Fishing Pressure?

[lakertaker]

I have been fishing Kab for about 12 years on a regular basis, an average of 6 trips per year. I have noticed a significant increase in the fishing pressure the lake has incurred over the past five years, mainly Spring & Fall. I remember fishing the opener without much boat traffic and Memorial weekend was not to crazy until Saturday, Fall some days I swear we had the lake to ourselves. Opener the past two years has been as busy as I have seen the lake, Memorial is wild and there are more boats every year in the Fall.

Kab is a great fishery and in my mind regulated (slot) very well, we have still have many great day's of fishing and it is good to see the local economy is doing well.

Can the lake continue to produce with the harvest level? I'm not suggesting any additional regulations for the lake, I'm simply wondering if others have noticed what I have and is there a concern?

lakertaker

[guts]

Good observations,
Actually opener is not even at the level it was years ago. In the early 90's and pre park, you would have to get on a waiting list to get a cabin. At that time there were even more resorts and many more rooms.

Not only did fishing drop off some, but we had ice on the lake one opener, then 2-3 years of extremely low water on opener and then a year of extremely high water, and low and behold people quit booking opener and were reluctant to schedule memorial weekend.

The slot limit has been excellent for preserving spawning walleyes which is going to pay dididends starting this year. This year will be the first to represent a legal size fish that is a result of a record spawn, from 4 years back that is now going to be a 13" plus eye. In addition we have record numbers of Sauger, big perch and probably sm mouth.

Two past years of high water has not helped walleye spawn but has been great for N.Pike.
The MN.DNR has more info on this as a result of test netting and fall electro shocking.

This year they will be doing a creel survey which gives the DNR more accurate info to determine anglers habits effect of pressure
average fish caught per hour of fishing and etc.

Personally, I don't believe the lake is getting to much pressure. This lake does have busy periods such as opener and memorial weekend, however after mid-June or at least by the end of June, the fishing pressure really gives way to family recreation and less productive, intense fishing pressure.

When we have winters like this, ice fishing is not even a factor as it is on Rainy, LOW and etc.Good luck, guts <{{{{><

[lakertaker]

Guts, thanks for the reply! The quality of fish in the 18"-22" range have certainly been abundent the last few years. This should enhance spawning over the next few years if the lake levels cooperate. Fishkab (the professor)is a good friend of mine and he keeps me updated on what's going on. I noticed over the last few years especially Fall, that the fish are a little more difficult to find in numbers. Possibly I have been spoiled with the exceptional fishing we experienced year's prior.

Thanks again for your insight!

lakertaker

[guts]

The DNR is stumped they say the reason for slow fishing is the abundance of baitfish. It gets old telling people that our lake is loaded with eyes and the DNR states Kab is a walleye factory and yet it is difficult for the great white one (Fishkab) to catch a limit and he knows how as well as anyone I've met.

Due to the snow and ice conditions, there is absolutely no pressure on the fishery this winter.

Maybe Fishkab will get on and throw in a little advice he's been up here nearly his entire life and has seen many changes.
Good luck guts

[fishkab]

Lakertaker, Good questions and also good answers from Guts. To add to the conversation about the creel counts. The DNR did a creel count the first year of the slot and will do another one this year. This will give them something to look at to try and find out what the slot has really done in terms of numbers of fish and the numbers of fish in the different age groups. The purpose of the slot was to try and increase both the number of fish caught per day of fishing and to increase the size of the fish caught. The DNR also does a fall netting operation to check age groups and make comparisons of the fish numbers from year to year. They net the same locations each year and then use that information to give data to show the general condition of the fish population in the lake. The first year of the slot, the fish per net from the fall netting was one of the lowest on record. The fish per net was down to about 6. The number of fish per net in 2002 was about 13 fish. I have not seen the results for the fall of 2003.. I would bet that the number is higher than 2002. I will check and get those numbers. Another interesting note about the fall netting, the DNR nets the 10 largest walleye lakes in Minnesota the same way. The historic average of the other big lakes is about 7 fish per net., the historic average of Kab is around 11. The numbers from the last few years are higher than the average. From these numbers, I would agree with Guts that we are not overfished. Last spring, we had a huge yellow perch hatch, and that hatch is directly related to the walleye bite. The yellow perch is the primary forage of walleyes in Kab. Thus lots of food, and a slower bite. On the plus side, with the large numbers of walleyes in the lake, and also high numbers of sauger, northerns, and jumbo perch they should eat that hatch down and fishing just could go nuts in 2004. That's my guess in looking at fishing Kab this summer. Let's get it on.. I love winter, but summer fishing is absolutely the best. Have a great day Laketaker.. Later Fishkab

[fishkab]

Lakertaker, I have visited with the DNR Fisheries people a week ago. They don't have the summary report of the results of last falls netting and young of the year recruitment info. from last summer available quite yet. That info. should be out shortly. However, they did state that for the coming summer you can look for several normal year classes of fish and a couple of outstanding year classes. Most of the fish in the slot 17-23 are from the 1996 year class. One of the better year classes. The 2001 year class is one of the biggest ever on the lake. Most of the these fish should be in the 13-17 slot, so the number of fish available for the frying pan should go up considerably. Those two year classes will dominate the catch this year. The other year classes will have good fish also but not the numbers of these. If the bait fish numbers are down a little fishing should be very good this summer. I'll give more details as they are available. Fishkab

[lakertaker]

Fishkab - Thanks for the information, I look forward to boating a few of those fish this Spring. I will be interested to see the DNR reports when published.

lakertaker