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What happened to the walleye fishing in Shetek?


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In the late 80's to Mid 90's nobody even fished Sarah, for the most part, people that had cabins on Sarah came to Shetek too fish walleye's , That I know for a fact.

And this is the main reason why we may have to agree to disagree. I've enjoyed this discussion. Tons of great information.

Losing the northern pike population right before the introduction of channel catfish in the late '80's definitely didn't help the fishery any either.

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baby bullheads could be found all over the lake.

Just because the smaller bullheads are gone, doesn't mean it had a detrimental effect on the walleye population. Please read below.

There was a recent study done by Windom DNR Fisheries on the topic of walleye, bullhead, and catfish abundance. There is an inverse relationship between bullhead and channel catfish numbers, which is believed to be a result of catfish predation. In 1975, there was a research project on food habits of walleye in southern Minnesota lakes that found walleye must be larger than 16 inches to effectively feed on small black bullhead. That’s a lot of time for a fish to learn to eat other forage first or to ever effectively feed on bullhead. The results of that study suggest that there doesn’t seem to be a negative relationship between channel catfish and walleye abundance.

It comes down to the type of predators and feeding style that catfish and walleye are and exhibit, their respective positions in the water column, and their mouth shape. Cats are more efficient predators of bullheads. If you want a strong walleye lake you usually don’t rely on bullheads as forage, so I wouldn’t say that from a walleye fishing perspective that fishing would be better off with a bunch of bullheads instead of in-check numbers of bullheads via catfish. Remember that black bullheads in excess can have similar negative effects on waters like carp: increased turbidity, decreased vegetation, algae blooms, etc.

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I understand what you all are saying but I dont think it is just the catfish that the problem though. Im not sure what else it could be either.

Why I say that is because if you have ever fished the Minnesota or Mississippi River. You can catch eyes there. And there is alot of catfish in those rivers. Yes, im sure the catfish does have something to do with the lake being like it has been the last couple of yers, but it has to be a combination with something else to make it this bad.

I know people who are still catching eyes in the lake. You might have to work a little harder for them but they are still in there.

Have people been catching fish in talcot? Its the same river through there. Im sure they have catfish it the lake also, but are people catching eyes?

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Well losing those 3-4" bullheads off of that rock plie in West Graham definitely had a deterimental effect on the walleye fishing there. The average walleye you caught off of there was probably 16" or bigger and apparently they had adapted to eating those baby bullheads because when the cats came in the numbers that there is now and those baby bullheads disappeared so did the walleyes. This isn't a one year deal either this has been going on for some time now and follows at least twenty years of consistent walleye fishing and probably a lot longer than that for the guys that were there before my time. Still believe it's not that there are cats in these lakes but the amount of cats that are in them. Golden years for the cat guys without a doubt.

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I understand what you all are saying but I dont think it is just the catfish that the problem though. Im not sure what else it could be either.

Why I say that is because if you have ever fished the Minnesota or Mississippi River. You can catch eyes there. And there is alot of catfish in those rivers. Yes, im sure the catfish does have something to do with the lake being like it has been the last couple of yers, but it has to be a combination with something else to make it this bad.

I know people who are still catching eyes in the lake. You might have to work a little harder for them but they are still in there.

Have people been catching fish in talcot? Its the same river through there. Im sure they have catfish it the lake also, but are people catching eyes?

I don't think this situation can be compared up against any river system.

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Can you caompare it to Round lake?? There are tons of cats in there along with walleyes. The bite the last year or so has slowed way down. Is the cat fish that hurt the walleye population in there?? I am pretty sure they the cats did not. You all say that Shetek use to be a great waaleye lake you could always catch em there. Well if you are cathing them so is the next guy and the next guy and so on it adds up. So with that and probly the help of the cats is why the population is hurting right now.

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Kind of hard to compare Round Lake to a normal prairie lake. Look at the DNR test nets of 2005 and the walleyes caught was so high it is actually absurd. Nothing like it before or since. Those are the fish that have been getting hammered both open water and ice fishing the last three years. In those same test nets they had a grand total of seven cats. Pretty insignificant. Fishing pressure on that lake has probably lowered the numbers of walleye more than anything else because it did get hammered. The DNR will probably be sampling it again this year. That should actually be pretty interesting to see the changes.

As far as Shetek is concerned even when the fish were biting it wasn't like it was Mille Lacs as far as pressure goes. It's a big lake and a whole lot of places to fish. Even when you were catching fish and the next guy and the next the next year you caught fish again. I agree with TO on one thing. Shetek will turn around again with the amount of stocking that is going on there it's just a matter of when.

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My opinion on the cats are that they do have a bad effect on the eyes.The little bullheads are gone from the lakes in this area.What is missing from the lakes in this area is the nice eating size walleyes.Yes fox and big twin have a few eaters in them.But if you look at the stocking for those lakes they stocked adult eyes in them.Which are about 1#.The lakes in fairmont are nothing compared to what they used to be.I really beleive it is the catfish that has done a job on the eatable size eyes.I seldom catch a walleye here that is under 23 inches.And the dnr site say they do not reproduce well at all in the fairmont lakes.I think they are right on that one.Just my opinion here.

