Long Lake?

[eyehead]

I have been fishing around the areator without any luck the last few days. Any one been cathing anything out there?

[bnbrk94]

anybody driving out there? i have heard that they are. i also heard that the fish were biting by the grass islands. but that was a week ago...

[eyehead]

THanks for the info bnbrk94!! There have been alot of ppl driving out there, CRAZY where i was at there was only a foot of ice and 8 inches of it was bad white ice.

[Redwalleye]

I live on long, literally did last year,Ice is terrible this year,last year was bad this year is worse. I hear ya!Drivin outs=nuts. my sled went swiming once close to shore early. the fish being caught are mostly small I hope people are usuing better judgement than last year I saw some very small eaters leave the lake last year. hopefully it doesnt get fished out in combination with the cormorants, cause it can be a really fun lake

Good luck

[LEECH21]

I agree. People around here need to use better judgement on catch and release. I've seen many 6 plus pound walleyes being taken out of this lake in the last few years. 6+ POUNDERS! What are you going to do with a fish that big? To small to mount...to big to eat. They must like chewy fish meat that tastes of mud and weeds! Yuk!!!

[chemfish]

I see too many out there that are not true sportsmen. They catch a 5/6 lb walleye which is the biggest fish they have ever caught. They think they are going to have it mounted so put it in the freezer and there it stays, especially when they find out the cost for mounting. The fish should go back and make have a replica made instead. A friend had a replica made a couple yrs ago. It looks great, was about the same cost as a mount and the real fish is out there reproducing. Have also seen several these past couple weeks limiting out on 9/10 inchers. And then they wonder why the fishing declines.

[LocalGuide]

I thought the fishing was pretty decent out there this summer. I caught a lot of 12" and 13" eyes and I of course released them but it was some decent action. I guess thats all going to decline now with people taking the small and big ones to eat.

I was going to go out there a few weeks ago for some panfish and walleyes but I never made it out. I just hope after all this warm weather the ice still holds up.

[HonkerDown]

Isn't it amazeing when a couple of guys catch a few 10 inch walleyes and boom a week later the lake is full of houses and most of them are keeping these little fish. a 10 11 12 or13 inch fish are not keepers. (but they are cormorant food) J/K . Lets try to see some better sportsmanship and keep ONLY walleyes that are worth cleaning and will actually get ate. Hey Redwalleye are you going to fish the WOOSON ice tounament series this winter or what?

[Redwalleye]

Honkerdown I agree totally about people flocking to a spot just because they heard about a few small fish. I guess I'd rather pioneer, and find something new. Furthermore Leech 21 Right on! about the bigger ones too. Part of the reason that these people may have never caught one that "big" is that someone such as themselves have already deprived the lake of that fish. True some of the larger fish may be over prime, or may eat many of the small walleyes they produce, but correct me if anyone disagrees but catchin them big sows gets it going. FUN As for the WOOSON series thats a given, one of the founding fathers, infact. Just gotta figure out the particulars. SHould have a meeting soon huh?

[Shad rap]

I had fished this lake for the last 7 years. Until last year I had the lake almost to myself, At the most 12 houses on the whole lake(most Winters). The fishing was great it was like having a Malle lacs lake in your own back yard. Last year I called the DNR about putting some size limits on this lake before it got fished out, after I had seen a few 29” fish filleted out at the boat lunch. They said it would help to get some signatures put together and they would look at it. They had said that I was not the only one that had called in with that same request. Maybe we need to get together some night and put some signatures together. Let me know if you are interested.

[LEECH21]

Interested...He11 yea!

[Redwalleye]

I agree. It has been fun in the past, it seems like a pattern that starts with a few years of boom followed by a slow period. At least thats what the house count says. Its too bad that measures such as petitions are needed to manage lakes , but necessary. I too have seen large fish in that lake, I see some of them quite often.... pictures of them on my desk not on the plate! If people want massive filets of fish they should really try carp fishing they're fun to catch, theres lots of them and they probably taste the same as a 29" walleye too. Shad Rap if the pen hits the paper, post the details in this forum. I know quite of other fishermen that would be glad to do so aswell.

