Too much pressure!?!

[bemidjibasser]

Kelly P, question for you...

Do you know where a guy can find the statistics of the tribal harvest? Have they came close to their quota this year? Just curious if there has been any talks of reducing the harvest on that side of the lake to soften the blow...

[russ]

X2

[gunner55]

BB & russ, he has posted some numbers,in the last week or so, for both sides in the New Regs thread.Don't remember if they're for this year or not but I know there's numbers for their quota & their normal harvest.

[walleye29us]

Maybe the lake should just be closed to fishing period! It seems like people think its a crime or being a bad sportsmen if ya wanna eat or keep fish. Ive never fished red lake and im sure its super fun,but sheese..DONT KEEP FISH OR YOUR ELSE! Lame.

[InTheSchool]

So far we have:

Reduce the limit of walleyes year round.

Ban eating of fish on the lake.

Limit the number of fishermen through limited access.

Ask the Red Lake Band for some of their quota.

C & R only, in December.

Continue the way we are with DNR adjusting limit and slot as needed.

[Down Deep]

This comment is for discussion sake and I'm not advocating it, but why not have the resorts help with regulating pressure by raising road access fees and limiting the number of units allowed out? This wouldn't be much different from their being fully booked for their cabins and fish houses and turning customers away.

[kelly-p]

Kelly P, question for you...

Do you know where a guy can find the statistics of the tribal harvest? Have they came close to their quota this year? Just curious if there has been any talks of reducing the harvest on that side of the lake to soften the blow...

[jriegel]

Kelly maybe you could answer this,

Why instead of trying to control the pressure why doesn't the DNR raise money for an annual fry stocking? Whether they charge for the access at the river during the summer or have the resorts add $5 to the access fee in the winter? I know i would pay for it if the fishery would benefit. Instead of controlling the catch why dont they just embrace it? I mean the money everyone spends to go up there $5 would add up fast.

[cookie129]

As long as we keep a good stock the lake should take care of itself as it is a natural fish producing lake?

[jriegel]

As long as we keep a good stock the lake should take care of itself as it is a natural fish producing lake?

I understand that but if it has too much pressure why don't we proactively stock it?

[InTheSchool]

So far we have:

Reduce the limit of walleyes year round.

Ban eating of fish on the lake.

Limit the number of fishermen through limited access.

Ask the Red Lake Band for some of their quota.

C & R only, in December.

Continue the way we are with DNR adjusting limit and slot as needed.

Annual stocking of the lake.

[kelly-p]

Quote:

Why instead of trying to control the pressure why doesn't the DNR raise money for an annual fry stocking?

It would be impossible to stock enough to keep up with the present harvest.

One of the reasons the protected slot starts at 17 inches is because most Red Lake walleyes start spawning at 17 1/2 to 18 inches so they are trying to have them to spawn. Right now tho the 14 to 17 inch year class is being pounded. How many will be left alive to spawn when their years

class should be spawning??? I believe it was the 1989/90 winter like this with no snow and a hot bite. Back then there were no gps's, flashers or wheelhouse's and we basically wiped out the 1985 year class so that year class did not spawn. That was the tipping point and the walleyes crashed.

I just came off the Lake a little while ago and what I saw was very concerning to me. The fishermen coming out from Roger's are now out so far that they are in Westwinds normal area. The fisherman out from JR's are out so far that they are in Hillman's normal area and beyond towards the north shore. I can only assume that the fishermen are traveling across the lake that far because there are not any fish left to catch behind them.

I would guess that the January harvest numbers will be staggering again unless we have reached the point where there are just not that many fish left to catch. Either of those scenarios is pretty concerning.

[B-man715]

Kelly, you have a lot of experience and knowledge of the lake. But I had to laugh when you said so and so is in so and so's "area" because there is no fish left.

Come on man, those guys going into other people's "area" are driving over a lot of fish to get there. It is human nature, the "the grass is greener" mentality, not a lack of fish (yet).