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Can you caompare it to Round lake?? There are tons of cats in there along with walleyes. The bite the last year or so has slowed way down. Is the cat fish that hurt the walleye population in there?? I am pretty sure they the cats did not. You all say that Shetek use to be a great waaleye lake you could always catch em there. Well if you are cathing them so is the next guy and the next guy and so on it adds up. So with that and probly the help of the cats is why the population is hurting right now.

About 5 years ago a ton of Catfish winterkilled on the north side of round lake. About 2 years after that the walleye fishing really took off. Okabena has always had catfish in it and the walleye numbers have always been pretty good. Sometimes catching those walleyes can be tough in Okabena. I think with the right balance catfish can be a help to a lake.

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I have to agree with 123 fish. I don't see how you can compare the two lakes at all. Sure they are in the same part of the state, the similarities end there. Look at the test netting, the numbers beg to differ with the status of the catfish taking over. And hearing second wind of a winter freeze in reality means nothing, did you actually go out and count how many froze out? Highly doubtful, lets look at this one simple way. If these fish came into Shetek years ago, shouldn't they be 10 lbs plus?! They are not, they are 3-5 lbs, meaning they have not been in this lake that long. Anyone at the latest failure of a fishing tourney put on at Shetek probably heard a good conversation or two amongst people at that, and I can guarantee there was nothing positive said. I have the utmost respect for the fisheries department, but maybe just maybe, one time they made a mistake and it really is sad because Shetek was a great fishery. This doesn't mean it is the end of the lake, it is going to take some rebuilding time. The lake still has the potential to be a prime walleye fishery, something needs to be done however, thats the bottom line....imo

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And hearing second wind of a winter freeze in reality means nothing, did you actually go out and count how many froze out?

I saw the fish for myself they were all catfish laying on the north end of round lake after ice out about 5 years ago.

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I have enjoyed folowing this thread and only have this thought. Maybe we should start fishing for the cats as hard as we fished for the wallies and then maybe we could help turn this thing around

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agreed fish for kittys and eat em they eat the same food thusforce they should taste the same..

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What I learned yesterday.............

With a south wind like we had, my normal thing to do is try to work the shorelines around Teepootah (sp?), and I did, and I caught and kept some nice catfish. Ok, I like eating cats and they're fun to catch but I wanted a few eyes or crappies.

Moving out a little deeper (Yeah I know, deeper is what you make of it), and switching from live bait/spinner rigs to dark colored rattling husky jerk-baits was the ticket. I thought the eyes would be in closer to the windward shoreline but I was wrong. That worked in the past, not this time.

Also, some trolling right smack in the middle between Teepootah point and the inlet didn't suck either.

The eyes have changed their ways a bit. As anglers, we need to change along with them. Or, keep doing the same thing over and over and not get the results you like.

I'll agree the cats have changed the lake a bit. It's not the end of the world. I know I'm not telling yous guys stuff you don't already know but as things change we need to change our tactics also to get the results we're looking for.

The eyes went back into the lake, the cats went into the livewell.

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Nice report BG. I will be camping there this weekend and plan on giving the eyes a shot. I haven't fished Shetek for about 5 years now! Abouts how fast were you trolling those cranks? I remember a few times when we caught some eyes 'right smack in the middle' but ours were between Teepootah and the island area. If you have anymore info you'd want to share, that'd be great! rpotzie at hotmail dot com. Thanks!

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try for catfish right like you would fish a walleye look for sunken trees and rock piles cast a bobber, jig, small minnow by them so its .5" off the bottom and wam you should get a kitty! just a thought if the eyes dont cooperate.

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Abouts how fast were you trolling those cranks?

2.2 MPH according to the GPS. Bouncing them off the bottom. Gotta check them every now and then for snags and mud and stuff. From time to time hit the spool release and let the crank just sit there, then give it a reel. The pause and move is what caused the strikes for me. Also (I realize this isn't a secret to most guys) when we turned, and the crank either just dangled there or sped up (Depending if it was inside or outside) they would give it a smack.

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I know a couple guys that fished shetek late last week from shore and ended up with a limit in a short time. Not sure how they were fishing but normal tactics of chicken livers fished on the bottom works just about everywhere I've tried for them.

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My neighbor talked to someone that works for the DNR last weekend and he said that Shetek is full of walleye. The DRN official said that Shetek has as many walleye as any other lake in Minnesota. When my neighbor asked him why they have been so difficult to catch, he said that it was because there are so many baitfish in the lake. He said something along the lines of there is a one in a million chance that a walleye will hit your lure because of the large baitfish population. He didn't tell me anything about catfish. I don't know much about running a fishery or if that is just his opinion or if that is the stance of the DNR but wouldn't you think that they would try to do something to decrease the number of baitfish? Maybe the catfish will help in the long run? Walleye and catfish coexist other places as Otter said before so why not Shetek?

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I'm not a fisheries dude either, but I believe they will eventually co-exist. Just gotta give it a little time.

Lime Lake in my town has a similar thing with baitfish. Lime has a very good population of pike and the crappies are to die for. The problem is they're tough to find and with the large amount of baitfish they're hard to catch. But.....as I stated before, if you're not catching much CHANGE YOUR TACTICS!!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Heading to Shetek this weekend any reports on the fishing would be great.

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I tried it for a few hours Saturday, but had no luck at all. I'm sure all of the boat traffic & jet skis enjoying the lake didnt work in my favor.

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