Mater Walleye Circuit

That’s exactly why the rule exists.

-J.

Any time I see someone defend something with “it’s perfectly legal so it’s not wrong” … I have to question the motivation there.

Anyone who thinks tournament fishermen did less damage than recreational fishermen to P4 last weekend is kidding himself.

Law or no law, I’d boycott the crap out of any catch & keep tourney. What a waste.

Did everyone who brought in 5 fish come in at the same check in time? Or, did everyone report directly to the scales as soon as #5 hit the box?

I hope no one dipped into the moral hazard of culling for this …that would add even more dead walleyes to the current total wouldn’t it?

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What a waste.

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and the walleyes were donated to the Frontenac Sportsman’s Club, which cleaned the fish and in turn donated the catch to the local food shelf.

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‘Spose this is true depending on a persons point of view.

It’s always easy to judge another person.

You have to live with how you judge yourself

Walk the Walk

I started a war… my opinion was that Cabelas was sponsering this and Minnesota Dnr was allowing this! Hell I’m from Iowa…my license (minn) only allows me 6 fish total(which is plenty) I’m not sure how many anglers weighed more than 6… dont care. My opinion is that I had walleyes in my boat all day with no problem with water temp where I was fishing 66-68. With that temp those walleyes would of been fine for day for releasing.
I’m not mad at all at any angler for fishing this…if I had a real boat I also would of been fishing it. Some try and make a living doing this and I’m jealous

Sorry James to create havoc on your website..my original post was me saying the Tournament director, Cablelas, and the MDNR need there kicked in a long about way without me saying it!

Hats of to Justin for 4th place!

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Hats of to Justin for 4th place!

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What? Justin?! When did you start fishing for walleyes?

Congrats Sir!

I’m a little confused. I fished a tournament on Little Pine by Perham that was catch and release. I just read about a tournament on Lake Reno by Alexandria that was catch and release. Is this DNR rule for certain areas of Minnesota? Can someone provide a link that shows the rule? Something doesn’t add up.

Pool 4 is going to be just fine…..I promise! I get the concern for big fish but it’s going to continue to be a world class fishery with or with out tournaments. Not to diminish the loss of that many big fish but it’s statistically irrelevant to be truthful if you understand the amount of water and fish in the system.

44 miles…but with the hight water, it’s like having a fish ladder at each dam.

Brian,

I agree with your point on the food shelf donation. It’s better than throwing them in the garbage. It’s sort of like making the best of a bad situation. I still see a huge waste of the resource. Those big fish are a lot more valuable than the small ones, and a lot harder to replace.

Pierbridge, I agree with your point as well. Everything is relative. I think Pool 4 has gotten a lot better for big fish over the last 10 years because of catch & release. The result is more pressure from more effective fishermen (how many new PBs have been caught and released on P4 by IDO members in the last 5 years?), which makes C&R that much more important. Pool 4 has ridiculous big fish potential.

Just my $0.02.

John

It is funny that often the same people that would look at a angler in disgust for keeping the large walleyes are the same people doing it for the tournament. I know that it is legal, but now that it is “worth money or bragging rights” its ok ethically.

To the thought about that the river has so many fish we can’t over fish these large breeding females, Its the same thing people said about buffalo. The DNR cant be wrong even though every other body of water is mangaged to keep the larger fish around.

I am not trying to throw stones because I too have fished small local tournaments where I end up keeping fish that I normally would not. These tournaments limited the harvest to 3 fish. This would have a big effect on the total pounds keep. Even more a full limit with only 2 over 20 inches.

This does effect the fishery even after the tournament because I know alot of people(locals)see this and say I am not releasing big fish so these tournemnt guys can keep them.

Just some thoughts

I cannot open this post without this picture popping up. For those of you without kids, his name is Mater, as in Tow Mater

I was unaware that he sponsored a fishing tournament.

Go spend an afternoon at the cleaning house at the roeshen landing (as I do often), trust me 1 kill tourny doesnt touch the numbers of big females that go through that cleaning house in a week. Ask the city workers how many times they empty the 55 gallon drum a weekend.
I seen a group of 8 guys cleaning 48 walleyes last night, and size didnt matter to them believe me!

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Go spend an afternoon at the cleaning house at the roeshen landing (as I do often), trust me 1 kill tourny doesnt touch the numbers of big females that go through that cleaning house in a week. Ask the city workers how many times they empty the 55 gallon drum a weekend.
I seen a group of 8 guys cleaning 48 walleyes last night, and size didnt matter to them believe me!

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Exactly!

Reality is that according to Mn. DNR stats, less than 1 percent of the walleye harvest at all the walleye mecca’s comes via tournaments.

The tourney regs now in place are only there, for the most part, because of public perception.

Just remember, using this past weekend as a prime example, most tourney anglers( from 4 events this past weekend) are locals and those that fish the river often. So in fact, without the tourney in place, many would have kept more fish. Only a handful of the tourney entries are “pro anglers”. (even if they have a bunch of decals on their boats)

And as many know, big walleyes lay a lot of eggs and hatch out fewer than 19″-23″ walleyes. Big walleyes die of old age…..or get filleted.

400 plus walleyes in one place at one time looks big. But that’s tunnel vision in the big scope of things, be it at the river or Lake Mille Lacs or elsewhere.

Ya know what the bad part of tourney fishing is( if there is a such a thing)? Tourneys have created a big part of how the general public walleye anglers fish and hunt walleyes. So , in the end, no doubt, tourneys have put more pressure on the fisheries. But not directly at each event by what the tourney anglers catch themselves. The old saying “10 percent of the anglers catch 90 percent of the fish” is no longer true. That you can blame, for the most part, on what comes out of 25 years or more of walleye tourneys.