Walleye Opener 2006

[hanson]

Figured I'd start this since someone will start it sooner or later.

Just finished reading "Walleye slot likely for Red Lake in '06" in this weeks edition of Outdoor News. Pretty interesting. I know many of us have been speculating for a while about what the walleye season will be like. While we don't know for sure yet, the article may provide a clue as to the direction the DNR is going to take.

"...daily bag limit of two walleyes, along with a protected slot of 17-26 inches, with one fish allowed in possession above that limit, according to Henry Drewes, DNR fisheries supervisor in Bemidji."

What I'm more excited about is there might FINALLY be some protection for those larger northern pike in Red.

"Drewes said committee members originally preferred a 40-inch minimum size for northerns, but some members later said there might be value in allowing the keeping of smaller fish, and making a protected slot of 26-40 inches the rule."

These tentative regs are pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking they would do. It'll be fun to finally be able to keep one of these 'nuisance' walleyes for a meal.

[Quackaddict9]

good, im getting sick of these walleyes coming out of my holes, but its always fun to catch a few when you have some crappies in the bucket.. i think the limit should change to 4, and the northern pike slot sounds like a good plan,too many fish over 35 being kept up on URL. when does the walleye reopen its season on URL? jan 1 or may?

[rwestb]

I think that the walleye slot sounds good but for the northerns they should have a slot like lake of the woods where all between 30 and 40 inches go back. That would allow you to keep good sized eaters and one to put on the wall. Most fish over 40 inches have done there job as far as reproduction goes.

[blacksheep]

can't wait to see 27" eyes getting knifed. the meat hunters of the world will make up for the two fish limit with size. i don't understand the logic at setting the slot at 26", how do they get that number?. why wouldn't they have it set at 28"?. just think of all the prime spawners that could be saved from the dinner table. and its about time they did something about all the 35" pike being taken from the lake. the sad part about this whole deal is that right now as far as walleye numbers go the lake is phenominal, but given the chance i could see the dnr, coupled with certian special interests, raping the lake. AGAIN.

[hanson]

blacksheep-

You're probably right. 27" or 30" what's the difference besides 3-4 pounds in weight?? Neither of them are the best table fare.

How many will get harvested in a year though might be a good question. I haven't come remotely close to catching a 27" walleye on Red in the last 6 years. I don't think we have to worry about too many getting harvested on the higher end of the size limit, YET (27"+). Its not quite like Mille Lacs where all you can manage in a day is 26 inchers.

[Quackaddict9]

MAN! i hope the lake gets packed and and take alot of walleyes and then the crappie fishery will be awesome again like 97? once it starts to increase and the walleye decreases ill be happy because i wish it was still a crappie lake but i understand that before the crappie boom it was a walleye lake but there are other great lakes in MN you can fish for walleyes (LOW, RAINY RIVER, MILLE LACS, LEECH and etc.)

[Matt Breuer]

I don't think they should allow a high end fish. Let 'em keep growing and breeding for now, and when they increase the slot after seeing the fishery continue to thrive, let a big one go now and then.

[Quackaddict9]

Matt-

It looks like you live in Bemidji and I live here too. I checked out your website, it looks like you are have a good progress in your guiding service, I checked out your crappie fishing video on URL, It looked like it was like 98 where there are alot of ice houses in the background, but I would assume it was this winter, You guys sure did hammer them, its so fun to find the motherload, i did once find it last year with 3 of my friends from the deaf school but this year we got skunked but we had a great time! Keep up the good work in your guiding service in the Bemidji Area.

[Fish-on]

About time on the northern pike slot, that is good news.

The walleye slot is STUPID. No other state in the nation has such ridiculous slots. Make the slot 20-28. There are so many walleyes in this lake why the limit of two? Three or four would be better. If the slot was 20-28 or 20-26 I wouldn't think a bag lmit of two to three would be out of line but what they have proposed is way too restrictive.