[castindad]

redwalleye which long lake we talking about the one by hawick or the one by wilmer? i think stocking is the big problem along with the amount of fish we take out. dnr is too busy with other things stock the fish before there is no tourism correct me if you disagree castindad

[castindad]

leech21 whats your take on long lake? same as all the other lakes in the state? being fished out? under stocked or both? castindad

[Redwalleye]

Long lake by Willmar. I dont know, seems like there are plenty of fish and lots of small ones, dumping a bunch more fish in the lake might not be smart (carrying capacity, i dont know much about stocking or how they determine stocking numbers) what I think what most of us on this thread are getting at is fish quality and the people who are keeping fish that are really small or large but not yet definite trophies. Like Leech's example of the six pounder, and Chemfish's story about 9/10 inchers and Honkerdown's ex. as well. If the hypothetical 6 pounder got put back that be a really fun fish in a couple of years. and those 9/10s I would rather throw them back and in a couple of years maybe catch more 16s and17s as a result

[LODFFB]

My child hood memories are Squashed! I have a 6 lb 1 oz Walleye mounted in my basement. But I did catch it back in 87' and I was only 11 at the time. Biggest Eye I've ever caught. Hope you guys dont look down on me for that. I caught it on Diamond. I caught it in the old mans Lund I was sitting on the front in fron of the winshield thought it was going to pull me in.

[LEECH21]

I believe that stocking more walleye into Long won't do any justice. We'll all just catch more small walleyes. The problem lies in the mentallity of the people fishing today. I'm pretty much a strictly catch and release guy. I haven't kept a fish in since 2004...and I fish alot. It amazes me that when I talk to other people, both fishers and non-fishers, that they are shocked when they find out that I just throw them all back. Long is very much like Green. People head out and keep what ever they catch to take home for the pan. Pretty soon they head out and come home empty handed. Then they start pointing fingers at the DNR about stocking problems, or the smallmouth bass problems. When all along they should be pointing their fingers at themselves. Long is a fairly large lake with good areas for walleyes to spawn naturally, and they are. All those people pulling out the 6 plus pound fish need to think about how many pounds of small walleye that fish eats in a year. This my friends is balance! The walleyes get bigger and bigger, the amount of smaller fish stays in check from the bigger predators, and the bigger fish grow and spawn to produce more and bigger fish. This whole cycle of predator and prey would stay in balance if it wasn't for the biggest predator of them all...ourselves!

I believe all the lakes in Minnesota need to have a different walleye limit and/or slots not just Long Lake. Just my 2 cents, take it how you want.

[fish-4-fun]

I agree leech. If everyone would just release there catch and let the lakes take care of themselves we would be having a hell of a time fishing. Look at Wagonga 2 years ago fishing was great, everyone went out there caught there limits and now the fish are limited. My father in-law is a good one for keeping fish he shouldn't like 5 to 6lb eyes. I keep asking him what the hell he is doing and he says I'm going to mount it, which he never does because it is to expensive and then the fish sits in his freezer for a year and then gets thrown out, or he will keep it show it off and cut it up. Dumb. If you are fishing for the food there is something wrong, if you want to eat fish go to a grocery store or a fishery like in renville where they raise tilapia. If everyone would just release there catch imagine the fun we would have and it wouldn't matter where you went. Look at the lakes up in canada where it is tough to get to, fishing is awesome because it doesn't have the pressure and the lake is taking care of itself, they don't get stocked every couple of years. I love fishing and I'm worried it is just going to get harder and harder to catch fish as the years go on, especially in this area.

