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So slow it hurts.


Neighbor_guy

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I agree with many on this topic. I strongly agree with the early spring river fishing and the effects of the wheel house boom. I remember coming home from snowmobiling up there last year driving past the Red lake area. I looked down a road to the west as I was going by on a Sunday morning and it was wheel houses as far as I could see that came off of URL, cant remember which road it was. Got to Kelliher and there was trucks and wheel houses everywhere and traffic was worse than a holiday weekend in the summer! I then said to my buddy who was driving "And people wonder why there is problems on Red Lake". I also always wondered why you can take 8 fish in the winter with much more people out fishing, but only 6 in the summer? I am fine with 6 in the summer by the way, I don't need 8. I would agree that fishing on the south shore has not been the same as it was when I got my place up there in 2008, but things looked to be turning around this fall. I agree with the comment on the weather patterns affecting the bite as well, seen it so many times. And just because you crush them in one spot one day, the very next day...nothing. Does that mean the lake is in bad shape I don't think so. They call it fishing, not catching.

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There are a lot of factors that affect the fishing from year to year other than ongoing harvest over time, although that's a biggie.  No doubt fishing pressure and the effectiveness of anglers has changed considerably from just 10 years ago. I wouldn't be surprised if shiner bait harvest has increased in that time as well.  Whether you want to believe it or not, there is a changing climate.  Not going to debate the cause but numbers (temperature, precipitation, degree days, ice out dates, name it) don't lie.  We've had some incredibly warm falls and late onsets of winter, as well as some really early springs, more so in the past 20 years than the 120 before that easily.  I don't think we can speculate what effect this has on the lake, but it is not unreasonable to consider that it may be having some effect and may be changing the  phenology or timing of where/when the fish are doing their thing.  The warming trend if it continues may actually benefit the fisheries in the short to medium term; (longer growing season, more productivity) or hamper it fish eggs don;t hatch as well as they used to in those warmer earlier springs, for example. One thing that could impact the shiner population is those darn spiny water fleas. They would compete directly with fish like the emerald shiner and little perch for resources.  Not sure where the research is on that but I know someone has been studying it on Rainy Lake and maybe LOW too?  My fall fishing in the river rebounded this year after a few off years.  Took it as a good sign as well.

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Brad Dokken/Grand Forks Herald)

As a longtime fisheries biologist on Lake of the Woods, Tom Heinrich has learned to expect the unexpected when it comes to fish population surveys.

 

Take last year, for example. Heinrich, large lake specialist for the Department of Natural Resources in Baudette, Minn., said walleye catches during the annual September survey on Lake of the Woods averaged about 14 fish per net, lagging behind the long-term average of 15 to 15½ walleyes per net.

This year, by comparison, the annual September survey yielded a whopping 22 walleyes per lift along with about 21 saugers, which is higher than the long-term sauger average of 13.9 but on par with the 10-year average.

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"Last year, I was surprised because catches were so low," Heinrich said. "It's not like we'd been having a bunch of year-class (hatch) failures or anything. I expected it to be a little higher last year, and this year, I expected it to be lower, so it shows you can't always predict what the fish are going to do."

 

Probably good

On paper, at least, results from this year's survey are good news for anglers itching to hit the big lake when the ice is safe enough to access sometime in the next couple of weeks.

That being said, Heinrich said the results are open to interpretation, and anglers should resist reading too much into the findings.

"The fish were more vulnerable to the nets this year for whatever reason," he said. "We can't address why—it just seems they were high.

 

"Even sizes I expected to be below average, everything was high, and you just don't see that normally," he said. "But the deal is, we're still looking at a pretty good, robust walleye population—even with that interpretation thrown in there."

As part of the September survey—which targets juvenile fish but also samples walleyes up to about 25 inches—DNR crews set four, 250-foot nets at each of 16 sites along the Minnesota side of Lake of the Woods from the south shore to the Northwest Angle. The nets are left overnight, and crews pull them the next day.

