough time getting a couple walleyes let alone limits. I was in shock when told! They proceeded to put limits on the harvest and I believe shut some of the commercial fishing down. Now the lake is a great place to walleye fish. The simple facts are you may not be able to control a very complex system exactly the way you like, but If you put a few limits on human harvest, It sure cant hurt. I know on Rainy it's brought some of the good old day memories back. Hopefully it can on Sag as well. Beautiful country up there!

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Northern lights went through this same issue years ago. It was so bad we quit going up there. Went from 50 fish days to 3 or 4. I guess its getting better.

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  • 2 years later...

I know this topic was from two years ago but I miss sag and wanted to chime in.  I fished and camped on the Canadian side three times a year for 20 years and we knew where to find fish.  We would have one fish dinner every time we went up but released most of the fish we caught. There are many factors at play with the walleye issues and I'm sure some local folks have a better handle on them but I'll throw in my two cents.  

The biggest issue the lake has and will continue to have is smallmouth bass.  Eight inch smallies are everywhere.  When the mayflies were hatching I could take my flyrod down to the point of the island we camped on in the middle of the lake and catch a dozen or more rising in schools like trout.  People don't harvest them, at least not nearly at the rate of walleyes.  That combined with the egg stripping and fishing of the seagull River area gave the smallmouth the leg up they needed.  They are now more than prevalent and are most likely contributing to the low stocking success of late.  Smallmouth out of those waters taste like panfish and people need to consider them as table fare too.  Sure they're not quite as easy to clean as walleye, but the fillets are wonderful and sweet.  

Harvest is the other and hopefully the new regs will have a positive effect on the walleye population.  I'm not going to name names but I knew an old timer who would spend his entire summer up there fishing and complaining about the declining walleye stocks while catching and killing two limits of fish per day.  He blamed smallmouth exclusively for the issues on the lake and would kill every smallie he caught.  Truly a fine example for us all.......

Hopefully the lake comes back.  It was never an easy one to fish, but they were always there if you knew where to look.  We watched the gradual slide from somewhat steady fishing to struggling to catch a few fish for one dinner over a weekend  (this was earlier on in my fishing career and before I started diversifying my species consumption). My dad has since day found other lakes to take weekend adventures to, but none will hold a place in my heart like sag.  It's beautiful and I hope to head up there with my family in a few years, the kids are just getting into fishing, though red and white bobbers may not always be the ticket up there.

Given the regulations have been in place for a little while is anyone noticing a difference?

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Smb are a massive problem up their.  Not just on aforementioned lakes.   Impossible to keep them in check.   Another lake that smallies got back into is birch lake just off trail.  You can't find a minnow in that lake anywhere now.  It's getting like that all over in that region.  

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
    • jim curlee
      I had a guy hit me with a lightly used 1969 BAR, he wanted $1650 with an older Leupold scope. More than I think they are worth, I made an offer, he declined end of story.   You know if you look at the old brochures, a grade II BAR sold for $250 in the late 60s, $1650 would be a good return on your investment.    Why would anybody want a 50 year old gun, they are heavy, have wood stocks, and blued metal.  I guess mainly to keep their gun safes glued to the floor. lol   You can probably buy a stainless rifle that you never have to clean, with a synthetic stock you never have to refinish, is as light as a feather, and for half as much money, perfect.   I'm too old for a youth gun, although I've shrunk enough that it would probably fit. lol   No Ruger 10/44s.   Jim      
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