Anybody know what’s causing all the gross looking walleyes up on mille lacs this year? Maybe it’s just me but I’ve noticed ALOT of fish with fuzzy growths on there bodies. The attached picture shows what I’m talking about (this was the most beat up of the fish I’ve caught this year, but shows the growths)
20190605_110849.jpg
20190605_110902.jpg
I have seen some of this over the years on mille lacs..Looks like areas of the fish that would maybe be affected by gill nets……
Wallster ><((((>
Jesus…that fish has to almost be dead. There are a ton of scrawny 20+” fish coming out of the pond again this year. That is more alarming to me than some skin issues
Over population would be my guess. Why are they not netting more??
Jesus…that fish has to almost be dead. There are a ton of scrawny 20+” fish coming out of the pond again this year. That is more alarming to me than some skin issues
This was by far the most sickly looking fish. I was shocked it had the energy to even eat my jig. I honestly didn’t even touch the thing. Seems like skinny fish up there is kinda the norm now. Maybe they aren’t overly skinny? But they sure seem slender compared to all the other bodies of water I fish.
That fish is missing a good portion of the port side of it’s face and it appears to have a puncture wound to it’s stomach. A lack of food is not directly responsible for what ails that fish.
hard to release fish after blasting a spear through their torso. that lake is a biologists nightmare. those that fish it regularly deny their is anything wrong but those are the scrawniest walleyes in the state! is their not enough forage? are the bass getting to it faster? are the zeebs to blame? too many questions and not enough answers. I hope that they figure it out soon and Ill stay fishing the Sippi close to home.
I haven’t been to Mille Lacs yet this spring, but this winter I was catching extremely chunky fish. I’m not sure if things have really changed that much, or are there just varied experiences.
Varied experiences, barnacles harbor was loaded with spottails last weekend you kick the dock in the morning and the entire harbor erupted! There’s bait in the lake, maybe they skinny cause they just spawned?? Oh and why didn’t they swim n in my trap? Didn’t catch one
Most of the walleyes will appear to be skinny this time of year because they haven’t fully recovered from the spawn. There is likely a forage shortage again too, so the big ones will be eating the small ones. There was a tournament last weekend out there and the winning team on Sunday won with 40 pounds on 5 fish (CPR – catch, photo, release).
Lymphocytis. Not all that uncommon. Not usually fatal to the fish from what i understand. I’d be way more concerned about how skinny that fish is than a couple warts on its body.
There was a tournament last weekend out there and the winning team on Sunday won with 40 pounds on 5 fish (CPR – catch, photo, release).
So I’m other words… Zero actual weights were taken. 
Every year the Chicken Little’s come out this time of year to shout out how skinny the Walleye’s are on Mille Lacs, as if it’s the only place with skinny walleye’s right now. This happens every year on every lake due to the spawn. Here’s the Results from the Leech Lake Walleye Tourney last weekend, big fish was 7.37 lbs and most of the big fish registered were in the 5-6 pound range, these are all likely 27″+ fish so that is skinny. Leech must have a forage issue and they are all starving… 
p.s. no idea what’s going on with the OP but that walleye is sickly in many ways, so not something to base the rest of the lake on. And I’ve yet to catch one with any fuzzy growths up there.
Every year the Chicken Little’s come out this time of year to shout out how skinny the Walleye’s are on Mille Lacs, as if it’s the only place with skinny walleye’s right now. This happens every year on every lake due to the spawn. Here’s the Results from the Leech Lake Walleye Tourney last weekend, big fish was 7.37 lbs and most of the big fish registered were in the 5-6 pound range, these are all likely 27″+ fish so that is skinny. Leech must have a forage issue and they are all starving…
http://www.leechlakewalleyetournament.com/results-and-photos/
p.s. no idea what’s going on with the OP but that walleye is sickly in many ways, so not something to base the rest of the lake on. And I’ve yet to catch one with any fuzzy growths up there.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
There was a tournament last weekend out there and the winning team on Sunday won with 40 pounds on 5 fish (CPR – catch, photo, release).So I’m other words… Zero actual weights were taken.
That is correct! Since you can’t legally place a restricted fish in your live well on that lake, thus you can’t actually weigh them in. So they do some kind of catch, photo, and release on all their fish in this format. I assume its some kind of standardized weight conversion they use.
VD
Results from the Leech Lake Walleye Tourney last weekend, big fish was 7.37 lbs and most of the big fish registered were in the 5-6 pound range, these are all likely 27″+ fish so that is skinny. Leech must have a forage issue and they are all starving…
wait…you can’t make such a bold statement by making your own assumptions on how long you think the fish were. The OP’s fish looks way worse then any walleye I caught on Mille Lacs this year and he said they caught quite a few like that so his concern was valid.
Anybody know what’s causing all the gross looking walleyes up on mille lacs this year? Maybe it’s just me but I’ve noticed ALOT of fish with fuzzy growths on there bodies. The attached picture shows what I’m talking about (this was the most beat up of the fish I’ve caught this year, but shows the growths)
I’ve caught some with the growths before but also on other lakes.
Curious as to what type of structure your fishing when you caught that fish: weeds, rocks, sand? Looks like your relatively close to shore. Maybe it has something to do with where it resides.
wait…you can’t make such a bold statement by making your own assumptions on how long you think the fish were.
Pretty sure I can, this is America after all 
And if you followed any of the social media around the event they noted a few of the big fish, and they were actually 28″+, so I added an inch buffer since not every big fish was shown. 
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:</div>
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
There was a tournament last weekend out there and the winning team on Sunday won with 40 pounds on 5 fish (CPR – catch, photo, release).So I’m other words… Zero actual weights were taken.
That is correct! Since you can’t legally place a restricted fish in your live well on that lake, thus you can’t actually weigh them in. So they do some kind of catch, photo, and release on all their fish in this format. I assume its some kind of standardized weight conversion they use.
I realize this.
I was just calling BS to a 40# bag.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