The survey begins the Monday after Labor Day and continues for about three weeks.

Keeper-size walleyes in the 12- to 16-inch range were more abundant than normal, Heinrich said, and 17- to 20-inch walleyes were on par with normal levels.

The survey doesn't sample larger walleyes very efficiently, "But they appear to be at least at normal levels of abundance," he said.

 

Saugers look good

Saugers numbers also look good, Heinrich said, and fish from 12 inches to about 15 inches are relatively abundant.

"We're looking at fairly good size distribution there," Heinrich said. "That's of interest to people fishing this winter."

Saugers, which bite throughout the day, are the flagship of Lake of the Woods' booming winter fishery, which in recent years has drawn more than 1 million hours of ice fishing pressure. Walleyes, by comparison, tend to bite best during low-light periods.

Sauger abundance in the September survey has trended above long-term averages for the past decade or so, Heinrich said, with fewer peaks and valleys than managers used to see.

"It seems sauger reproduction has really stabilized," Heinrich said. "It's much more stable than it used to be. I can't tell you why that is, but it does seem there's been some change in the recruitment of sauger. It has been much more stable."

Recruitment refers to new fish added to the population.

Perch and plankton

Perch catches were higher than recent years, Heinrich said, and the survey tallied about 15 perch per net. That's slightly higher than the long-term average of 14½ and well above the past 10 years, he said.

Heinrich said Lake of the Wodos' perch population has undergone several changes since the discovery a decade ago of spiny waterfleas, an invasive species that outcompetes native zooplankton eaten by smaller fish.

Fewer perch have been recruited to the population, he said, but the ones that survive to a size large enough to eat spiny waterfleas are growing fast.

"They really seem to take off," he said. "Even though abundance is down, our growth rates are way up. Fish that are 5 or 6 years old are hitting 12 inches long, whereas in the past, those were 9- to 10-year-old fish.

"It's kind of a good news/bad news thing. We're seeing good growth, but poor recruitment."

Fisheries crews collect water samples to monitor zooplankton, and spiny water flea numbers this year on Lake of the Woods were down from previous years, Heinrich said. Tullibees from banner hatches in 2014 and 2015 seem to be cropping off the invasive spiny waterfleas, he said.

That's having a positive impact on native zooplankton.

"We're seeing zooplankton species in our sampling we haven't seen for several years," Heinrich said. "We'll have to see how these tullibees hang in there. It would be nice if they'd learn to take advantage of (spiny waterfleas) and control them a bit, but I'm not convinced that's going to happen yet."

Heinrich said walleyes sampled in the September survey were distributed fairly evenly across the lake, unlike 2014, when nets set near Driftwood Point closer to the Northwest Angle produced as many as 130 walleyes while south shore catches lagged.

"Driftwood is historically a good site for us, but it didn't stand out like it did that one year," Heinrich said. "That was the year catches were really unusual toward fish in the northern end of the lake."

Fishing along the south shore and Rainy River late this fall was excellent, Heinrich said, which bodes well for winter fishing prospects.

"If I had to guess, when we get ice, I'm thinking the fishing on the south shore is going to be very good, just because of how good the fishing was this fall," he said.

Lake of the Woods notes

• Anglers logged about 640,000 hours of fishing pressure this past summer on Lake of the Woods, Heinrich said, based on results from a summer creel survey. Bad weather in June, which traditionally is a busy month for fishing, likely kept anglers off the water. Anglers harvested about 180,000 pounds of walleyes and 58,000 pounds of saugers this summer, the survey showed.

• The DNR will launch a winter creel survey on Lake of the Woods as soon as the ice is safe, Heinrich said, probably sometime between Christmas and New Year's. Another summer creel survey planned for 2017 has been canceled because of budget shortfalls.

• A Baudette fisherman made news in November when he reeled in a 32-inch walleye weighing more than 14 pounds on the Rainy River. Heinrich said Baudette fisheries crews sampled a 15-pound walleye last April during the annual spring electrofishing survey on the Rainy River near Birchdale, Minn. "That's the biggest walleye I've seen in 25 years," he said.

