Snow Reports

[jkrash]

Thanks SkunkedAgain!

 

Things change quickly this time of year. 

[PSU]

Thanks John!

[SkunkedAgain]

I drove by Mille Lacs today and it was completely open on the western shore. Ice out is coming to Vermilion soon

Edited April 7, 2021 by SkunkedAgain

[FishinCT]

On 4/5/2021 at 6:07 AM, jkrash said:

from what I could tell the lake is full of 10"-12" eyes. These fish will grow into eater size by fall so treat them right, let them go and let them grow.

Unfortunately these are already eaters for far too many people. Hopefully they take your advice

[delcecchi]

2 hours ago, FishinCT said:

Unfortunately these are already eaters for far too many people. Hopefully they take your advice

just read article in timberjay.   Great year classes even on west end.    

http://www.timberjay.com/stories/walleye-boom-time,17521

 

and about a gazillion little perch on the west as well.  Oh joy oh joy. 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by delcecchi

[SkunkedAgain]

We still have to be able to catch them Del !

 

-SkunkedAgain

[delcecchi]

13 hours ago, SkunkedAgain said:

We still have to be able to catch them Del !

 

-SkunkedAgain

All those little perch should be easy...

[FishinCT]

Historic numbers of fish in the lake right now. Should be tons of pressure this year. There is also a creel survey this summer according to dnr management plan. Results of that should be interesting

[gimruis]

On 4/7/2021 at 6:11 PM, FishinCT said:

Unfortunately these are already eaters for far too many people.

People keep 10 inch walleyes?  Please be kidding.

[Raven77]

We caught and released dozens of 10-13" walleyes on the west end last Sep/Oct.  Bodes well for this season as many of them will be keepers in 2021.  Cool to see the article in the Timberjay reinforces our observation.  Can't wait for opener!

[FishinCT]

Raven- we did the same on the east end. Going to be a phenomenal year up there. 
 

Found results of the 2014 creel survey again to back up my claims of people keeping 10-12” fish and this is a screenshot from it. People even keep a small sliver of 9 inchers! It’s not a shock though if you’ve spent much time in the community deep holes on opener. If people want to clean one that small I guess they can go for it, just not my cup of tea. 

[jkrash]

West end of frazer and smartz bays look to be ice free,

[PSU]

These are outstanding pictures John, thanks!

 

[jim curlee]

Gimruis;

 

Obviously you have never fished on Lake of the Woods.

If a walleye stretch's across the top of a 5 gallon pail, he goes in.

 

Jim

[Raven77]

5 gallon bucket is 12" in diameter.  According to the graphic above, about 25% of 12" fish are kept.  Minimum size allowed kept in my boat is 13" and if fishing is good the 13's go back.  Can't imagine keeping 10" or less, but it is legal.

 

Great to see open water!  Thanks for the pics John.

[gimruis]

On 4/10/2021 at 7:47 AM, jim curlee said:

Gimruis;

 

Obviously you have never fished on Lake of the Woods.

If a walleye stretch's across the top of a 5 gallon pail, he goes in.

 

Jim

 

I have fished Lake of the Woods twice.  We never even considered keeping a walleye or sauger under 14 inches, and we preferred to not even keep them that size either.  My parents still go there twice a year (July and September) and they go for the trophies, not to fill a bucket of 11 inch cigars.  Last July they caught four over 28 inches in one day.

 

For all the 25 percenters out there keeping those tiny fish: stop.  You're pathetic.  You obviously have no interest in helping to maintain a healthy fishery and all you care about is going home with something to harvest, albeit something that has about one bite of flesh on it.

Edited April 12, 2021 by gimruis

[SkunkedAgain]

I fished LOW back in February - same thing. The kid running the bombardier even told everyone to use the bucket as the quick way to measure. The only consistent bite was from small sauger/walleye with the biggest my group caught being 21". I saw lots of small sauger and walleye coming back in the buckets to be fileted.

 

My general opinion is not based on any hard data, but I feel that the part-time anglers are the ones wanting to justify a trip to the lake with some kind of meat. If all they are catching is small fish or large fish - they are going to keep something. I definitely agree that letting them grow is the right move, but I don't get too passionate about it. I also don't mind if someone keeps a legal bass or muskie. They are all legal fish its just that some people prioritize/prize certain species and sizes more than others. Discussions like this are good for informing the lurkers on forums like this that while the laws & regulations say one thing, we can still try to hold ourselves to higher standards.

