Increased walleye limit for Upper Red Lake

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Anglers who fish Upper Red Lake will be able to keep four walleye during the 2009 fishing season that opens May 9. The new limit is one more walleye than last season and two more than when the lake was re-openedto fishing in 2006. “We have been very pleased that a cautious approach to regulatingthis fishery has maintained harvests within the safe harvest range,”said Gary Barnard, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) areafisheries manager in Bemidji. “It has allowed us to gradually relaxregulations to provide even more angling opportunities.” Harvest estimates for the winter season, which ended Feb. 22, wereapproximately 52,000 pounds of walleye. Since that level is well belowthe safe harvest level of 112,000 pounds, the daily bag and possessionlimit could be increased. The current protected slot limit requiring all walleye from 17-to26-inches to be immediately released will remain in effect for the earlyseason, when angler catch rates are high. Beginning June 15, and for the remainder of the open water season, theprotected slot will be adjusted to require that all walleye from 20-to26-inches be immediately released. Throughout the open water season, only one fish more than 26 inches isallowed. The walleye size limit will revert back to the 17-to 26-inch protectedrange on Dec. 1, 2009. The winter adjustment is necessary because winterangling pressure has been consistently higher than open water pressure. The bag limit for the next winter season has yet to be determined butwill be based on harvest estimates from the open water season. DNRofficials hope the four fish limit can continue into the 2009-2010winter season.

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I’m kind of surprised about next winter regs. I figured they would go 18-26 for sure…

According to the DNR, if we took fish over 17″ we would more than double our take – from 52,000 to over 112,000….does that sound reasonable ?

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According to the DNR, if we took fish over 17″ we would more than double our take – from 52,000 to over 112,000….does that sound reasonable ?

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when I first heard this, I was told one of the reasons for the loosening of the slot was because of a diminishing forage base.
the bigger fish were eating themselves out of house and home.
I’m sure there’s a lot more to it, with the DNR wanting to pat themselves on the back with what a GREAT job they’ve done bringing the walleyes back.
for christs sake, dump a bunch of fry in a pond and close it to fishing for ten years, that was tough.

I’m not sure what kind of a guage it is, but the first year they opened the lake to walleye fishing, we fished out of our boat tied to a tree on the tamarac river. didn’t matter what you threw out there, a walleye bit it. every other one being under the slot and perfect for the frying pan. the second year, you had to catch about fifteen to catch an eater and the catches came much less frequently than the year before.
then last year, we didn’t even catch enough for one fish fry.
all of this was in the river, same time period one year to the next.

this new slot will help a lot, but an increased number alone isn’t going to do much to put more fish in the live well.
I hope it looks attractive enough to get people to make the drive though.

Unfortunately losing 800k + pounds to netting isn’t going to help your situation.

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Unfortunately losing 800k + pounds to netting isn’t going to help your situation.

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fact!