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34 minutes ago, lakowoods said:

That being said, Heinrich said the results are open to interpretation, and anglers should resist reading too much into the findings

Agreed!!! 

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That article in some ways points to another issue up there. The dnr is going to "start its creel survey" 

 

Maybe instead of paying 3-4 guys to ride around the lake on brand new snowmobiles you should instead hire a warden to patrol said lake. 30+years of hunting and fishing in the area and I have NEVER been checked by someone who wasn't just there to look at the fish in the bucket and the bait. Not once. 

 

No enforcement

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1 hour ago, Neighbor_guy said:

That article in some ways points to another issue up there. The dnr is going to "start its creel survey" 

 

Maybe instead of paying 3-4 guys to ride around the lake on brand new snowmobiles you should instead hire a warden to patrol said lake. 30+years of hunting and fishing in the area and I have NEVER been checked by someone who wasn't just there to look at the fish in the bucket and the bait. Not once. 

 

No enforcement

 

Although I agree with increased enforcement is likely needed, I disagree with your assessment that the creel survey should not happen. If it were not for the creel survey, the data listed in the article above would not be available and help with setting regulations and limits. Also, although they may get new sleds/trucks/boats every so often, they hardly get them every year and if I were one of those creel guys riding around for 8 hours a day 4-5 days a week in -10 degrees, I wouldn't want to be riding around on a old unreliable sled. If they are gathering useful data (which they are), I am all for them having a dependable sled, even if its replaced with a new one every 3-5 years.

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Interesting conversation here. I agree with most folks that something is going on at LOTW over the last half dozen years or so. My dad was born and raised in Roseau (he is nearly 70 now) and now lives near the Twin Cities but has owned a cabin up there since 2001. He has seen the lake change and evolve over his lifetime. He remembers when he was a kid that you almost never caught a walleye over 20 inches. It was quite rare. That was when they were commercially netting the lake and most of the larger walleyes were taken by the nets. They fished the lake a lot back then and caught a lot of fish but they were almost always the smaller eater sized fish, 14-16 inchers. The limit was 6 per person back then. In the 80's the commercial nets were no longer allowed. The fish really exploded back then and I remember when I was a kid in the early 90's the limit was 10 and there was no slot. Then it dropped down to 6 with one over 19.5". I think, if I remember correctly, the sauger/walleye limit in the winter was 14 but no more than 6 could be walleye. Then about 2003 they dropped it to the current limit of 6 aggregate in the summer and 8 in the winter with no more than 4 walleyes and the protected slot between 19.5 and 28. Quite a change in the management of the lake over the years.

 

What is causing the "downturn" over the last several years? I wish I knew. Could be cyclical, could it be over harvest, especially in the winter? Could be several factors together that has caused this. Hard to say. The DNR seems to feel like the fishery is in good shape, but as anglers, we have seen first hand the quality of fishing decline. What's the answer, not sure, again, I wish I knew. I do feel the pressure the lake receives in the winter has grown dramatically in the last 5-8 years and the advent of the wheelhouse has made it that much easier to be on the lake in the winter. Before wheelhouses you either had to rent a house from a resort, most of which were day houses, or bring a portable. Folks were not as willing to spend long periods of time in a portable or were not willing to spend hundreds of dollars day after day renting a house from a resort. Now, a lot of people have a wheelhouse and they can spend many days in a row fishing the lake in comfort. That's a tremendous number of hours spent fishing the lake and taking fish. Also, the fact that you can eat fish on the lake in your wheelhouse is another factor. Maybe that should not be allowed anymore? I don't know, just spit balling ideas. 

 

At any rate, it's sounds like numbers on the south end of the lake are better this year due to the good shiner run they had in the river. The question is, will that last or was that a one time deal? That remains to be seen. I do hope that the last several years was just a cyclical downturn and we will start seeing another uptick here over the next several years, but, again, only time will tell. 