[jim curlee]

I hope you guy's aren't chewin on me, because we don't keep them either, 14-18"s are perfect for filleting, the rest of them go back in the drink.

13s are a bit short, but I've been known to fillet-em, just depends on if you want a fish fry or not. lol

 

Like Raven77 said, 12"ers are legal, actually I don't think there is a minimum size for walleye.

Maybe there is, I don't have a clue, nor do I give a $#%*!

 

Think about it, a guy drives from the cities to Lake of the Woods.

It takes him roughly 6-8 hours to hit LOTW.

He just spent how much getting there, and he has to stay somewhere.

This doesn't even include the people from out of state, or from other places in our own state.

They want to have a fish fry, all they are catching is 12"ers, I say let-em keep, and eat whatever they want.

It's not like there's a lack of dinky fish in LOTW, same with Vermillion for that matter

 

Now you want to tell them that they can't keep 11" walleyes/sandpike.

 

You guy's can set whatever rules you want in your own boat, but you have no right telling somebody else what they can, and can't do, and now you want to label them 25%ers, sounds like a motorcycle gang to me. lol

 

I'm not trying to defend anybody, but if it's legal, you have no right to judge anybody else or what they are doing.

If it's illegal, you have a right to complain to somebody else that will judge them.

 

Jim

 

 

 

[FishinCT]

I have personally been in favor of a 13 or 14 inch minimum size on the lake in the past. But I don’t know if that’s the right thing the more I think about it. 
 

I want the resorts to thrive and people to enjoy the lake. It’s pretty easy to go out early in the year with a bucket of minnows in a deep hole and catch a limit of 12” fish. I may not like that personally but if it keeps businesses on and around the lake thriving then so be it. Vermilion isn’t lotw but it’s not exactly a short drive from the cities either. How many would skip coming up if they couldn’t keep those fish?
 

A perfect meal for me is one 17-18” fish or two 14” fish. Given the choice I’ll take one fish out of the lake rather than two any day of the week. But I also get to come up for a week at a time and my wife won’t eat fish so I don’t have to justify a weekend trip up there with the boys by bringing a meal home. 

[Raven77]

Calling fishermen "pathetic" for doing something that is legal and ethical does none of us any good.  If you have an issue with the regulations take it up with the DNR.  One could argue that trophy fishing is less ethical than keeping dinks as it is inevitable that some of those breeder fish will die from hooking loss.  There's a good reason we aren't allowed to keep 20-26" fish.  I agree with others here that when people come from far away they want to have a meal of fish and if all they can get is 12"ers they are not going to damage the fishery by keeping 4 fish of that size.  We should all care about fishing within the regulations and not tolerating those that don't but attacking fisherman that are acting within the laws because their standards are different than yours is destructive to our sport.  Let's all stick together.

[BigVwalters]

I agree with Raven.  Gotta stick together.  Its good to have your own code of ethics on keeping certain size fish.  But you cant bash anyone going by the legal rules that this state has.  Btw, any snow reports? haha

[SkunkedAgain]

I was thinking about that....we really need to get the discussion rolling in the open water thread because....

 

 

 

[Raven77]

Looking good!

[JerkinLips]

Before the slot limit days, I would use my 13" shoe as a gage for what to keep.  Wouldn't have kept an eye under 14" back then.  The slot limit (18" max later raised to 20") helped the Vermilion population significantly, but the recent increase in fishing pressure had definitely decreased the population of quality eaters.

 

I would like to see a 13" or 14" minimum, but a reasonable compromise would be a 12".  A 12" walleye still has a little "meat on the bones" and would provide an opportunity for those desperate for a meal.  Considering hooking mortality, a person stopping at four 12-14" fish would probably be better than fishing all day to catch four quality eaters.

