Time to get rid of trophy regulations on Mendota

I was able to spend some time on Lake Mendota last summer and I found it odd that Menona and Wabesa were packed with fisherman, and there seemed to be very few on Mendota. Why do we have a 10,000 acre lake in this state designated for elite trophy fisherman? I’m sure it is very convenient for the many millionaires who live around the lake. Number one they have big fish for their family friends and clients to catch. Number two, because of the regulations there is very little fishing going on. At least not as much as the other lakes on the chain. If we can get the lake regulations changed, it would give the area 10,000 more acres and relieve some of the pressure on the other lakes. It’s high time the Governor finally has good middle class hardworking tax payers fishing on his private lake!! Trophy management on Wisconsin’s Lakes and Rivers is wrong. It doesn’t work in most cases and it caters to the rich and powerful. There are some cases where trophy management is needed to control rusty crayfish, and to protect vulnerable populations such as Chewamegan Bay. But we do not need trophy regs on Mendota, Delavan, and many other fisheries in the state. I would challenge all of you who want our lakes back to submit proposals at the upcoming spring hearings on April 16th. If there is enough interest I will write a sample resolution for you and post it on this site. Tight Lines!! Bait Caster

I disagree with you completely. Mendota has produced great numbers of panfish, large catfish, fat northerns, and has nice walleyes too. If you can’t find them, spend more time fishing. I have had 30 flag days on Mendota and caught catfish up to 25 lbs. The best bluegill day I have ever had was 25 9 plus inchers on Mendota.

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Trophy management on Wisconsin’s Lakes and Rivers is wrong. It doesn’t work in most cases and it caters to the rich and powerful.

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So wanting to catch big fish is a desire of the rich and powerful? You nearly made me spit my coffee out. Thanks for the laugh!

Over the past few years any tournament I fished on the Madison chain there were always guys talking about locking into Mendota and catching one BIG one then coming back. I’m not sure if they were actually doing it, or just saying they would like to.

I have heard repeatedly that Mendota is chocked full of big ones…I’ve just never been there.

I do know what you’re saying about the land-owners who surrounds a lake having power over anything and everything when it comes down to the fisherman verses them… .

Also,

your arguement about few fisherman fishing there is absurd. You can hardly get a parking spot there on a weekend. I fish all the Madison chain lakes. They all have something to offer at a specific times of the year.

As a Madison resident, I would have to disagree on multiple points. I can attest to a very large number of guys who fish Mendota, including myself. It has a great population of big smallies, huge pike, lots of walleye, and a great population of big panfish and perch. The only fish that are managed for trophies that I know of are pike, and it has been working as there are some monsters in there where it used to be more hammer handles than anything 10 or 15 years ago. I guess I don’t consider a one over 18″ restriction on bass to be a trophy regulation. If you want to fish for something to eat, why would you go after bass? They taste like their brother the carp. IMO, the reason more people fish waubesa and monona is because they are easier to find fish on. I think Mendota is a fantastic fishery and should be left the way it is. Most of the rich people that live on the lake don’t fish anyway. They are far too busy putting in 80 hour weeks to pay for their giant house. I would be willing to bet that less than 1% have ever attended a DNR meeting to lobby for trophy restrictions.

I sorta agree with you Bait Caster…The Madison Chain is my home body of water and I use to fish Mendota a ton for smallies and always fish it in the winter for pike. Within a few years of the DNR swithching the size limit to 18″ for bass the smallie fishing was nothing shy of awesome. But since then, it seems that the population has really suffered for one reason or another and it is actually tough nowadays to go out there and catch them. In response to D-Nort, you are right, because I was one of those guys locking through. I had a little gem of a spot that would put 2 19 inchers in the well before my partner even knew what happened…seriously it was awesome. He’d net one on my first cast and still be unhooking the fish when I’d grab another rod and hook another. Not too many spots around like that one..Anyway, that has dried up since as have many of my other spots out there. The one thing about Mendota is the Largemouth Population has really taken off with some good numbers of bigger fish present. I can’t speak for the Walleye’s cuz I can’t catch them but the Pike have sustained themselves well through the trophy size limit, but it seems like once they hit that 40″ mark they are put on the wall. Although it would be super nice to be able to fish tournaments on Mendota as part of the chain to relieve a little pressure from Monona and Waubesa, it could end up hurting the fishery because guys would start taking limits of fish out of there and ultimately release them in Waubesa where they have no chance of getting back “home”

How do we do it Snowman?

