DNR Requests Input on Lake Sturgeon

I’ve removed the quotes from the email below as it messes up the formatting.

Here’s Rod’s message:

OK guys, here’s your chance to sound off!

I have some good news for you. The new supervisor for the East Metro station (since late June) just came back from a border waters meeting with the WI DNR and he was telling me that the WI biologists and managers are getting more concerned about their sturgeon populations statewide. There was discussion about the need for more restrictive regulations on all their waters.

There was also a committee formed to start discussions on options for managing sturgeon in the St. Croix too. The supervisor will be on that committee and the data we’ve been collecting on the fish we’ve captured and tagged since May of 2003 should go a long way towards helping formulate a good course of action.

The supervisors name is Gerald Johnson. I’ve known Gerry for over 20 years in the DNR and he’s one of the good guys! Gerry will listen to your input and take your observations and opinions into consideration for future regulation discussions! I know he would value your opinions and observations, and now is the time to voice them to Gerry.

The first joint MN/WI DNR committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 24th at 10 AM to discuss lake sturgeon and night carp spearing issues on the St. Croix River.

Gerry would appreciate feed back from you guys prior to then!

Your experiences and observations will be valuable to Gerry in preparing to represent you guys in future meetings.

If you feel that a note on the IDA website will help, then by all means spread the word!

E-mail comments to me and I will forward them on to Gerry.

Don’t let this opportunity get away! Now is the time that we can let others know how important and special these fish really are!

Enthusiastically,

Rod Ramsell, Fisheries Specialist
Minnesota DNR Fisheries
East Metro Area Fisheries Office
1200 Warner Road
St. Paul, MN 55106
651-772-7960
[email protected]

I recieved the same email.

Anyone responding directly to them, please carefully think out exactly what your concerns are, and try to stay strait to the point. Many of us here care about the fishery and can provide some valuable input possibly altering the future of sturgeon fishing.

I am going to think about this for a day or two before I start to send in my comments or suggestions.

Brian, Dave, Steve D., Mark… you guys have e-mail!

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WI biologists and managers are getting more concerned about their sturgeon populations statewide. There was discussion about the need for more restrictive regulations on all their waters.

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Why do they think there is a need to be more restrictive? Is there that many people harvesting sturgeon?

To me that is not good news…unless I’m reading into this wrong. I’m worried they will shorten the season, or worse. If they want it to be catch and release only, I’m all for it.

Just my opinion.

I’m checking in to this Jon.

Wi impose “emergency regs” on the Chippawa flowage this year…and when I was talking with a WI DNR biologist…they were talking about shovelnose and another type of sturegeon other than Lake that they were concerned about…

I’ll post the info here when I recieve something.

I hear catch and release in the winter on Winnebago isn’t going so well.

Personally I don’t know what I would say in an email, but if I can write an email with the consensus of opinion on the subject and send it off. The only opinion I have is C&R season and opening up other pools to C&R only. However, I don’t think thats the input they really want to pursue. Numbers boys, numbers (of emails) are good.

More restictive??
I’m a catch n release guy, but be very careful what you wish for. I still think there should be some sort of harvestable population. The last thing I want to see is MORE restrictions.

I just emailed back Rod from the DNR with a bunch more questions and will post the answers when I get them….
You do have to be careful what you wish for here but I do think that everybody including the DNR is on the same page about managing sturgeon for bigger and older fish. The more accurate info we give them the better the fishery will get.
On the Flip side of things, if pressure comes from the “Sturgeon eating society” to increase bag limits, things could get worse for us. SO, I think we are all on the same page and they would take our observations and match them with our point of view on Sturgeon-Fun to catch, not as fun to eat
Mark

I have also sent more questions to the DNR regarding the situation. I have no input about the inner WI bodies of water becuase I know nothing about them, and I would be out of place making any type of suggestion.

My primary concern is the St Croix, and pool 3 & 4 of the Mississippi river. I want to gain all the FACTS I can before making any type of suggestion. The only facts I have to work with are fishing outings this year compared to previous years. There are no shortage of sturgeon in the croix… but the legal size fish this year are averaging about 1/100 fish overall where last year they were about 1/20. Very few 60″+ class fish have been caught this year to boot which is a far cry from last year especially.

Maybe the fish moved on, maybe the fish have been harvested, I really dont know. The fact is if these mature fish arent in the fishery anymore swimming upright, they arent going to dump eggs. There is also a lack of 40″+ fish, its not only a void of large fish.

I dont want to critisize the fishery, but it sometimes feels like your fishing lake calhoun for sunfish.. stunted sunfish.

I would like to see other waters open up for catch and release, not harvest for at least a period of time until the fishery can be further, more accurately evaluated. This would reduce the fishing pressure on the croix, and help keep tabs on th populations in other waters including angler success, tag feedback, size structures, etc. I think it would be nothing short of wreckless and irresponsable to open other waters to catch and harvest immediately. How long would it take to decimate the 50+ class sturgeon at Red Wing with some people fishing for harvest? It would be like shooting ducks in a barrel at the dam with other sections of the pool left untouched at least for a period of time.

The catfish regs on the border waters also need some serious looking into right now. As of right now, one is allowed 10 cats.. no size or species restrictions. I wouldnt mind seeing it go to similar to inland waters with 5 allowed, only 2 can be flatheads, 1 fish over 24″. For those who feel the need to stack the freezer, thats a good enough chunk of meat to feed your family with 10 kids.. and anything more is far beyond excessive.

There are things that need to be changed for the better of the fishery, and there is also things that could be changed to benefit the fishermen in general. It might add to more restrictions in some places, but it could also ease restrictons in others. Unfortunately, restrictions are needed to reduce adverse impacts to the fishery especially for those prone to be excessively greedy when it comes to our resources.

Be sure to let us know what the DNR sends back. I’d like to see a tag system for flatheads too. They take long to mature too. Maybe not as long as sturgeon, but the management principles should apply. Back on topic. I’d really like to hear some of the details the DNR gets back to us with.

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I dont want to critisize the fishery, but it sometimes feels like your fishing lake calhoun for sunfish.. stunted sunfish.

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Its an excellent analogy. That I’ve agreed with since I started fishing them last year. It probably comes from the fact that they usually bite readily and frequently.

I’ll will qualify that the Rainy fish do not fall into this category.

I guess what I’m reading here is that the DNR is looking for input based on our experience…not their data.

Since few of us have WI inland experience, we wouldn’t comment on this…just the waterways that we have fished.

That’s my take anyway.