Green Lake Forum

[The Undertaker]

On Friday, March 18, at 2:30 P.M. at the Spicer American Legion in SPicer, there will be a forum on Green Lake in regards to the bass & walleye situation. Those in attendance may include the DNR, area politicians and concerned citizens. Come and voice your opinion, loud and strong. Bass are fun to catch but something needs to be done about the "predator" problem. Be there if you care!!!

-The Undertaker

[LEECH21]

I don't want to start anything but, Green Lake is a "WORLD CLASS" smallmouth fishery. There isn't to many other places around that you can catch 4, 5, even 6 pound smallies on a regular basis. I believe the walleye population is still strong, its just the bass have pushed them off there normal structural habitats making them harder to find. Just my opinion.

[BLACKJACK]

2:30 PM on a work day, handy for the working people to attend!

[GullGuide]

I'm sure they scheduled it then so only a few people could make it. Kind of like the meeting they held about Games Lake and gave everyone a very short notice and only informed those within a very small radius of the project.

If I could make it, I'd be there and I would stronly voice my opinion on any changes to the smallmouth regs.

There are TONS of places you can go to catch walleye within 50 miles of Green, but there are very few if any where you can go and catch smallies of that quality even within 100 miles.

Green has ALWAYS been a smallmouth lake, even before the white-man came. Leave it that way.

[LocalGuide]

Green is a great smallmouth fishery.

I agree with what Leech21 said. Walleyes have just gotten pushed off from their traditional spots. There is tons of forage (little perch/rock bass/bullhead) for them to chew on too.

For a great smallie lake near by I would have to agree that you need to travel quite a bit. Unless you wanted to just head over to nest, that is a pretty decent smallie lake too. But nest is actually pretty balanced out better than green IMO.

[goose89]

ditto to what leech21 said.

later,

goose

[fishintime]

I am pleasantly surprised by the chatter that I have heard!! I have fished Green Lake until I have been blue in the face and have not had steady luck with the walleye. I love to fish the smallmouth there. There are some great fish to catch. The reason why I am surprised is that I only heard chatter from people that Green Lake is 'overrun' by smallmouth. A lot of these people of Walleye fisherman who think Green is a Walleye Lake. It is not a walleye lake, nor has it ever really been one. I am glad others like to fish these great fighting smallmouth

[GullGuide]

Yes, there is Nest and Big Kandi, but there is no way you can tell me that you can go there and catch 50 fish a day all between 4 and 6 lbs.

But, this is the almighty walleye we are talking about so look for a 6 bass a day limit with no size restrictions.

[LEECH21]

I think it will make me sick if they go back to normal regs for bass on Green. It has taken what, like 10 years now to bring it back into the smallmouth fishery it is today. And I bet if it goes back to no length limit, it will only take 1 year to turn it back into just another plain old lake!

[GullGuide]

You will see more rigs on opening day of bass season at the accesses than you could ever imagine if they open it up. Yes, it will only take a year do destroy one of the best smallie lakes in the country.

Local and Leech, email me..GullGuide@hotmail

[LEECH21]

GullGuide...you've got mail!

[fisher98]

Guys---

i hope the DNR realizes this would truly be a huge mistake. Resources like this need to managed and taken care of. I hope people are aware of this problem, and who's to say that these people could not do this to any lake in the state.

Another point...why is Mille Lacs still capable of supporting a trophy walleye fishery and have smallmouth co-exist with them and both species populations are still booming....

i hope this is fought tooth and nail!!!!

fisher98

[LocalGuide]

Well for one b/c the size of Green they should both be able to support each other (smallies/eyes). What happens when this lake proposed to be stocked for Muskies? Lots of ppl going to making a fuss about that too.

The reason Mille Lacs is a trophy fishery. Well its 128,000 acres bigger. Green is only roughly 5,500 acres. Big difference numbers wise.

The walleye population is fine on Green and so is the smallie.

The only thing that ppl really need to ask their-self, is it the fish that need help or the fisherman?

I asked myself that and came up with the fisherman since the fish are plainly there to catch, just gotta find 'em and get 'em deal.

