Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Four-fish bag possible in July


PierBridge

Recommended Posts

DNR Reports

St. Paul - Walleye regs on state waters of Red Lake could be relaxed in July as the Minnesota DNR announced Tuesday that this year's walleye harvest is well under the safe harvest level.

Nonband anglers harvested 124,000 pounds of walleye during open water and winter seasons this year, well within the safe harvest level of 168,000 pounds. Since walleye fishing resumed in May 2006 after a seven-year closure, special regulations have been in place to comply with a joint harvest agreement between the Red Lake Band and the DNR.

'We're very pleased that our conservative approach in this first year of angling was successful in managing angler harvest within the safe harvest level, said Gary Barnard, DNR Bemidji-area fisheries supervisor. 'This presents an opportunity to consider relaxed regulations during next summer's open water season.'

A citizen advisory group recommended that, if possible, harvest should be allocated equally between winter and open-water angling seasons, or 84,000 pounds per season.

Summer harvest estimates were near 54,000 pounds, with the majority of the harvest occurring in May and June. Fishing pressure and catch rates declined dramatically in July and for the remainder of the open-water season, a common trend on many Minnesota walleye fisheries. Total fishing pressure for the open-water season was estimated at just below 200,000 angler hours.

'We had some concerns going into the winter season since Upper Red Lake has a history of high winter pressure and winter catch rates typically do not decline as in the summer fishery,' Barnard said.

Winter angling pressure was considerably higher than the summer period, ending up at nearly 700,000 angler-hours. Longer average trip lengths contributed to an exceptionally high pressure estimate - due largely to the popularity of overnight sleeper houses. Still, total winter harvest was contained at about 70,000 pounds, within the established safe harvest level.

There is no doubt that without the two-fish daily bag limit and the 17- to 26-inch protected slot, winter harvest would have greatly exceeded the safe harvest level, possibly forcing a mid-season closure, Barnard said.

Rules are currently in place to allow a change to a four-fish daily bag limit on July 14, if total winter harvest plus May-June harvest are less than 134,000 pounds. If that change occurs, the limit automatically would revert back to two fish on Dec. 1, 2007, for the following winter season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.