[gimruis]

On 4/12/2021 at 9:50 PM, Raven77 said:

Calling fishermen "pathetic" for doing something that is legal and ethical does none of us any good.  If you have an issue with the regulations take it up with the DNR.  One could argue that trophy fishing is less ethical than keeping dinks as it is inevitable that some of those breeder fish will die from hooking loss.  There's a good reason we aren't allowed to keep 20-26" fish.  I agree with others here that when people come from far away they want to have a meal of fish and if all they can get is 12"ers they are not going to damage the fishery by keeping 4 fish of that size.  We should all care about fishing within the regulations and not tolerating those that don't but attacking fisherman that are acting within the laws because their standards are different than yours is destructive to our sport.  Let's all stick together.

 

Completely disagree.  I will and always will continue to call out someone who is out of ethics because its based on science.  Following the law is required, but often not enforceable.  So changing the regulations isn't going to fix the problem completely.  Its the culture that has to change.  To me this about morals and conservation. People complain regularly about not being able to catch large panfish or large pike anymore and then they complain about new regulations aimed at trying to fix it.  Or they complain about not seeing enough trophy caliber bucks but they continue to fill their tag with fork horns.  Well, its the same people.  They caused their own demise.

 

Simple math says that if people are keeping 11 or 12 inchers with regularity, those fish WILL NOT get any bigger because they are dead.  If I catch 24 incher, unhook it quickly, and release it, there's a reasonable chance it survives.  If you are driving 6 hours one way and you're hell bent on coming home with something, you're doing it for the wrong reason.  Try just going and enjoying it instead of doing it to harvest something.  We have some of the best freshwater fishing in the nation here and most of it does not rely on artificial stocking; it relies on natural reproduction.  Removing undersized, spawning size, or trophy caliber fish from a system is detrimental to that.  Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem.

 

 

[Raven77]

Where's your "science"?  Here's a piece from the DNR suggesting that keeping fish under 12" will not increase the population of larger fish  https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/walleye/management.html.  The answer to catching more large fish is to keep the smaller fish and let the larger ones go.  That's the case with walleyes and panfish.  This is proven scientifically and the basis for slot limits.

 

I agree with Jerkin Lips that "a person stopping at four 12-14" fish would probably be better than fishing all day to catch four quality eaters".  If I want a meal for my family or guests I could fish all day and catch four 18-20" fish.  Now I've killed 4 fish that are sexually mature and possibly have killed some other fish as well in the process of catch and release.  Personally I prefer keeping fish in the 13-16" range for eating and releasing smaller and larger ones, but I'm not condemning anyone that legally keeps 12" fish as it is not detrimental to the fishery.

 

What I totally disagree with is calling fellow fishermen "pathetic" unless they are breaking the law.  We can agree to disagree on everything else.

[NicMatNat]

well, my family just bought a place up on the lake and am thrilled to see stories like this:  

 

http://www.timberjay.com/stories/walleye-boom-time,17521

 

Unless people just started keeping 12" walleye this year, i don't see the problem.

[Raven77]

Welcome to Lake Vermilion Nic.  The Timberjay article is extremely positive for the 2016 year class and the 2018 year class.  We have some good years ahead of us on the lake!

[BigVwalters]

@gimruis Hey this is a feed for info.  Not life lessons.  Get off this feed if all your here for is to argue.  Also your not helping your cause by saying you worked for the Dnr.  If the Dnr had it figured out,  there would be a minimum size.  Quit being a jackass. 

[delcecchi]

I think that the primary purpose of any harvest regulation is to control the total amount of fish taken from the lake, and secondarily to alter the size structure of the population.      Minimum sizes, slots, numerical limits all have their problems with their effects on the size distribution, especially in a lake where the harvest is near the maximum level.     We all have heard of a large lake here in Minnesota with all sorts of issues that are basically insoluble in the face of the high level of fishing pressure it gets.   

 

The best thing that could happen to Vermilion is for Canada to reopen.     I don't know that keeping 4 12 inchers is somehow worse than keeping 4 17 inch fish, with regards to the population, for example.   I  hope folks don't start filling their freezers in the spring and fall when the fishing is good. (it is unlawful but a lot of it happened anyway)

 

I'm just glad to see that things are looking up for the lake and the West end in particular so I won't have to psych myself up for a long boat ride in order to actually catch a walleye.

Edited April 16, 2021 by delcecchi