25″+ Walleye?

I have spent a total of 11 full days on Millelacs since opener. Well over a 100 walleyes have come into my boat. Not a single fish over 25″. Times have changed. Anyone seeing fish over 25″?

Spent 6 days so far and have caught 2 over 25 myself. Other family member has spent 10 days has caught 4 over 25. Close to 200 eyes between the 2 of us. Haven’t fished deeper than 23ft.

Our boat had a 25 incher on opener, and I think a total of 5 over the slot and we fished maybe 8 hours total. Watched a 28 incher go into a boat last year on opener. They are in there, just not as many as the 18 inchers.

I’m sorry to tell ya but 8 fish average on ML is very low.
You may want to try other methods and areas.
Not my goal to come off as and @ss, Im just being honest.

I have gotten a few, but yes the big fish from 5plus years ago have died and the main biomass is mostly from 2013 and 2014.

Ripjiggen wrote:

I have gotten a few, but yes the big fish from 5plus years ago have died and the main biomass is mostly from 2013 and 2014.

Agree

I started a thread in this a year ago. Lack of large walleyes we had grown accustom to catching on a regular basis. I saw a big shift in size last year.

It has been happening for a handful of years now. Big fish are old and they die. Combine that with a record spawn in 2013 and the majority of the fish are just under 21 inches. Many just over 23 inches. No I did not get those numbers from the DNR reg pages.😂 In five years it will be chalk full of big walleyes again.

For those who are catching fish over 25″ what does the overall health of the fish look like to you? Are they normal weight for their size or do they appear to be rather skinny? like I said in another post, all the bigger fish pictures I’ve seen from there this year they look rather skinny and unhealthy. Just curious what others are seeing.

To fishthumper…it’s tough to say if they were skinny or not because many of the fish we caught had just spawned. I know over the winter none of the fish we caught looked skinny, all were healthy and thick.

I am going back up this weekend the first time since the opener. Last year I found where you were fishing had a big difference how skinny the fish looked. For me in the rocks the fish were for the most part skinny, and the fish that came on the flats were much thicker.

Have at least 12 over 24″ so far this year, however, none over 27″, average day sees 30-40 in the boat (I fish alone), have put in 13 days since opener. Definitely bigger fish out in the mud than on the sand or rocks, haven’t fished the gravel, Seeing a lot more 13-15″ fish, especially on the sand. FWIW, although I like to catch big eyes , I like to see the diversity of age groups I am seeing now versus 5 years ago, seem to be much more of a bell curve.

Fished a small tournament last weekend. It was a no pro event, but there were some pretty good fishermen. Out of twenty five or so boats, only two fish over 24” were registered. A 25” I caught, and a 29” a buddy caught in a different boat. One on the mud, mine on deep gravel.

My guess is there isn’t enough forage so they don’t get very long anymore

Our two big fish last weekend were 24 and 25.5, same area, 24 seemed a lot skinnier. Did se a 29.75 from boat next to us, but only saw head.

Like Ripjiggen said. Big old fish die. And with the slot of 21-23″ fewer fish will be able to reach that 25″ mark. You can’t have it both ways.

It’s slowly becoming more normal. I wouldn’t say it’s normal to catch lots of fish over 25 on a lake. They get old and die off for numerous reasons.

Maybe there’s too many 18 to 22 inch fish that are eating most the food?

If they’re only allowing people to keep 21 to 23 inch fish then like others have said… There’s going to be less big fish in the future.

There is a massive amount of 19-21 inch fish. This is the 2013 year class.

That’s likely why the DNR set the 21-23” slot. It allows some harvest but there’s not that many to take.

So far this year in my boat we have caught roughly 100 walleyes in the 19-21 inch range (most are 19.5-20.5”) maybe 15 smaller walleyes (15-17”) only 2 “keepers” (21-23”) and zero bigger fish

I have only been up once since opener. We did catch a 29 and 2 27s on opener. I put in 13 hours Sunday before memorial day. I had 1 fish that just touched 25. Most fish were 18 to 20 but I caught a bunch of fish from 8 to 12 like 20 or so. I took that as a good sign. I like to see some balance coming back.