[fivebucks]

I thought I read the protected slot was 17-28, which is better than 26". I have no problem at all with a 2 fish limit. Keep it that way for several years and then bump it up to 4 if the fishery remains strong. You have to remember that most of the eyes caught now are stocked fish and while they may be nice eaters now, alot are not breeders yet or are just getting there. Let these fish get a breeding base going and then this fishery can support itself.

[icefishfever]

it'll be great when they open up the season on red for the walleyes!!!! i've caught and released enough of them, and when ya get some nice ones you don't want to let them go!!

we were fishing up on url march 16 2003, caught a 30'' walleye, and i didn't have a camera to take a picture, so one good look and down the hole it went.. it would be nice to be able to keep one nice one when the season opens.. i think that you should also be able to keep at least one northern over 40'' if they decide to change the sizes on them..

[LABS4ME]

What kills me is all the arm chair biologists that pipe in! How do you know if the lake would be able to withstand a harvest of 4 fish? How do you make the assumption there are plenty of walleyes in the lake? Let the DNR do it's job! The field staff is doing an excellent job on the lake recovery. Also take into account that we control 20% of the lake, which in no-way equates to half the fish. Even if we are only able to keep 2 walleye over the next ten years, so be it! Be happy the lake is healthy and you will be able to catch and keep quality fish! It all boils down to everybody wants "their's" now! Go slow, let the lake continue to recover, and let's be happy we can keep some walleye. Remember too, that they are lifting the ban 2 years ahead of schedule... they technically can keep it closed another 2 years!

Also it's about time they're gonna close the harvest on "big" Northerns. I can hardly stand to see another photo of a 34-38" Northern being hauled off the lake. If you want to keep a couple under 30" to eat... no problem. If you want one over 40" for the wall, again no problem! Let the 'tweeners go so they can grow!

I'm out! going up in a couple hours!!!!!!

Good Luck!

Ken

[halad]

I think they figured an allowable harvest of 3# of walleye per acre. The Non reservation is 48,000 acres which is less than 150,00# per year not a lot of fish for the pressure the lake gets.

[PikeTipper]

I think the 2 fish limit is fair until they can see a decent track record of spawning success. I agree with Matt though that they should drop the 26"+ from the slot. Any walleye that is larger than 26" is probably a native Red Lake walleye and not one of the stocked fish. It would be nice to see these fish protected.

[NINETOE]

The pike slot certainly does one thing and that is it stops spearing all together. Im not a spearer but I know alot of people do it. It seems sad that a tradition that has been around longer than any of us gets banned with the swipe of a pen or poor representation?

[LABS4ME]

Hey Joel! I do spear (though not as much as I would like) and in no way want to see the sport disappear... but Red is a gem when it comes to Northerns... and to lose it as a true trophy northern lake would be a shame. I would go for the 30-40" protected slot for some harvest, that way you can spear an honest under 30 or an honest over 40 at your discretion.

You going up tonight? If so give me a ring, I'm leaving at noon.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Chris_Wallace]

I have never been spearing on red, but do a lot around the metro and on Big Pine, but I heard the slot on LOTW is really hard to deal with.

If anyone is interested there is uner 8,000 registered people who bought a license for spearing, its a dying sport and it is going to be hard to get back going again.

[NINETOE]

Labs, I cant make it this weekend. I think its my third weekend of not being on Red since early December.... I dont think any slot would work because its so difficult to judge the length of a fish. They appear 15% larger in the water depending on the depth. I think there would be alot of dead fish floating around come spring do to accidental spearring, when those fish could have been eaten. I think the other 1,000s of acresof non fishable water gives the Pike a safe haven from spears. Like I said I dont really spear so it doesnt effect me. I do know alot of older people who hold it as a sacred winter activity though and know they will not voice an opinnion on the subject. I certainly like the idea of trophy pike, I have not kept one myself since 98 as Im waiting on the 20 lber for the wall.