Here is an interesting read on how we got where we are.

http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/pubs/bassplan.pdf

My favorite part is on page 21 under background….”The high size limitcan also be effective at provoding memorable bass fishing (with fewer bass being kept). It can virtually eliminate tournament activity unless a “paper” contest is conducted.”

And we all thought that the DNR didn’t have a plan………

That reeks of a need for more paper tourneys….

Whiskerkev,

This is not about catching and harvesting. This is about the DNR, in spite of a 2-1 vote against it, turning the largest Lake in Madison into one that as tournament fishermen we can not use. The big panfish where in Mendota long before the the change. So where the big cats, northerns, Bass and Walleyes. The fishery has changed very little Since I used to fish it daily when I was in college.

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The fishery has changed very little Since I used to fish it daily when I was in college.

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Holy cow!! That’s a long time ago….what’s it been…..50-60 years ago.

Time flies when your tying jigs.

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The fishery has changed very little Since I used to fish it daily when I was in college.

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Was that before of after you got called to active duty in World War 1?

That was when they fished out of birchbark canoes…

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Trophy management on Wisconsin’s Lakes and Rivers is wrong. It doesn’t work in most cases and it caters to the rich and powerful.

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So wanting to catch big fish is a desire of the rich and powerful? You nearly made me spit my coffee out. Thanks for the laugh!

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MR23…..The DNR has published that it can use creel and size limits to deter Tournament anglers from using a body of water. At least in southeast Wisconsin where I live there is a relationship between high real estate values, Strong lake associations and tournament unfriendly special regulations.

It is not about the rich wanting to catch big fish……It’s about them not wanting “thier” lakes used by strangers.

It’s the same mentality that led to the Lake associations buying, then closing boat launches on many lakes in the state. You will also find that they are prohibiting on street parking near any boat launches that are left.

You really should read the Black Bass management plan. It’s about a lot more than Bass.

Moss Boss…….

I expect that from The Graphic Artist Formerly Know as BUTT HEAD, but not from you.

Easy there Dan…I know where you’ll be at the end of the month…

Sorry, I didn’t realize you were posting about Bass. I don’t fish for them on purpose, but I sure caught a pile of them this year by accident. You folks need to pre-fish more and whine less because Mendota is loaded with big bass large and small mouth and white for that matter. The lake is very busy during the summer weekends. Maybe that had something to do with it. You don’t have my support for changing the regs.

Okay, not sure I follow this all that well…but what’s wrong with ‘Paper tournaments’?

Moving fish around in livewells = stress

Swinging fish over the gunwales and flopping them on the carpet = stress

If the problem is that with too much money on the line you can’t trust the guys you fish against that’s completely different…

Any club/group that wanted to fish a paper tournament would not seem to have problem with regulations…

What am I missing unless it’s that as a tournament guy I can’t creel fish wherever I want?

(yes, I’m bored, wanting to be contrary and tired of freakin’ ice on the lakes)

Paper tournaments are like spending the greater portion of your high school life with boxing gloves on. (Didn’t think that the board monitors would take kindly to crude referances regarding master baiting)

Some people like fishing as a competative sport. I am one of them. I fish maybe two money events a year. I am club angler. I have neither the time nor resources to fish that many money events. It is not about the money for me it is about the bring them up to the scale and lets go one on one.

That is how I chose to use the resourse. I don’t eat Bass. I know that if I take care of them they are a renewable resource. I have watched as the Bass fishery in Wisconsin grew as a result of the presure from BASS clubs resulted in Wisconsin adopting a size limit that allowed them to spawn once to where many lakes associations complain that there are to many bass. At the same time I have watched lake access shrink as our lake front disappeared and habitate was destroyed.

