MN DNR believes

…we the fisherman in the state of MN present more of a danger to walleye than do northern pike.

How do I know this? They basically said as much in an official press release yesterday.

Here is the passage I find misguided and offensive:
So what is the reason for a closure on walleye, pike, bass and trout in lakes? The short answer centers on the Minnesota state fish – the walleye. The walleye fishing closure is borne out of the need to protect spawning populations of walleye as they congregate in areas like shallow shorelines and riffle areas of rivers. Opening fishing for them at this point could make walleye highly vulnerable to getting caught by anglers in large numbers.

Even if there were other ways to protect walleye at this time of the year, such as a catch-and-release season, the idea of doing away with fishing opener could make planning for the upcoming fishing season difficult for resort owners and anglers who traditionally plan on fishing the opener.

And pike? They spawn before walleye, but closing the season for pike allows the walleye closure to be enforceable, because fishing methods can be similar for the two species.

Does anyone else find this reasoning misguided and offensive?

Im good with the way the seasons run. Going on about 12 days since Ive last fished for walleyes in mn. St Croix walleye opener is this Friday night. Think Big stone opener was last weekend. Pool 2 and 4 are open all the time for bass and walleyes.

Just dont see what is broken.

The only thing broken Mike is the netting and spearing during a closed season.

Cant argue with that.

What is amazing….is they refer to hook and line anglers being a potential hardship on the fishery during the spawn…but they say GILL NETS make no difference…does one cry or laugh?

I agree with what they say here–just can’t believe they would say this and then say “nets make no difference”.

Mike W wrote:

Im good with the way the seasons run. Going on about 12 days since Ive last fished for walleyes in mn. St Croix walleye opener is this Friday night. Think Big stone opener was last weekend. Pool 2 and 4 are open all the time for <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass and walleyes.

Just dont see what is broken.

Well we are happy for you Mike W. who has the means to travel all over the state and who’s waters aren’t inundated with hammer handles. Some of us in life aren’t as fortunate. The 10 pike limit coming to central MN seems to indicate to me that something is indeed broken.

Bass Pundit wrote:

we the fisherman in the state of MN present more of a danger to walleye than do northern pike.

Assuming this post has nothing to do with gill nets, I agree with the statement.

I don’t see how it’s offensive in any possible way.

biggill wrote:

Well we are happy for you Mike W. who has the means to travel all over the state and who’s waters aren’t inundated with hammer handles. Some of us in life aren’t as fortunate. The 10 pike limit coming to central MN seems to indicate to me that something is indeed broken.

I must be missing something. How does this affect walleye?

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>
Well we are happy for you Mike W. who has the means to travel all over the state and who’s waters aren’t inundated with hammer handles. Some of us in life aren’t as fortunate. The 10 <em class=”ido-tag-em”>pike limit coming to central MN seems to indicate to me that something is indeed broken.

I must be missing something. How does this affect walleye?

The multiple lakes where hammer handles are a problem are severely cutting into natural and stocked walleye success. And they are taking up room that could be occupied productively by other species as well. I think you should do some reading on the proposed changed pike regulations.

Limits will be raised, do your part and kill them Pike if you don’t like ’em.

The only thing broken is our dnr…

Anybody else remember when Mn was a state for sportsman? The dnr along with most gov’t agencies needs an overhaul.But it’s Mn so that will never happen..
Minnesota-a geographically great state,politically an absolute nightmare…

I did some reading on the proposed pike regulations but did I miss the part where the walleye stocking success was suffering from the over abundance of hammerhandles? Or is that an assumption?

They (DNR) used Pike as one of their excuses for the failure on Mille Lacs.

Well, lakes that have an abundance of hammer handles are probably the result of fishermen and management in general.

Dutchboy wrote:

They (DNR) used Pike as one of their excuses for the failure on Mille Lacs.

I know they did before the surveys, but I recall that after the surveys they discovered that the walleyes were the main predator of the smaller walleyes.

If this is a thread about Milke Lacs I’m out. It’s my opinion that the DNR handles Mille Lacs vastly different than the rest of the state.

I’d like to thank our DNR for having a closed bass season (sarcasm). We have made three trips to SD so far this Spring and spent a ton of money on gas. Food. Hotel. License for the year. Etc. Also since we are forced to do this or be considered a poacher for catching and releasing bass out of season in MN we just broke the state record smallmouth in SD. So props to our DNR. SD is open year round and put out an 8 fish 45.9lb bag. Our best five went 30.74. Open seasons are working there just fine. Looks like I’ll be spending some more money this weekend to continue helping the SD fisheries.