[eyehead]

I agree with you guys about ppl keeping everyting they catch but the problem isn't keeping the 5 pound plus fish, sure it helps to have them in the system controlling predation for young walleye but they are not the prime spawners.17"-21" walleyes are prime spawners and that is what the majority of pll take home for the frying pan. So those are the fish that should be put back in the lake. Thats my take on it anyways

[pietigb]

To be honest I think that goes beyond long lake....

the only time I have been on the lake is when we fished league out there and got a couple decent fish and then in early august and did better. Its a fun lake to fish, wish I would gave it a shot years ago.

[iizfishin]

I've been fishing out on long on and off for the last 25 yrs.The last two years i have been doing some spearing in the bay....I had fairly good luck a couple years ago and this year have seen no northerns come thru my hole.....WHERE DID THEY GO? I know there isn't a whole lot in that lake.When my sons and i go out we don't go for our limits that the dnr gives us,we just go out for our 1 or 2 fish and have our fun and go home.....

[fishattacker]

I just thought I would chime in as well. To really manage each lake it would probably have to have a decent amount of research done on it. To find out which size of fish are the dominant breeding class. Maybe in one lake it is the 4-5 pounders in another it could be 2 pound fish. Sadly it may not do any good if some people don't follow the rules anyway. I know that if a lake started coughing up some nice walleyes that there would be some people that would go out and take home 2-3 limits a day until they stopped biting. Well I will stop blabbing now. Hope everybody has good fishing!!!

[fish-4-fun]

I have heard that it is the 18" fish that produce the most also, but is what I am trying to say is that we should strictly be fishing for the sport of it and not for food. That way the lakes take care of themselves and dnr would need to do little stocking just for things like winter kill. We would be much more successful at our sport if we would release all of our catchs and then it would also be more fun to go fishing if you are almost guaranteed to catch fish.

[Shad rap]

I ‘m going down to South Padre fishing for the next week and a half, when I get back I will call the DNR and talk to them again on size limits on long lake and or all area lakes. Can you please post and let me know what your thoughts are if you would be willing to sign or not.

I agree with fish-4-fun, when the word gets out about a bite going on, it becomes another Wagonga.

we need to get some size limits on a few of these lakes so they don’t get fished out.

I also agree with leech. The dnr does a great job on stocking fish. But between the fishermen and the cormorants the walleyes don’t have a chance.

I don’t blame the fishermen because they all grow up with different rule. I grew up in Okoboji Iowa. They have a 3 fish daily limit and 6 fish position limit. Can’t keep anything under 14” and only 1 above 20”. I have also fished on lakes in Wisconsin where everything over 14 has to go back. I guess what my point is that everyone that I fish with and the people that read and write to this thread think they are doing there part by letting go one size walleye while the boat next to them are keeping that size fish and letting go another size fish. I think if we can get the DNR to put some size limits on a few of these lakes you would see the fishing get better every year not worse.

I will check back in when I get back.

[LEECH21]

Good Luck fishing!

[fish-4-fun]

I'm sure the DNR could put limits on these lakes, but then people need to follow these limits. I'm not sure if siz limits would make much of a diff around here. Maybe it would. I say close a species for a few years let the fish get back, then after that put a size limit on them. I'm just a dreamer though, it would be nice.

[Norsky]

I think each lake is so different, the DNR has alot to figure out. Some of these lakes have little to no reproduction, so it doesn't matter what is harvested. The DNR should just stock the heck out of the lake and also stock baitfish ( if possible ) to make sure they can grow. Other lakes have great natural reproduction and we need to make sure that we leave the spawners in there. I like to eat a meal of fish every so often, but I'm careful as to where I harvest fish from. Mille lacs and LOTW can handle alot of people harvesting fish, but Long, Elizabeth, Wagonga, etc. can't handle that much pressure before they botttom out.

[ghostzapper]

Who are all the Spicer boy's can you guess who I am.

[walleyeking#8]

most definately interested. would like to see this done on several area lakes. strict regulations around here is what is needed to bring back some good fishing. You got my vote.

[tram]

Has anybody heard of the dnr busting someone for gross over limit of walleyes on long lake recently?