It's no different than fishing off of Adrian's road on LOTW. Everybody thinks they have to go 17 miles out, and if they aren't biting there, you must go out 20 miles. Well all of those trucks past me by sitting a half mile from shore and having an awesome bite.....

The problem right now has zero to do with "areas", but had everything to do with cumulative pressure as a whole.

We can't limit the fisherman, or where they fish, but we can limit the harvest.

That is the only feasible option.

Everybody has the "this is my lake" mentality..... and every single one if them is 100% correct

We all need to see the forest through the trees

[walleye29us]

It sounds like it would be best to shut fishing down for a year or maybe 2 so the fish can have a break.

[cookie129]

10 to 14 days ago I set up 6 different wheel houses and they all limited out in 7 feet of water. Yes 7 feet of water plus 2 of those 6 caught a elusive upper red lake crappie . One of those was pushing 17 inches and I have a pic on my phone to prove it. With that said how many fish are getting driven over when you drive 6 miles to the end of the road. If I could convince my customers there biting that close to shore I would have my whole fleet of 4 houses set up there. How long will it take for those fish to migrate out to 6 miles. The dnr stated there were a over abundance of the 15 to 17 inch fish. We have to beleave them if they say we need to go down to two fish to maintain the fishery. Lets hope there right as Kelly said we need those fish to reach there spawning age to keep the lake going. I can think of four or five outfitters that threw in the towel the last 5 years. Some of the others have gotten bigger. I have gotten smaller as I lost a few houses to the flooding we had here 4 years ago. Red lake and mother nature slapped me in the face big time that year. Since the Tuesday announcment I have not rented another house so I think it is going to have a impact on the harvest which is a good thing .

[gunner55]

Way to take the high road Cookie.The new regs have an immediate impact on the coin in your pocket but you're OK with it as it's good for the lake.Just wish everyone would share your outlook & hope they weren't too late with the change.Only time will tell.

[Boreas]

10 to 14 days ago I set up 6 different wheel houses and they all limited out in 7 feet of water. Yes 7 feet of water plus 2 of those 6 caught a elusive upper red lake crappie . One of those was pushing 17 inches and I have a pic on my phone to prove it. With that said how many fish are getting driven over when you drive 6 miles to the end of the road.

After a snowmobile drive around the lake I noticed lots of outfitters have houses in very shallow yet. The wheelhouses are way out in the middle but outfitters are closer to shore...hmmmmm

[kelly-p]

Quote:

Come on man, those guys going into other people's "area" are driving over a lot of fish to get there. It is human nature, the "the grass is greener" mentality, not a lack of fish (yet).

You can have your theory but I’m going to stick with mine. Maybe I did it wrong but in all years on URL but I had 1 hard and fast rule. Always move your rental houses away from the groups of fishermen. Keep your houses ahead of the pack and out of the crowds. You never move towards the clusters of fishermen because you know that those fishermen have at the very least caught some of the fish so the bite will be slower and you run the risk of those other fishermen flowing right around you and your houses ending up in a crowd. You try hard not to ever be in the position where your customers look out the fish house and ask, “Who’s houses are those?”. Then you answer, “Those are AAAAAA’s rentals”. Then your customers spend all day looking out the window at those other rentals wondering if they should rent from that other outfit next time.

When I was driving out Hillman’s road the other day and saw those houses all with the same paint I had to ask someone whose houses they were. In all my years on URL I had never seen those houses before. Now to me it is interesting that a rental outfit based on the south shore would appear this winter where they are now. Now the fishermen in those houses will be looking out the windows at Westwinds and Hillmans rentals and wondering, “If I rented from those outfits next time I wouldn’t have drive across the lake?”. To me it makes no practical sense why those houses are where they are. I can only think of a couple reasons why those houses are where they are. One of those reasons is a desperate attempt to find fish but to me moving towards other outfits and fishermen is risky at best as you could be in the middle of a crowd in one day. I guess if we follow the fishing reports time will tell whose theory was right.

