Proposed fisheries rule changes for Sawyer County

At this spring’s DNR rule change hearings, there will be 3 questions that pertain to Hayward Area (Nelson and Smith). If approved through the statewide hearing process, these rules would become effective April 1, 2007. The questions and proposed changes are:

Questions 42-43 : Nelson Lake bass and pike regulations -remove 14″ size limit for bass and retain 5 fish daily bag limit, and increase northern pike size limit from “no minimum” to 32″ and reduce daily bag limit from 5 fish to 1 fish.

In July 2004, the Department of Natural Resources conducted a Lake Management Planning Meeting designed to get public for setting management goals for Nelson Lake, Sawyer County. The public in attendance was strongly in favor of restoring a self-sustaining (NR) walleye population. Furthermore, they are willing to lower populations of bass to get there. Bass may have played a role in the walleye’s decline and could make walleye restoration more difficult. The public also continues to support a quality panfish, and a trophy northern pike fishery. A program to restock large fingerling walleye has already begun. These regulation strategies are required to reach the goals of the Nelson Lake Fishery Management Plan. They are designed to restrict harvest of and protect walleye, and trophy northern pike; while using liberalized angling harvest to reduce bass population density.

42. Do you favor removing the 14″ minimum and retaining the 5 fish daily bag limit for bass in Nelson Lake, Sawyer County?

43. Do you favor increasing the minimum length limit for northern pike in Nelson Lake from no minimum to 32″ and reducing the daily bag limit from 5 fish to 1 fish?

Question 44 : Smith Lake panfish regulations – Reduce the daily bag limit for panfish on Smith Lake, Sawyer County, from 25 fish to 10 fish.

Smith Lake in Sawyer County is at risk of over-harvest for quality size panfish. Lake groups have approached the DNR requesting a reduction in the daily bag limit for panfish, and the local fisheries manager agrees that the proposal has merit. The same regulation has already been applied to six similar lakes in this county.

44. Do you favor reducing the daily bag for panfish on Smith Lake, Sawyer County, from 25 per day to 10 per day?

For more information about the spring hearings, see:

Wi DNR spring hearings

All of the hearings occur on April 10 at 7:00 pm. For a list of locattions, see:

Hearing locations

A quick follow-up to this post, with information from the Sawyer County Record:

New bass and pike regulations for Nelson Lake and a reduced panfish limit for Smith Lake were among the proposals approved by voters at the Sawyer County and state-wide conservation rules hearings last week.

The votes in Sawyer County, with the state-wide totals in parentheses, were:

Question 42: Remove 14-inch minimum size limit for bass in Nelson Lake and keep the five-fish daily bag limit — 40 yes, 9 no (1,490 to 747);

Question 43: Increase minimum size limit for northerns caught in Nelson Lake to 32 inches and reduce daily bag limit to one — 32 yes, 16 no (1,371 to 936).

Question 44: Reduce daily bag limit for panfish in Smith Lake from 25 to 10 — 38 yes, 11 no (1,455 to 852).

The new regulations are expected to be acted upon by the Natural Resources Board in June.