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     This is a very interesting topic with so many theories.  There are a couple things that I have experienced that I would like to share to see if it might add to the puzzle.  I have fished LOTW off and on since about 1988 sometimes on the Canada side and sometimes on the south shore.  I can honestly say that the best two trips I have had were in the spring of 2013 and fall of 2015 in Canada.  I have primarily fished the south shore in the winter and have had some great trips but the biggest difference I notice is that in Canada I catch very few sauger while on the south shore I would say 75% of the fish are sauger.  So if we keep an 8 person limit on average 6 of them will be sauger, sometimes more.  This could be a product of winter fishing but that has been pretty consistent.  My point is that if we are overharvesting the lake from the winter fishing shouldn't we be seeing a change in that dynamic?  These fish are two separate species that can behave much different despite sharing similar habitat and prey.  Sauger tend be much less prone to large movements and migrations, while walleye have been known to completely exit reservoirs while following flows during flooding.  It would seem that the sauger would be suffering more during the ice fishing season.  Has the fishing improved on the Canada side due to more stringent limits or is it because there is more prey and less felt pressure on that side and the walleye migrate that way?  Obviously my few trips is not an adequate sample size but I think we should keep in mind that walleye and sauger are not entirely the same in their behavior and managing them separately might be worth while.

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There have been a lot of great responses posted as to why there seems to be a decline in the fishing on LOW.  In my less than professional opinion I think the high volume of traffic and fisherman is the cause of this.  However, I don't believe that this has caused a decrease in the population.  To put it simply...if you set up your deer stand in the ditch along a highway you probably won't shoot a deer.   I believe that the fish feel this traffic and pressure and move elsewhere.  I have always had good luck moving away from the pressured areas.  

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1 hour ago, Wallsniffer said:

There have been a lot of great responses posted as to why there seems to be a decline in the fishing on LOW.  In my less than professional opinion I think the high volume of traffic and fisherman is the cause of this.  However, I don't believe that this has caused a decrease in the population.  To put it simply...if you set up your deer stand in the ditch along a highway you probably won't shoot a deer.   I believe that the fish feel this traffic and pressure and move elsewhere.  I have always had good luck moving away from the pressured areas.  

Good point. I can agree with this as it also supports the DNR data. 

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Noise is a HUGE factor in success or failure with winter fishing on LOTW.

 

Two examples:

 

1) Fishing with my brother and two of our children many years ago off of 16-mile reef.  The kids were 13 and 10, respectively.   I found and set us up at the very bottom of the break on the far northwestern edge of the reef, in 32 feet of water.  It was a very nice mid-March day, so we only fished outside with no house.  I drilled eight holes in a circle about 30 feet across in diameter.  We started out catching fish fairly steady, but it quickly slowed to almost nothing.  The kids got bored and wandered off to play in the snow and ice.  About 15 minutes after they left our bobbers started going down faster than we could keep up with them!  Of course, the kids noticed this and came running back over to catch more fish.  Within minutes the bite shut off again.  And again, the kids got bored, and this time I TOLD them to go about 100 yds away and build a snow fort!  Not 15 minutes went by and the bobbers started shooting down the hole again!!!  This continued to happen over and over again until we were filled out with walleye and sauger limits for 4 people, but 90% of the fish we kept were hooked and caught while the kids were FAR away!  There's absolutely no doubt in my mind, even though we were standing in 32 feet of water, the fish below us could hear those kids running around on the ice, goofing around, and it either just shut them down, or caused the fish to scatter until it quieted down again.  Literally every time I shooed those little rugrats away the fish would start biting again, almost immediately.