[bturck]

always liked your theory Kelly all the years i rented from you. It wa snice to look out the window and the closest house was another of yours 1/4 mile away.

If you see my truck at one of Johns on Friday be sure to stopnand say howdy

[cookie129]

How about charging wheel houses more so 35 40 dollars to use access. For some reason fishermen do not like paying a 10 to 20 dollar access fee. A lot of those wheel houses do not spend a dime in town as they pre pack before there trip. We also see day trippers from other resorts Blackduck Grand rapids etc. They come up for the day in the summer on the nice days. They also never spend a dime in town as the are staying at other resorts

[Hoyt4]

Kelly I agree with you also.

[gunner55]

+ 3 & that's why WMS had so many return customers

[cookie129]

I have an idea!

How about everyone quits being so GD greedy?

“Its my part of the lake, no its mine” “that’s my road, no its mine”. “I don’t’ care what anyone says, I’m taking fish home and eating as many as I can while I’m there” “I’m not going there for 2 stinkin fish” “I own that lake just as much as you do” …… on and on and on

Find a lake close to home, pull out your house, put a line down, kick back and have a few beverages and stare at your flasher for a few hours, and then as you are packing up pull out your phone and have a big box of fresh ready to eat fillets sent right to your doorstep. http://www.redlakewalleye.com/main-menu You will be money ahead.

MN dumps millions and millions of walleyes in thousands of lakes, no need to fight over the fish in a single lake. I say we put a permanent limit of 1 fish per person with no slot on URL. That ought to separate the men from the boys (both the fishermen and the outfitters).

well said Dtro

[Sandy300]

Lots of ideas out there. It seems to me that some would like the wheelhouse guys pay through the nose to fish. Where would that extra go? Restocking? In the resorts pockets? What about the outfitters? The outfitters are bringing thousands to the lake every year that otherwise couldn't/wouldn't come. The outfitters profit solely from taking a resource from a public lake and don't have to give anything back to the the resource. How about a $10,000 yearly outfitter fee that goes directly to the lake association for re-stocking to replenish the resource that the outfitters customers are taking off the lake? If they can't afford it, to bad. That goes for all lakes. You want to outfit on that particular lake, you pay for restocking.

[BLACKJACK]

One of the reasons the protected slot starts at 17 inches is because most Red Lake walleyes start spawning at 17 1/2 to 18 inches so they are trying to have them to spawn.

So why do they narrow down the slot in July, make it 20-26, and let people harvest those prime spawners?? Granted the pressure is probably less at that time but every fish counts!

[InTheSchool]

What I am most thankful for is the wisdom, knowledge, selflessness of the original members of the Red Lake Advisory Board. The policies they put in place not only allowed the lake to recover in record time but set safeguards so there would never be a crash again. This year has posed problems that have and will create hardships on the lake. But the lake will survive.

Thank you members of the Advisory Board! And here is hoping that you will continue with the hard line set! There will be lots of pressure to change the quota, but hold tough!

[cookie129]

A 10,000 fee would put me out of business. I all ready pay sales tax on the houses plus rental license for houses. Then I have property on lake and pay those taxes. I'mm not trying to deter fish houses as I always have a chance to make a buck or two helping them out with plowing a spot etc. Just trying to figure out a sollution so the lake does not get shut down

[derbier122x]

You are all talking about "xxx" resort roads. I've never been up there or anywhere up north for that matter, but how can people charge to drive around on a public lake? What is stopping anyone from just getting on them?

[BringAnExtension]

They are charging you to cross their private land to go out on the lake, not to drive on a public lake. Part of that access fee gives you the use of the roads that they maintain, including bridges that cross pressure ridges. Also, if you get stuck out on the lake, the resort that you went through will certainly work to get you off the lake. If no one were to pay them for access, they aren't going to spend any money maintaining roads.

You are certainly welcome to access the lake at the public landing, but you are on your own.

In fact, when I am on the smaller lakes near my house and see a guy plowing, I usually offer him a few dollars. He has made my fishing easier and I like to show some appreciation.

[bturck]

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