[walleyeking#8]

You hit the nail on the head localguide. I too feel its the fisherman. This is just an idea, but I think the DNR should enforce some new regs on walleyes like they have on Mille Lacs. I then think that the walleyes would be trophy class there to. I am not much into fishing bass, but those smallies are one awesome species to fish. I have fished smallies in canada, south dakota, and several lakes in MN, but nothing I have seen compares to green. I say keep the regs like they are now and never change them. Was wondering if Koronis was still as good as it used to be for smallmouth? Can't wait for the ice to be gone.

[PikeTipper]

Another big difference between Mille Lacs and Green is depth. Theory is that the smallies have pushed the walleyes off of their usual locations and now you need to fish deep to get into the walleyes. Don't get me wrong, the smallies are a blast and I don't want to see it changed but Green was a very good walleye lake back in the day but I hate fishing it for walleyes now because you have to fish so deep.

[EYEHUNTER10]

We have similar issues up hear on waska, only the lake is nearly 8000 acres with only 30 ft of water we catch lots of smallies, and lots of walleyes and we have muskies too, and the big northerns seem to be everywhere, dont forget the panfish, they all seem to co-exist just fine, but the smallies here too seem to possibly be taking over. We usually have to fish 16-22 ft of water to catch the eyes, but the smallies seem to be right there with em alot of the time. I think green could use a little change and it would be good to open up the bass and northerns again we speared out there for years and I cant imagine the numbers and size these northerns would be after years of not being angled or speared. They are probably part of the walleye problem as well, It would be good to get some of the green carp, and slimers out of there, and a few muskies might keep the perch problem in check, just a thought.

[walleyewacker]

I agree with the deep water fishing, I hate it. But at the same time I love the challenge of fishing for walleyes on lakes that are tough to catch walleyes. I am used to trollin and fishin shallow lakes around the area and steppin on green is like a whole different planet. I started fishin green hard last year and its no question the fish are pushed deep. You just gotta make the descision if your going to step it up and get good at adjusting to new fish or go down the road a few miles becuase to be quite honest, we have some untapped gems with numbers of size in the shallow mud holes in the area that just reqire time, with alot less boat traffic. Let the smallmouth reign on green and if you have to/want to, maybe put the same amount of time on a different lake if you all you want is walleyes and dont feel like fishin that way.

[LEECH21]

PikeTipper has a good point. One difference I think between Green and Mille Lacs is that when the walleyes get moved off their spots on Mille Lacs they move to deeper water, say 30 feet. When they get moved on Green they move into 40, 50, or even 60 feet of water. Both Green and Mille Lacs have excellent walleye populations. It's just that on Green the anglers need to put a little more effort into finding them. Point being Green is quite a bit deeper the Mille Lacs making the eyes more tricky to find.

[GullGuide]

Quote:

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It would be good to get some of the green carp, and slimers out of there

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That comment just makes me ill. It's attitudes like that, Old School and completely against good conservation thinking.

I know guys who will on purpose catch their limit of "Green Carp" on Lake Florida and feed em to their cats because "They push the walleyes out" and know guys who claim they "weed out the slimers" by catching them, grinding them up and throwing them in their gardens for fertilizer.

Some people need to wake up and realize they are living in 2005.

[Shad rap]

Don’t get me wrong smallies are a great bonus fish to catch. But being a bass fisherman don’t you think that you should have to work at it a little to catch a fish that’s part of fishing. And for catching walleyes out of 60 foot of water walleye fishermen like to release fish to but catching walleyes out of 60 foot of water on a hot July day will kill 60% fish you bring up. I like to catch walleyes but it’s not worth killing them. I think they need to thin a few of them bass out of there, but not all of them.

That is my two cents

[LocalGuide]

I too fished green pretty hard last year for the first time.

The walleyes are not always in 60' of water, but sometimes they are, not always. The deepest I have caught a walleye out there during the day in the summer is 40'. During the fall thats a different story, but thats "normal" for your smaller fish and they can be caught all over. The shallowest I have caught walleyes on Green is 5' of water. Think about that one for a bit.

If we open Green up to smallie's you will get the ppl from down south coming up and taking limits home every weekend. The lake will be a lot harder to fish for smallies b/c the numbers will be low. The numbers of walleyes are NOT low, like I said, you just need to find them. They are scattered all over the water column.