 

2) Two years ago fishing with a good friend, again off of Rocky Point in a rented day shelter. Early March this time, and periodic snow squalls were rolling thru.  Fishing started out fairly steady, in 29 feet of water, but fell off fast once we got settled in.  I marked fish on my Marcum on a routine basis all day long, but I just couldn't make anything commit to my baits.  My friend and I were pretty quiet, but were talking, and listening to podcasts via smartphone for pretty much the whole day.  This friend of mine is not an avid fisherman, and he was getting pretty frustrated and bored as fishing was just flat, so he decided to go for a short snowmobile ride.  Out of curiousity I decided to stay back and kept fishing.  Once again, about 10 minutes after he left, I caught a very nice 18 inch walleye, followed by two solid keeper saugers.  I thought perhaps the fish were turning on, so when he returned about 30 minutes later I was excited to show him my catch, and I confidently told him that NOW we should start catching some fish! ;) He put down his lines in a hurry, but we sat talking for another 1 1/2 hrs without a bite!!!  He had to drive back to the cities that evening, and my drive was much shorter, so he decided he'd get a reasonably early start, and he left before I did.  I just COULDN'T leave without seeing if my theory would hold true!  Sure enough!  10 minutes after he left my first set line popped down the hole and I landed another solid 17 inch walleye!  I kid you NOT!  For the next 45-60 minutes I couldn't keep my two lines in the water at the same time!!!  I'd reel up a nice fish, and before I could get the bait back down my set line (bobber) would POP down the hole.  Pull up that fish, drop line #1 down the hole, and proceed to unhook fish and rebait, look over at line #1 and it's dancing again!  In only 45 more minutes of fishing I was filled out on walleyes and saugers, a couple bonus Jumbos, and a couple fat Whitefish for the smoker.  And my good friend hadn't caught a fish!!!  Once again, it was pretty obvious the fish below our house could hear us.  The difference, when he and I were in the house together, we were fairly quiet, but we were talking and laughing from time to time.  When I was alone I was virtually silent.  The fish bit aggressively, and chased a jigging spoon up off the bottom without hesitation....but ONLY when it was QUIET above them!

 

I've tested this theory on numerous other trips with great success, but never was it SO obvious how sound sensitive these fish were as it was on these two trips.  One wouldn't think that noise would make a lick of difference with 3 feet of ice on top of 30 feet of water, but it does!  Actually, if I'm not mistaken, sound travels FASTER under water, and the noise itself is amplified many times what we would hear above water.  

 

Hence, when you plant yourself amongst a pile of other houses, other anglers, pickups full of people, a roadway, or whatever might be the source of noise, TV, radio, augers, generators, etc.., it's really no wonder that most of the active fish MOVE AWAY from all the disturbing noise.  That being said, we've all caught fish when there's some noise going on, so obviously this doesn't ALWAYS hold true.  But I'm telling ya', if you're marking fish and you simply can't get anything to bite, QUIET DOWN!  Get away from the crowds, and FAR away from the roadways, or sled trails.  Set yourself up at least a couple hundred yards from any source of noise, and try to remain as quiet as an ice-fisherman can be, and I'll guarantee you'll catch a WHOLE LOT MORE fish on Lake of the Woods!  Darn near GUARANTEE IT!!!! ;)

 

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I've only had the misfortune of having to fish LOTW alone once... And I absolutely destroyed the fish, catching many with great action, BUT.. I had also set up on what quickly became obvious to be the next resort road location because I had three plow trucks basically plowing around me creating new sleeper house locations and road fingers.... Literally more noise than a daycare center that has run out of fruit snacks and skipped naptime... And the entire time those trucks made all that noise, within feet of my location, I destroyed the fish in epic proportions. Back when I used to rent day houses from resorts I'd always catch a nice fish at lunch time the moment the bomber or track van pulled up.... We used to joke about how the fish must follow those guys up and down the roads because of the noise.... So I'm excited to try your theory Canopy Sam, because mine has certainly been the opposite for many years.

Edited by Big A
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Great thread going here..... really enjoy the read. Been fishing the Lake since the early 90's by way of portable and rental houses. All the trips have involved a minimum of two full days of fishing and mostly three. There's not been one time where my group, ranging in size from 3 to 10, went without fresh fish dinners. Some times we're there at the right time and at the right spot and we can't keep them off our lines. Other times we work for them. Just fishing as far as I am concerned. But still, even when "slow", this lake beats all the other 10,000+ in my book for a chance at success.

