Minnesota 2016 Fishing Opener

C&R during the spawn “potentially” would have the most adverse affect on bedding fish, bass and panfish.

That being said, probably the most affected fish doesn’t even have a season, crappie and bluegill. They are easy to catch when you find them spawning and most people keep the biggest ones. So people pull the big males off their beds and keep them and let the little ones go back to their nest. So you have the beds with the best genes being abandoned, while the ones potentially with the worst genes continue to get protected.

As far as bass go. Lots of people believe bass being pulled off beds is detrimental to fish spawning. That may be true, but it isn’t the whole story. Female bass will usually spawn with multiple males. The chances that all male bass will be caught and released to the point of abandoning their nests in any given lake is pretty remote and one or two successful nests will usual provide more than enough fry to keep a population of fish healthy. Weather and water conditions have way more impact on fry survival than angling ever will. So basically if weather and water conditions aren’t right it doesn’t matter if the fish are caught or not; we are going to have a poor year class. And if the weather and water conditions are right, we will have a good year class regardless if the fish are caught or not.

Bass Pundit wrote:

Walleye don’t successfully spawn in most MN water.

What??? There are a ton of MN lakes that have walleye populations and are never stocked!! I don’t understand that statement at all. Do you have any proof of that?

The them I was referring to is fish, all fish if harassed during the spawn will have negative effects on the fish and their reproduction.

C&R only fishing is ‘harassment’?? Hmmm, I guess that’s one way to look at it, though that perspective leaves me feeling strangely guilty.

Back to the issue…

I’ve never seen a study on any popular freshwater sportfishing species that suggests immediate C&R fishing has an adverse effect on overall reproductive success. Can someone cite or link to some research we could read? Certain neighboring states to MN have excellent fisheries – walleye, perch, bass – and they are year round seasons. Yes, including the spawn period. And, lots of those fish are being kept for the table. Also, who can explain the incredible success of the year-round walleye fishery in Pool 4 (catch & eat) and Pool 2 (catch & release only) of the Mississippi River right here in MN?

Some may ask: Why not travel to other states to fish when MN season is closed?? The answer is because I have a home on one of MN’s best fishing lakes and the thought of spending $$$’s and time traveling hours to fish another lake in another state seems pretty ridiculous…as does looking at open water for week after week once the ice goes out on the lake in front of my home, unable to use the resource due to some laws that make little sense to C&R only anglers like me.

Neighboring states grease the palms of MN DNR to keep the Minnesotans driving pass all their 10,000 lakes to fish across the state line! Only kidding but realistically think of the amount of $ lost to the state during March, April, Couple weeks in May depending on the year.

I live in SD, I see the licence plates flooding over here to fish because its nice out, open water, everyone has the itch really bad after a long winter. Fishermen drive to where they can fish obviously. South Dakota caters to these folks. Usually more non residents fishing during that time that Residents or so it seems sometimes.

So if you are one of hardly any states that want to “protect the spawn” Why do they shut it down at the end of February and the whole month of March? Pretty sure there is almost zero spawning activity during that time for any game species? Do not see the logic there. Folks are getting robbed of a month and half of ice fishing. Lost revenue there for sure to other states.

Spawning must be protected. Screw the revenue. I’ve seen what happens when spawning panfish get over fished and I dont want to see that happen to everything else. You cant compare Minn to less populated western states. For people that cant handle the two months off-get a grip.

Ive never heard of walleyes, bass, musky, northern, crappie, or blue gill spawning in Feb and March……… Those are the months which I stated in my post.

Maybe you are a big Eel Pout guy…. then you can be all up in arms about protecting the spawn in Feb and March… they spawn under the ice.

Aside from that… protecting the spawn in Feb and March?

It doesn’t say ‘The land of 10,000 laws’ on the license plate for nothing. One big rip off for sportsman. All ‘opener’ does is make traffic a nightmare for a few weekends.

suzuki wrote:

Spawning must be protected. Screw the revenue. I’ve seen what happens when spawning panfish get over fished and I dont want to see that happen to everything else. You cant compare Minn to less populated western states. For people that cant handle the two months off-get a grip.

This doesn’t make any sense, as panfish season doesn’t close. Including keeping them. Now you may have an example of an individual lake that has been hurt by people keeping spawning panfish, but that does not apply to the majority of MN lakes.

We have a season and opener strictly to encourage business and make it an event. The fact that the closed season falls while most game fish are spawning is purely a coincidence and has no biological reasoning behind it. This must be true or there is no way the DNR, in good biologically sound management, could allow any gillnetting (kills every fish that hits the net) during the spawn…

I’ve never seen a study on any popular freshwater sportfishing species that suggests immediate C&R fishing has an adverse effect on overall reproductive success.

Exactly, where is the science that points out immediate catch and release fishing is harmful to overall reproductive success?

I found out in the case of bass that those who claim adverse effects were just engaging in unwarranted speculation that the actual science contradicts when studies are done.

Impossible to enforce but opener would be much better if based in water temp instead of a date on the calendar …