I or should I say We would like our lakes back.

Please don’t lable me as your sterotype tournament angler cause I’m not who you think I am.

I think paper tournaments would be boring, its exciting to watch the other guys and your self bring in sacks of fish. Its also exciting to see the big fish brought in, a paper tournament would defeat the purpose i think, there would be no excitement whatsoever.

So, reading this, the issue here is that it is a Catch/Release body of water, but it is open to the public?

The issue is that you can’t fish harvest tournaments out of it?

No, bass fisherman dont’ have harvest tournaments. They are arguing that you can’t use the body of water for “true” tournaments b/c you can only “take” 1 fish over 18″. (take meaning tournament catch and release)

You couldn’t go to the lake and catch a tournament limit….only 1 fish.

That’s how I gather it.

as part of Madison Bass, we’ve done paper tournaments out there before and if you were lucky enough, you could weigh 1 fish over 18 for big bass and its still a good time…at any rate, while I have mixed feelings about opening Mendota up to tournament fishing, I personally don’t see any harm in bringing it back to a 5 fish 14″ size limit. There really aren’t many guys out there that target bass to eat…you may have guys who occasionally run into 1 or 2 and keep them for the frying pan, but with the 18″ size limit out there right now it seems they hit that magic mark and its taken home for whatever reason. I am just making assumptions based on the fact that there are a ton of 17″ fish out there. The thing I have the biggest problem with in Madtown is the fricken float requirement out there on Monona and Mendota…That is a prime example of the powerful and wealthy controlling the lakes upon which they live….For those of you who do not know, this is a Dane County regulation that you must have floatation on your ATV or Snowmobile to access these 2 lakes which happen to be laden with million dollar homes. The lower 2 lakes which have significantly lower property values as a whole and are part of the chain are not restricted. The kicker is the fact that there is a snowmobile trail just on the other side of the road from Mendota. I would assume this law takes place so the wealthy don’t have to listen to sleds rippin across the lake at all hours of the night…Sorry for getting off track here with the subject but just needed to vent!

Although I’m not directly affected by this, I thought I’d pass on a little food for thought.

Several years back they changed the size limit for Kentuckies (Spotted Bass) on Table Rock lake from 12″ to 15″. At that time, you could catch a LOT of 11 3/4″ Kentuckies. Several years after the change, you could catch a LOT of 14 3/4″ Kentuckies. To me, that was an improvement in the fishing already. Now a days, 4, 5 and even 6 lbs Kentuckies are more prevelant than ever before. Is this a direct result of this change? I can’t say for sure, but not being able to harvest 12-<15″ fish sure seems like an opportunity for fish to grow more. Not an apples to apples comparison to this, but again, food for thought.

Now speaking to this from a tournament stand point (leaving politics, lake home owners and the such out), it doesn’t seem like a bad thing to me. Our club fishes a couple lakes that are catch and release only (NO fish can be kept on the lakes). Granted, it takes away the fun of the weigh in, but it’s also the lakes we catch the biggest and most fish on. In my mind, it’s worth fishing those lakes 1 tournament of the 7 a year just to yank on some good fish, even if we all don’t get to share them at weigh in. You can put your boxing gloves on the other 6 tournaments a year. (No disrespect Brovarney, I too LOVE putting the gloves on!)

Now, if the lake has not improved, then one must have evidence of this to try and make a change. If fishing is better, I dont’ think changing it just so one can have catch and weigh tournaments is the right answer. If the fishing is worse, the is should be pursue with evidence with the DNR. If the fishing is the same, then unforatuntely those political aspects will probably when over and nothing will change.

With all this being said, a good friend of mine moved to Madison last fall so I hope to drag the boat over and take him fishing out there.

Thanks,

Every lake that has special regulations has fish stacked up just below the limit. When a fish exceeds the limit it is harvested instead of fish that are not legal.