 

I will note though the one thing I have noticed over the years is the size structure of the current sauger population. When I started going there it was news to land a 14" sauger. The last couple years those have been the smallest of the sauger in our buckets.

 

And I also can add to Big A's statement about the track vans, etc....... sure seems every time they stop by some one has a fish on.....

 

Just my 2 cents. Good Luck All! 

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There sure is a lot of interesting discussion going on in this thread, and a variety of experiences with regard to fishing success.  I would like to add a historical perspective to the discussion.  My reason for chiming in is the frequent reference to the “good old days”.  I hear a lot of that, but no one ever defines when those days were.  For instance, were they in the late 1960s?  At that time there were about 550,000 pounds of Walleye harvested through the sport (summer and winter) and commercial fisheries.  The reason we know this is due to a series of creel surveys that were conducted.  Those creel surveys were conducted because anglers pressured the DNR to learn more about the lake, since anglers were worried that there were massive problems with the Walleye population.

 

There were no surveys conducted during the 1970s, but starting in 1981 creel surveys were conducted with regularity.  Winter angling pressure had grown more than 10-fold since the 1960s, to over 400,000 angler hours by 1983.  Interestingly, Walleye harvest was a pretty small component of what anglers harvested in the winter.  Most of the harvest was Sauger during this period.  The winter fishery continued to grow, and pressure reached 1 million angler hours by 2001, and 1.9 million angler hours in 2004.  As the pressure, especially in the winter, went up, so did Walleye and Sauger harvest, so that 625,000 pounds of Walleye and 300,000 pounds of Sauger were harvested annually, on average.  This level of harvest was well above what was considered a safe level (currently 540,000 pounds of Walleye and 250,000 pounds of Sauger), so bag limits were reduced, and a protected slot was enacted.  Were these the “good old days”?

 

Since 2005 the amount of pressure on Lake of the Woods has stabilized to about 1.5 million angler hours in the winter.  Summer pressure hasn’t really changed much since the late 1980s, though there are certainly years with more or less pressure.  Since 2005 the average annual Walleye harvest has been 539,000 pounds, and Sauger harvest has averaged 305,000 pounds.  Sauger remains above the target, but Walleye are right on.

 

Still, some folks that posted here feel that fishing has declined.  I can’t argue with that.  The greatest change we have seen in the fishery, especially the winter, is the increase in participation (pressure).  Keep in mind we are still harvesting the same amount of Walleye that we did in the 1960s (we are however harvesting about ten times as many Sauger).  Guess what, when your participation goes up, and you harvest the same number of fish, everyone ends up harvesting fewer on an individual basis.  That is reality.  Is the lake being over-harvested?  No, but everyone’s slice of the fish pie has gotten smaller.

Edited by walleyenerd
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Great post Walleyenerd.  You can't expect fish to swim past 500 jigs and minnows and decide to bite yours!   Move outside the pack.  Locate fish that aren't as pressured and you will have success!   One area can only sustain so much pressure before you start to experience a decline in your numbers.  

 

As as far as noise being a stimulus to fishing, that is possible.  But I believe that the sustained noise level in the same area provided by hundreds of trucks, generators, augers...day after day...it adds up...along with thousands of lines dangling down ice holes!  If that were the case, Adrian's road would be exploding from beneath with fish looking to bite!

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13 hours ago, Wallsniffer said:

One area can only sustain so much pressure before you start to experience a decline in your numbers.  

AKA - Four Mile Bay :cry:

 

With most of the pressure I have witnessed increase in the past 20yrs, your only away from the pack for an hr before someone comes and plops down practically right on top of you. I once heard Al from Morris Point holler at a group of guys on wheelers that where all fishing right next to each other "There's a million Fish in this Lake and you all want to catch the same one!" ... I laughed out loud and have always attempted to get away from groups as best I can, but with that being said I have absolutely hammered fish as a house surrounded by others and those in the other houses did not and vice versa with me not catching anything and them filling up bucket's.