[whitetips]

A 15 " fish runs just over a pound, basically a fish in the 5 year old class, and 17" fish is 1 year older than the 15" , basically a six year old fish getting 2-3 seasons of spawning, we are talking about males here. After the DNR learned its lesson on Mille Lacs not to deplete the young classes that are the future, a length similar to Lac Suel were 16-20 in and 2 fish is good management, and protect up to 16 and over 20" plus a chance at 1 over 28" this slot has proven to work on all lakes that have it. There are plenty of crappie.

We caught many year classes last weekend but, I would rather see keeping a fish that has a chance to get up to 7 years. amature fish, 1 1/2 to 2 lb fish.

[james_walleye]

The slot limit on Mille Lacs did not deplete year classes of walleyes on that lake. Slot limit or no slot limit 99% of those 14-17" fish that have been target for years would have been kept either way. 14-17" eyes will be kept almost all the time whether there is a slot or not, the slot limit just makes sure the bigger females go back into the lake. I like the idea of a 2 or 3 fish limit. A couple 16" walleyes produces 4 mighty fine fillets. 1 person doesnt need too take more than that.

[Fish-on]

I disagree that we control 20% of the lake as you say. When 80% of the lake gets probably 5% of the fishing pressure we aren't controlling anything!

Whitetips hits it pretty close to a bullseye, although there are quite a few varibales. As fertile as Red is there may be 17-inch fish out there that are only three to four years old. I've seen that in many other shallow natural lakes, though usually not this far north. I have seen 15-inch walleyes that weighed .75 pounds and I have seen 15-inch walleyes that weighed 1.6, all depends on the health of the system. And I have weighed thousands of them so I am not pulling numbers out of the air.

I do disagree with a 16-inch minimum, because it can be counterproductive. If the lake gets a lot of fishing pressure it can change the dynamics, when the majority of the fish get harvested as soon as they get to the minimum. Whether that will be the case or not, we can't really say because we do not know what the level of harvest is going to be on the 80% and we also have very little knowledge about how much traffic there is between upper and lower red. It is quite possible that very few walleyes actually go from one lake to the other.

There are other dynamics at play here. You have things such as carrying capacity and tourism. The lake is very full of walleyes and can probably sustain a significant harvest, because when the population reaches a certain threshold, they have nothing left to eat but each other, and that's not responsible resource management either. From the perspective of tourism, I would think the people of the area would be very much in favor of a larger bag limit, because that would be good for the guides and resorts. Not as many casual anglers will make the trip to the area for two under-16-inchers a day. That's hardly even a meal.

One other misconception is that the big fish are so important to the future of the fishery. Walleyes over 26 inches produce fewer viable eggs than those in the low 20-inch range. Those are the trophies that can attract the toursim dollar. Someone from the cities that spends one week a year at a fishing camp might catch a 27-incher and it will be the biggest fish of their life. They certainly should have the right to mount it and by doing so they have not done any measureable damage to the fishery. I think a big part of this is that the DNR is trying to err on the side of caution due to the politically volitle nature of the area, rather than proposing what would be the best thing for the anglers, the businesses and for the lake. If you want to see what happens when you manage by politics instead of biology, look no further than the mess created at Mille Lacs in the last few years.

True I'm on the outside looking in, I haven't been sitting in on bio meetings in Bemidji, but I have seen plenty of times when we all go blindly along trusting whatever the DNR tells us. In this case I believe they are wrong and I believe in voicing my opinion. That's why they have a public comment period and we should all be a part of it.

Make it four fish a day up to 20 inches with only one of those four over 26 and I will say you have done the right thing for the resource and for all those who benefit from it.

[halad]

Fish-on, Tell me how much fishing pressure 5-miles of gill net puts on that 80% of the lake?

