WI Hearings/Questionaire Results - General Discussion Forum - General Discussion Forum

Jason,
You have no idea how ticked off the people around the Chippewa flowage are in Sawyer county.
They are very misinformed, but still are ticked at the trolling issue, along with the 18″ Minimum.
Most people dont keep 18″ and overs for eating, they release them. it’s the 12 to 16 for the fryer and the rest release.
so basically they have decided to only take the spawners out. one fish over 18″ lays as many eggs as 100 3 year olds (or so our dnr guy doing the fertilization of the eggs down here said!).
so basically we are taking 100 possible spawners out per 18″ fish. I know you and I dont agree with this issue, but i would trust a fish biologist before an anglers heresay. doesnt mean he is right either, but I would lean towards his words since i dont really have the numbers available to me.

as for the trolling issue: The people up there, resort owners, summer residents as well as year round folks believe that trollers are going to:
*destroy the weed beds by trolling through them.
*Push anchored anglers out of the way when they make a pass.
*spread lines so wide that nobody can go around them.
**Take more fish than a person jigging, casting, or slip-floating.
*Trolling is the lazy way to catch fish and shouldn’t be allowed.

We all know the trolling issues raised by them are silly, but that doesn’t change the thought process. They may have had an inconsiderate person trolling by them on some other lake and the “bad apple” put it into their head we are all that way.
Also, in the summer, I guess i would prefer to troll at night anyways after all the boat traffic would be calmer.
They also believe that the DNR is raising the minimum to 18″ because they want to allow trolling (which has nothing to do with the price of milk).
They dont understand that we aren’t going to push them out, but rather go around them with our boards. why would we want to snag set ups that take a while to get out to the correct depths and the right speeds, over the right structure?
I think its their passion for not wanting to change the way things are.
With all of this on the table, i have heard numerous folks talking about selling their cabins and trailers on the flowage (along with not visiting the resorts) because of the rule changes.
so the resorts may be hurt by the rules changes for a while.
I guess in my mind, there should have been a slot limit and or introduce the trolling in a few years, rather than all the changes at once.
just my $.02 worth!!
by the way, im for the trolling, not the 18″ rule.