 

The golden ticket here is not "get away from the crowds". We are in desperate need of a fundamental mentality change! Gone are the days of "this is a huge basin" that produces more fish than anything... Numbers NUMBERS NUMBERS! And not the fake ones pounded into the newspapers and magazine articles to promote tourism.. the real ones. Fishing pressure in Dec Jan Feb is M A S S I V E! Changes are needed to keep this alive for our kids. The same thoughts and ignorance killed URL twice and Mille Lacs.

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Big A.  I think everyone here agrees that fishing pressure, and "numbers" are a valid point in the argument that perhaps we are hitting this lake too hard.  I don't see anyone disagreeing with you.

 

Also, walleyenerd, thank you for an excellent, "local" experienced perspective on the lake!  I agree with everything you say, 100%!

 

Just one note, as a follow-up to the comments regarding the track vans pulling up to a house and "causing" the fish to bite.  Just another observation of mine, but again I believe it is tied to noise.  There's virtually no doubt that a large vehicle coming across the ice is making a LOT of noise; ie. engine noise, ice cracking, etc..  We can hear it ourselves.

 

What I believe is happening in this instance is that this noise is actually pushing fish around below the ice.  It's spooking them, and they're moving!  Perhaps, in many instances, they are even being spooked to right below your ice house?  Same way we see walleyes "move away" from a boat trolling by, and why running "outriggers" often catches these fish that move away from the path of this moving boat.

 

Interesting observation, and another true story by the way.  When we were kids fishing thru the ice on the river in our local town, if the fishing slowed to zero bites for any length of time one of us would go outside, hop on a snowmobile, and make concentric circles around the house, moving a little closer to the house with each subsequent circle.  Invariably, if there were fish in the area, this strategic noise making actually pushed fish below our house, and resulted in another bite or two!  I swear to the Almighty above!

 

Absolute quiet, and/or strategic noise, can "make" fish bite!  And of course, yes, being in the right place at the right time can help a LOT as well! ;)

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I like the thought of dropping the limit, heck, have a 4 fish limit. That's plenty, I don't know why it always takes a crash to realize that. 

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7 hours ago, Jim Uran said:

I like the thought of dropping the limit, heck, have a 4 fish limit. That's plenty, I don't know why it always takes a crash to realize that. 

 

 

 Do you mean 4 all year or 4 for winter? I don't understand the 8 in winter limit. That seems a little much

 

But I do agree. Four fish limit per person is plenty

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I'm fortunate to use a ski equipped plane and really get away from people except maybe some snowmobiles that are determined. Fishing isn't what it used to be. A buddy living in Warroad for 30 years prays every year for heavy snows and wind so vehicle traffic is limited or paralyzed. He fishes exclusively by snow machine and goes way out. He claims fishing is poor enough that he goes to the Canadian side clearing customs for a quality fishing experience. The ice castle craze is brutal as far a pressure goes. I remember the days when most houses were resort rentals and then the average joes were setting portables. I can still recall the years when a Mankato Canvas suitcase portable was a top of the line setup. Red lake wasn't the destination back then, Mille Lacs and LOTW ruled. The consumption of fish, fish frys, restaurants cooking anglers fish, and then these consumed fish not being counted towards daily limit is an issue. Don't think for a moment this behavior is rare. There are many devoted ethical sportsmen and there are those that are not. You cannot build cities of anglers numbering in the thousands fishing 24 hours a day upon even vast lakes and not impact the fishery. As far as natural resource enforcement goes on lakes like Red and LOTW, it's been very evident to me for many years that the risk of getting caught for a violation is like getting hit by lightning. Red lake will crash again and LOTW will limp along having more diversity and water sheds to shield it some. 