I believe that the concepts of Catch and Release and Selective Harvest can and should go hand in hand. Selective Harvest is based on the concept that smaller fish are not only better tasting and less filled with contaminates but also that they are a less valuable resource in that they do not have the trophy genetics which is deemed valuable. The flip side is that the larger fish are more valuable in that they have Trophy genetics and will produce offspring that have trophy capabilities.

The very successful “share a Lonestar Lunker” program in Texas is based around the concept that by harvesting the gene pool of large fish (fish are released after spawning) that the results will be strains of fish that are more likely to be trophies. Lakes receiving stockings of the offspring keep producing larger and larger fish.

The trophy regulations that exist in Wisconsin serve to produce just the opposite results. Only fish with trophy capable genes are available for harvest. In Wisconsin we are forced to selectively harvest larger fish on many lakes only because the lake owners are influential.

Catch and Release does have an effect on selective harvest in that many Bass fishermen chose to not harvest Bass, opting for other species at dinnertime.

For many fishermen interested in harvesting the trophy lakes have become prime locations to target large Bass during the spawn. Some live nightcrawlers and a polarized glasses can result in a bucket full of big fish for the freezer. These fish don’t have a chance with the regulations that the DNR has set up.

There are lakes on which special regulations have a purpose. Lets just not confuse lake owners having contributed to political campaigns as a viable reason for special regulations.

Fluker no disrespect taken.

As you can see from the info above I am not against regulations.

There was a similar event in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Bass Federation Help push through a minimum size limit on Bass. Prior to that limit there was no minimum size limit only bag limits. A ten inch bass was as good as a ten inch perch as far as a fish fry goes. Populations at all age and size classes were low. The two years after the new limits where pretty tough as the fish worked their way to the new limit. Then there where a couple of years where there were a lot of the same size fish.

The big change was the increase in overall fish populations that resulted from the Bass being protected from harvest until after they were sexually mature. This allowed each fish to breed at least once before harvest. With the Basses adaptability they have flourished in every lake where they are the dominate predator and on many lakes where they are not.

In this case Lake Mendota is part of a chain so it is pretty easy to do a relative comparison between it and the other two large lakes on the chain. Given the strong catch rates and abundance of large fish caught on Mendota and Waubessa a very strong argument could and should be made that the impact of the special regulations on the fishery is not substantial enough that the justify closing the lake down to other than specialized use and as the DNR states in it’s Wisconsin’s Black Bass Management Plan “virtually eliminate tournament activity”.

The DNR in “Wisconsin’s Black Bass Management Plan” had 4 criteria for determining approval of special regulations. 1)Restoration/rehabilitation, 2)Ecological applications, 3)Protection of existing size structures, 4) Memorable fishing opportunities.

There are two key lines in the Memorable Fishing Opportunities that should be noted:

1-The impact of the regulation on tournament fishing activities should be duly considered and documented. And 2- One option would be would be to focus these efforts on smaller (<1000 acre) lakes, which would reduce impacts on tournaments and focus on lakes where the regulation would likely have a more dramatic affect and may better protect small bass populations.

All this being noted, I believe that there places where special regulations are beneficial, unfortunately in Wisconsin the size of the pocket books of the lake property owners involved is in many cases more important than biological and social realities.

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No, bass fisherman dont’ have harvest tournaments. They are arguing that you can’t use the body of water for “true” tournaments b/c you can only “take” 1 fish over 18″. (take meaning tournament catch and release)

You couldn’t go to the lake and catch a tournament limit….only 1 fish.

That’s how I gather it.

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AH!
Bad use of words on my end. I meant “throwing fish in a livewell” instead of measure-paper tourney.

I get all of this now.
THANKS!

I think a better regulation for Mendota would be a slot limit, I just don’t know how they could go about it.

Buelah has a slot limit and has fish stacked up not only in the protected slot but below it.

Browns Lake just has a higher limit and has fish stacked up just below it.

In both lake the early season when Bass are on the beds is a key time for those interested in harvest. Those bass exceeding the limit are easily targeted by anybody with a live nightcrawler and polorised sunglasses.

Because of there trophy regulations they are easily identified as easy harvest lakes.