[riverrat56]

I wish the DNR would set up a pinch at the landing, i know that there are walleyes kept, don't try to think it doesn't happen, i was up there once this year and i saw a group of people throw a walleye into the bucket after checking to make sure no one was looking, i went over and talked to them and told them that it was illegal to keep eye's and they said they were not aware of that ( ya right ) so anyways after me threatining to call them in they tossed it back, since they had just caught it it swam off just fine but i still should have called them in. my bad

I think the slot is good except it should be 1 over 27 or 28, a 26 inch eye isn't big enough to mount, but there are the people that would keep them to eat. A 27 incher is big enough for the wall for some people, ( not me personally, 29 or up) and if they want to keep it let them. Also the limit of 2 is plenty until it is established that there is plenty of reproduction. I would be infavor of a state wide limit of 4, only 1 over 20. I also don't thing people are going to come to Red to go walleye fishing, you won't see a huge boom in numbers (except on the opener and maybe open water) in 2006, most people will still make the trip for crappies and take the walleyes as a bonus.

The northern slot is a very good thing, there were alot of people keeping those 35 inchers to eat, that just isn't good for the lake.

The only thing i wish they would have done to the lake is just managed it for crappies, forget the walleyes, they had a world class crappie fishery, and still do, but thing of how good it could have been in 5 years if there wouldnt be walleye in there to eat alot of the fry. Yes the big slabs eat some of the fry as do the northerns, but the walleyes eat lots to. If the lake would have been managed for crappies and big northerns there would be a constant supply of big fish.

Well ill stop rambling on now, what do i know anyways, im just an armchair biologist.

RR56

[gspman]

Quote:

---

One other misconception is that the big fish are so important to the future of the fishery. Walleyes over 26 inches produce fewer viable eggs than those in the low 20-inch range.

---

This statement that large walleyes produce eggs that are less viable is not true. A subject regarding large walleyes and spawning concerning walleyes in Pool 4 of the Mississippi River was brought up. An individual called the MN, WI, and IA fisheries biologists as well as dug up some research papers and posted the info on the web somewhere. It pretty much refuted the statement that large walleyes are not viable spawners. In fact most of the research indicates that they are actually more viable than smaller fish. Viability is more a factor of age than size. A truly "old" walleye may not be a viable spawner. But let's face the facts, it's a rough world being a fish and most walleyes don't make it to their senior years. If they are in a fertile lake and grow fast they are definitely viable.

gspman

[halad]

Come-on, tons of walleye kept i doubt it. Im sure some were kept but most people are honest. I would say that more die from not being handled properly than from being kept. If you saw walleye being put in buckets did you turn them in and if you didnt why not. I would love to get that opportunity it would make my day.

[Keith_MN]

Glad to hear that there will be additional restrictions/slots on Northerns on URL. Never understood why a big northern doesn't garner the same respect as a big muskie.

I get sick wen I see the pictures of the large notherns being pulled out of URL. I can respect an individuals right to keep a true trophy (ie 40+") if they are going to mount it, but to keep a 30+" nothern for the frying pan doesn't seem right. There are lots of <30" northerns to keep to eat.

[james_walleye]

I wouldnt say tons of walleyes is an outrageous figure and i mean that literally. As many stories as i've heard i would easily say a couple thousand pounds of eyes were taken out of there this winter.

[ozzie]

Riverrat56- What do you mean you saw a few walleyes in buckets on Red this year??? If you saw this happening you are as much to blame for standing by and not talking action take info down and turn them in!!! The TIP # is on your license and there for that very reason.. It makes me sick when people talk about our fisheries with such passion and then sit back and do nothing when they have the chance to say and do something!!

The walleye limit can be what ever they think will work best for the fishery. I hope the slot will be topped out at 28" not 26" though cause what good is a 27" fish but to reproduce and get to 30". It is not a great eater and why put a 27" fish on the wall what a waste let it go gain an inch or 3 and a few pounds to make it a true trophy...... Just my 2 cents...............OZ

P.S My biggest walleye is a 27.5 incher and not once did I think of putting that fish on my wall, a few pictures and released... Must be 30 to go an a wall!!!!!!!!!

[emtbucket]

[Please read forum policy]

I guess someones opinion is more important than mine. Thanks for deleting my post.

[blacksheep]

fish - on,

a 26" isn't a viable spawner?, that is just bullpucky sir.