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On 1/6/2017 at 4:08 PM, walleyenerd said:

There sure is a lot of interesting discussion going on in this thread, and a variety of experiences with regard to fishing success.  I would like to add a historical perspective to the discussion.  My reason for chiming in is the frequent reference to the “good old days”.  I hear a lot of that, but no one ever defines when those days were.  For instance, were they in the late 1960s?  At that time there were about 550,000 pounds of Walleye harvested through the sport (summer and winter) and commercial fisheries.  The reason we know this is due to a series of creel surveys that were conducted.  Those creel surveys were conducted because anglers pressured the DNR to learn more about the lake, since anglers were worried that there were massive problems with the Walleye population.

 

There were no surveys conducted during the 1970s, but starting in 1981 creel surveys were conducted with regularity.  Winter angling pressure had grown more than 10-fold since the 1960s, to over 400,000 angler hours by 1983.  Interestingly, Walleye harvest was a pretty small component of what anglers harvested in the winter.  Most of the harvest was Sauger during this period.  The winter fishery continued to grow, and pressure reached 1 million angler hours by 2001, and 1.9 million angler hours in 2004.  As the pressure, especially in the winter, went up, so did Walleye and Sauger harvest, so that 625,000 pounds of Walleye and 300,000 pounds of Sauger were harvested annually, on average.  This level of harvest was well above what was considered a safe level (currently 540,000 pounds of Walleye and 250,000 pounds of Sauger), so bag limits were reduced, and a protected slot was enacted.  Were these the “good old days”?

 

Since 2005 the amount of pressure on Lake of the Woods has stabilized to about 1.5 million angler hours in the winter.  Summer pressure hasn’t really changed much since the late 1980s, though there are certainly years with more or less pressure.  Since 2005 the average annual Walleye harvest has been 539,000 pounds, and Sauger harvest has averaged 305,000 pounds.  Sauger remains above the target, but Walleye are right on.

 

Still, some folks that posted here feel that fishing has declined.  I can’t argue with that.  The greatest change we have seen in the fishery, especially the winter, is the increase in participation (pressure).  Keep in mind we are still harvesting the same amount of Walleye that we did in the 1960s (we are however harvesting about ten times as many Sauger).  Guess what, when your participation goes up, and you harvest the same number of fish, everyone ends up harvesting fewer on an individual basis.  That is reality.  Is the lake being over-harvested?  No, but everyone’s slice of the fish pie has gotten smaller.

 

 

Good post walleyenerd.

 

My earliest fishing recollections on LOW go back to the late 1960's, and what stands out in my memory is a lot less winter activity in the southern basin, and the large numbers of eelpout "trash fish" left on the ice.

But I also remember doing some summer fishing in the 1970's on the launches, and if you wanted a really good mess of fish, they would take you north into the reefs and islands.  But this might have been related to the fact that you could "double up" on your limit by having both a Canadian and Minnesota license.

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I drove over 500 miles to get here... Fishing has been a'iight... And I couldn't be happier. Got here Saturday will be here for... Well, a while... 

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2 hours ago, walleye42 said:

dingle danger 5000

 

I'm not going to wade into if the fishing is better or worse but just two thoughts that popped into my head:

 

1>  It's human nature to remember the best times from the past and not the worst so when you look back it's usually fond memories.

2>  In addition to the wheelhouse explosion everything else also makes the fishing so much better and just compound the pressure issue.  ie.  Guys in those wheelhouses have electronics, good poles and line, a gps and likely GPS lake map, etc, etc, etc

 

What I really wanted to say was I NEED 5 of the dingle dangers 5000's fast and darn the cost!

(and don't tell my wife)

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Another possible variable in all of this is the over abundance of slot fish that may impact the entire population due to an un-natural imbalance of fish this size.  

 

I have brought this up to others and the typical response is the larger walleyes are not eating the smaller ones.  How do they know, they are not getting cut open?  Last winter, two larger 18" sauger I kept had a 6 to 9" walleye in their gut.  

 

If this is true, then how about a response on how this impacts the forage base available?

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
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    • LakeofthewoodsMN
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