Walleye Opener 2006

[kelly-p]

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If anyone knows what could and should happen it is Kelly. He has been there forever. Matt Phelps

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Oh sure Matt, a couple of grey hairs and you sound like I'm a fossil.

[MJP]

Kelly - I am not far behind on the grey hairs. Although, I try to blame it on dealing with people like you, but no one believes me. Just kidding bud! Hope things are going well. Say hi to Patsy. I saw her cruising through the metro of Bemidji the other day. I should be up in the next week or two. I will touch base.

Matt

[WAG416]

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So how many of you walleye fishermen or women can not go out within 25 miles of your house and catch two legal walleye?.

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I cant . Over 12,000 Lakes in this state, and I still have to drive over an hour to find walleyes.

Maybe it's the price I pay for living in Warren

WAG

[hightines]

I hear you Wag. And I only live 55 miles from Warroad. How ever, you pretty much summed up the outdoors opportunities in the Warren, MN with your picture of a pocket gopher.

[WAG416]

Yeah, I wish they could find a way to tar the roads that lead to all of my gopher mounds, like they did for your deer trails.

WAG

[RonZ]

I say 1 walleye over 30" should be allowed. A true trophy is a minimum of 30"(In my mind). Two fish limit on a very small percentage of the lake seems a little short. Four fish under the 17" slot would be better. The Tamarac should have an area closed off until a certain date after the opener,or varied determined by spawning conditions. When I go to Red its not for the walleye. The crappie are the only reason. The walleye will be a small bonus for being out there. Just like catch and releasing the northern pike.

Ron

[matthothand]

Talk about a hot topic!...I will. It is going to be the craziest opener of my life. I think it's nuts with the number of people that hit the St. Louis River here in Duluth every opener. You can seriously walk across the boats. I've seen it happen. You know what the limit is there? 2 fish. Yet the opportunity to catch (and release) 100 walleyes in a day is there. I've done much better. I think that the two fish limit on the Saint Louie is great. But it is right out my back door and I could pick out two fish every day for a fresh meal so my opinion there is biased and I might start glowing in the dark if I did eat fresh eyes every day according to the alleged mercury levels in the system. But this deal on URL is gonna be a spectacle to see. I'm going to make the trip. I have to. I don't care what size fish I'm allowed to take home or what size they are. Sure it'd be great to catch AND keep one trophy eye in my life but I don't think Red is gonna be the place to make that happen anytime soon. Our state is letting us fish FOR walleyes on URL and I'm gonna take advantage of the opportunity. The DNR does a few things different than many would like to see, but you can't please everyone. All you can do is please yourself. The regulations are set for the 2006 season and no amount of whining is gonna change that. If somebody doesn't like what the state is doing with that fishery, and I know I'm gonna take heat for this but, fish somewhere else and save your breath. I'm not taking a jab at all the guys discussing in a mature manner the pros and cons of potential slots and limits but to those that are actually getting upset over the matter. We live in the land of lakes and although there might not be a decent fishery just down the road from where somebody lives our state has sooo many species available at all times of the year that I find it hard to keep up with! My post is getting a rambling tone to it so....

Conclusion: Fishing for walleyes on URL in 2006 could lead to a lot of frustration for anglers. The DNR sets regs and we can't do too much about it. All we can do is take advantage of opportunities presented to us and try to enjoy ourselves. Isn't that what it's all about?

[blacksheep]

let the raping and pillaging begin!

[LocalGuide]

matthothand, I agree with you. You might take some heat but who cares, its your opinion.

I might not fish URL on opening weekend b/c we always fish down here, but I would like to fish it the week after or sometime close.

I just cant wait to go out catch some eyes and maybe even get a few nice crappies in the process. Maybe find a nice pod of crappies and fish them!

Should be fun to say the least.

[matthothand]

LG you got it. Avoid the bigger crowd on the opener and fish the next weekend for some eyes and pick up a few monster slabs ...that's one thing I forgot to mention. Even though the regs will be tighter then some want to see you will still be able to catch and keep those 14 inch crappies that the lake has been known for these past years. And who doesn't enjoy that?

[RonZ]

Maybe we should all wait until Memorial weekend. It sounds like the crappie start spawning around then. We could make it an FM'r weekend at the Tamarac campground. The water should be warmed up a little and the weather would hopefully be warmer. I wonder if the camping areas are reservable?

Ron