The Pike issue out there isn't all that great. I haven't caught a lot of them. Normally if I want I will head over to Calhoun or Nest or some other local lake. Why? Its a whole lot better. Where am I going to head to catch smallies like I do on green?....hmmm A LONG ways away.

[GullGuide]

Quote:

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don’t you think that you should have to work at it a little to catch a fish

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You make it sound like it's easy to catch em.

On live bait, maybe, depending on the conditions, but there are times that they are hard to catch, actually more times than not.

An expireienced fisherperson is going to catch fish no matter what, but not everyone is like that.

They are a still a challenge to most.

[Mr.Perch]

You do not have to go 100 miles, Koronis is a great smallmouth fishery and a great all around fishery. Hope they keep the smallmouth regs at least partly in place.

[LocalGuide]

So did anyone actually make it to the meeting today or not?

If so what was all brought up there?

I did get to make it over there quick enough. I got in Spicer at 4 and I figured they would be done or close to by then.

[LEECH21]

Believe me, some days you REALLY have to work to catch ONE smallie on Green. It isn't like they are just jumping in the boat...ecspecially the big ones. One day you can catch ten 4-5 pounders and then the next zero. It's not an every outing thing. Just my 2 cents.

[GullGuide]

Mr Perch....

Comparing Koronis to Green for smallies is like comparing Elkhorn to Mille lacs for walleye.....

[Mr.Perch]

GullGuide

Should take you fishing, sometime. For action the lakes are close, on Green size runs bigger on average. Both lakes have a fun diverse fishery (pike and perch too). I have good friends along the south shore of Green and I used to live along the north shore. The old-timers I know want the smallie reg’s to go away. I hope the smallie reg’s stay in some form on Green. If everyone wants to think that Green is the only small mouth fishery within a 100 miles that’s fine with me. As far as Green lake's small mouth future we have to hope biology not politics win in the end, then we all win.

[castindad]

i attended the meeting and found that it was not open to the public. by invite only many bass people little crow anglers, ithought they where walleye but left the meeting with a different opinion. kandyohi angler one and walleye focus organization (one member) two members of the legislature and a member from glpoa green lake property owners association, 2 or three from business community. the meeting was mixed at best as to what was best for the lake forgot the dnr was represented by lake manager bruce gilbertson and cb bylander from st. paul the press where invited but must not have thought it was very important? the future of green lake will fall in the hands who make this decision for our children and our childrens , children lets hope we make the right decision? future meetings have been set up green lake is managed as a primary walleye lake that is now over run with smallmouth bass do to the efforts of a few indivuals that had our legislature chane the rules of the lake 7 years ago. what happened to the accelerated stocking program funded with the retired people licence take back. they still stock green in fact twice as much to FEED TH E SMALLMOUTH BASS LE5TS BRING BACK THE BALANCED FISHERY WE HAD IN THE 90 AND BEFORE THE SMALLMOUTH WHERE PROTECTED. DO WE WANT ANOTHER RED LAKE

[castindad]

i would like to respond to several messages at the same time smallmouth are a river fish the mississippi is full of them . the dnr quote at the meeting said green lake is managed as a primary walleye lake. by protecting the smallmouth it has become the primary predator because the northern and walleye have no forage. look at dnr records that are avaliable. fishing pressure is down on the lake like 50 to 60 percent scince the walleye protection . walleye fishermen who use green had better wake up or we will be over taken by southern bass fishermen using our lake castindad

[chub]

Why is it that everyone thinks these regulations have made Green into a "world class" smalley fishery?

The lake has always produced large smalleys. Long before they needed special regs. If any of you that have fished the lake for years can say that the lake is balanced, you either never catch much or your full of BS.

As for the falling catch rates of the walleyes, is it entirely the fault of the bass? Probably not, but they are a big factor. There is still some good walleye fishing to be had, but something is wrong when there is only a few primary spots that consistantly hold fish. And those are all 25 feet plus.

I would be willing to bet that I have caught bass on nearly every spot I've fished on the lake. From 5 feet to 45 feet. There's too many of them.

I understand the need for experimental regulations, but come on. No fish kept for how many years, and one over 20 or 21 for awhile? Not sure that it matters anyway, I don't of anyone that eats them. I guess someone must?