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FISHING OPENER: A turnaround for Upper Red Lake

By Pat Miller, Special to the Pioneer Today at 4:08 p.m

 

RED LAKE -- During the past 15 years, the walleye fishery on Upper Red Lake has completed a 180-degree turn-around. In the late 1990s, walleyes, especially spawning-age walleyes, were so scarce in Upper and Lower Red Lake that state and tribal officials were forced to impose a 10-year ban on any walleye harvest.

ybotq.push(function() { googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('article-sidebar-ad'); }); }); ybotq.push(function() { googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('second-mobile-ad'); }); }); During that time, fisheries officials also planned to implement a comprehensive recovery plan that would include extensive fry stocking and continual monitoring of the plan’s progress.

And the one-two punch of no harvest and fry stocking worked better than anyone would have dreamed.

“We shut down the walleye fishery (in Upper and Lower Red Lake) in 1999 and we anticipated a 10-year lapse,” said Department of Natural Resources Bemidji Area Fisheries Large Lake Specialist Tony Kennedy. “But the lakes surprised us with how quickly they came back. Because of the positive response we were able to re-open the lakes to walleye fishing in 2006 and now we have enjoyed a decade of a post-recovery fishery that has been great for anglers and for everyone involved.

“And we anticipate the status of the Red Lake fishery to remain strong,” Kennedy added.

During the recovery period, Minnesota DNR and tribal officials moved with extreme caution. Throughout the process lake surveys indicated that Upper Red Lake’s walleyes were recovering but, even after fishing resumed in 2006, the better-safe-than-sorry approach continued.

In hindsight, that approach proved to be the correct one.

The fishery now is so strong that the Red Lake Fisheries Technical Committee, which consists of representatives from the Red Lake Band, the State of Minnesota, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the University of Minnesota, has recommended expanding the harvest of the Upper Red Lake walleyes. Starting in December anglers were allowed a daily limit of three walleyes and one of them could be over 17 inches. And those regulations will remain in place when the open-water season begins May 14.

“Every September we do a fall gill netting assessment on Upper Red Lake. We also do the year-round creel surveys so we know what is in the lake and what has been taken out,” Kennedy said. “Those surveys give us all the data we need to make sure the harvest plan we are under is appropriate.

“And the thought now is that there is room for an upward adjustment to the walleye regulations.”

The DNR’s data indicates that there currently are 6.34 pounds of walleye spawning stock per acre in Upper and Lower Red Lake. Ideally, the DNR and Red Lake Fishery officials would like to see that number range between 2.5 and 4.5 pounds per acre. In an effort to reduce the surplus spawning stock and, in turn, protect the spring’s recruitment class, the relaxed regulations were initiated in December and will remain in effect for the opener.

“You have to recruit new fish every year and we actually think the (expanded) regulations are better for the overall walleye recruitment and for the walleye growth rates,” Kennedy said. “Walleyes are a renewable resource and without new recruitment the fishery will suffer.”

Plenty of walleyes currently call Upper Red Lake home and Kennedy expects anglers to take full advantage of the expanded harvest regulation this summer.

“I think anglers will really appreciate the one walleye over 17 inches and three-walleye harvest regulations,” Kennedy said. “The status of the Red Lake walleye fishery is driven by the tremendous year classes of 2009 and 2011 and those fish currently range from 15 to 19 inches. There also is a pile of walleyes one-quarter inch one way or another of 17 inches so I encourage fishermen to measure accurately and leave yourself enough leeway to the 17-inch length. If in doubt, release the fish because you shouldn’t have to scrounge for a walleye under 17 inches.

“The walleye population on Upper Red Lake is in good shape and there is no reason to think that fishing this summer will be anything but good,” Kennedy continued. “I think the days of quality walleye fishing on Upper Red Lake are here now and are here to stay.”

Other angling options

Upper Red Lake is governed by a special northern pike regulation that protects fish between 26 and 44 inches and that protected slot has helped create a trophy pike fishery. Although the overall number of pike in the lake may be small, a wall-hanger on the line may be only one cast away.

“The numbers of big pike are not where they were six to 10 years ago but we are seeing an uptick in the 38 to 42-inch fish in our creel surveys,” Kennedy said. “There is a very low density of pike but the quality is high and the potential for a fish of a lifetime is there.”

Anglers who are targeting the larger crappies also are finding fish but Kennedy doesn’t believe the lake will ever produce the quantity of slab crappies that were the bread and butter of the fishery 15 years ago.

“The anglers who are tuned to the crappies, know where to go and know what to do, are finding a few fish again,” Kennedy said. “The crappie population is still a needle in the haystack compared to what it was but there are still some out there and those fish can provide a nice bonus.”

Pat Miller is the former Sports Editor of the Pioneer.

 

[OLE77]

Now if we could just figure out a way to manage the wind this weekend,it should be a great opener.