Jessie lake slot.

[merc]

I was wondering what your opinion is on the proposed slot on walleye for Jessie lake. The DNR is considering a 17" to 26" protected slot. They are asking for the publics input by contacting the office in Grand Rapids with a public meeting in September. My opinion, maybe 18" or 19" and raise the upper end. I am not an expert on this but 17" on this lake seems a bit too small. Any ideas? I don't keep any over 20" anyway but right now it is tough to get any that would not fall into the proposed slot.

[Duffman]

I'm all for it, although it does seem like they could bump it up an inch or two on the lower end. The bad thing about this type of slot is that everyone will keep any small walleye they catch, where as they would probably release a 13"er before. The fishing pressure on Jessie continues to increase year after year, I'm all for protecting the resource, if it takes a slot, then so be it. If it means a few less meals a year out of that lake, no big deal to this guy. I have my own personal slot anyways - 20"-30"ers go back.

[Guest]

Would like to see 19-26" slot put on with a 14" min. Jessie lake is going to need some protection. Last weekend put back a 26", 21", 23" and still had enough for a fry. With the poor opener there has been hardly any pressure, but in years past it was how long it was to limit out. My personal feeling is they should put a slot on all northern minn lakes.

[BigFisherman]

I am in favor of the slot limit minimum and maximum. Personally would favor minimum of 14" with a slot in the 18" to 26". I would like someone to tell me the reasoning behind the 17" present slot today vs. the 18". Most if not all of the 18" fish that we keep are males. I am sure there are factual studies done by DNR fisheries that support the 17" minimum but would like to be enlightened. Has worked well on Winnie. Would be interested to know what the results would have been with an 18" minimum. If Chris Kavanaugh reads this or if someone knows his e-mail and can forward he could give us a reply.

[Tim O]

When we talked to Chris K. and Karl Kollor about the proposed slot some of reasons for the 17" size were: a 17" female is just beginning to mature and will spawn the following year,17-18" are the biggest harvest size so those females don't get a chance to reach maturity,to keep the regs the same from lake to lake so it is easier to understand and enforce.
Their reason for no min. size is that because there are so many fish that size alot of the those smaller fish will die from natural prey so havesting some of those fish will not have that great of an effect on the over all population.They have had a min. on other lakes and have now taken it back off.

The slot is also proposed for:Bowstring,Sand,Island,Round,Swan,Moose,Splithand,Trout, and Deer(by Effie).

You can e-mail Chris or Karl at [email protected] with your comments.
There will also be meetings in september about this.

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jessieview.com

[This message has been edited by Tim O (edited 05-25-2004).]

[Duffman]

Jessielake67.....
Could you send me a quick e-mail, I've got a little walleye bone to pick with ya.
Thanks,
[email protected]

[merc]

Thanks for your input, I am going to give my thoughts to the DNR. I don't really know if it will make a difference but they are asking for the publics opinions. Good luck to everyone this weekend!!!

[fivebucks]

They are proposing this slot on a bunch of lakes in Itasca cty. I heard. The same slot is proposed for Island Lake by Northome and I heard they will try for it on Bowstring, Sand, Round, just about any bigger lake I heard. I saw the sign at Island so that's the only one I know for sure but I heard guys talk at the Dockside on Island.