Head on over. With their low population they don’t need a season anyway.

Casey Ehlert wrote:

since we are forced to do this or be considered a poacher for catching and releasing bass out of season in MN

Pike should be open all year. The problem in some mn lakes is a real issue. Sand, the Whitefish chain, etc, etc are overpopulated with a population of short, skinny, small, unhealthy pike. The locals are finally starting to cull those fish. Honestly it wouldn’t bother me if people pickeled everyone they caught or used them for garden fertilizer, under a certain size that was deemed part of the problem. Not just for other fish, but for the health of the pike population on the whole, they are overpopulated and unhealthy in my ignorant opinion. It’s not a bad thing to reduce those small pike, anymore than killing commorants on leech to reduce a species that is adversely affecting the overall health of a fishery. Even still, it’s tough to keep all those small pike and deal with them.

Casey Ehlert wrote:

I’d like to thank our DNR for having a closed <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass season (sarcasm). We have made three trips to SD so far this Spring and spent a ton of money on gas. Food. Hotel. License for the year. Etc. Also since we are forced to do this or be considered a poacher for catching and releasing bass out of season in MN we just broke the state record smallmouth in SD. So props to our DNR. SD is open year round and put out an 8 fish 45.9lb bag. Our best five went 30.74. Open seasons are working there just fine. Looks like I’ll be spending some more money this weekend to continue helping the SD fisheries.

I just read you are from Barnsville, whats that 20 minutes from South Dakota? Somehow I think you would be fishing there no matter if the Bass season was open here or not.

Nice fish btw.

Dutchboy wrote:

Head on over. With their low population they don’t need a season anyway.

I think you’re on to something.

Or on something.

If netting doesn’t adversely affect the walleye population, anglers should have just as much “right” to the resource pre-spawn, spawn and post spawn. Especially with a catch and release season.

If hook and line angling has a negative affect on the resource, so to one would also assume, other methods would too. It’s easy science. One can’t be good, but the other bad. Unless…….there’s another reason for the stance on one, yet not the other.

That’s the rub, the dnr is trying to tell us the light is red for one group, yet green for another, on the same issue. That’s one of numerous reasons for the confusion and mistrust of the dnr, that they really don’t have the best interest of the resource in mind in regards to regulations, plans and the long-term viability of a body of water, it’s user’s and the political quagmire they have wondered into so blindly, spinlessly and ignorantly.

I will neither confirm nor deny.

BTW, Twinks up 3-2.

biggill wrote:

I did some reading on the proposed pike regulations but did I miss the part where the walleye stocking success was suffering from the over abundance of hammerhandles? Or is that an assumption?

Yes absolutely walleye stocking success IS suffering from over abundance of hammerhandles. Not an assumption at all. I am involved in committee advisory with DNR and have witnessed viable study results they presented that would confirm that conclusion.
BassPundit(Pastor), I must have missed something but what/where was your source for the “media information”? You are correct in that the pike situation is defective in certain areas. That is why the DNR has put forth the proposed 3 zone regs. The pike size/abundance varies to the extreme from the southern part of the state up to and through the central zone to the far north/northeast zones. Furthermore, pike and walleye spawn at different times and completely opposite habitat, so I have no idea how that even became an issue??

Ok, excuse my ignorance. I’m still trying to grasp the point being made here. I understand that some would like eliminate closed seasons for game fish.

So what problem are you trying to solve by eliminating the closed season? How does this help walleye population?

Do you think pike are hurting the juvenile walleye population? Pike vs catch and release fishing?

How do the musky guys feel about closed seasons? Trout guys? Flathead (catfish ) guys?

Keep northerns belly on the cutting table, cut top back strap off and discard the rest. Never use to keep them BC hated cleaning em, but these lil fish strips are fantastic table fare that the kids love and no chance of bones whatsoever. Usually don’t keep big enough ones to cut the tail section. Gets the snakes out the lake, and food on table. Win-win.

Sorry, this question was just answered.

biggill wrote:

Do you think pike are hurting the juvenile walleye population? Pike vs catch and release fishing?

NO>!!! … rrr

biggill wrote:

Sorry, this question was just answered.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>
Do you think pike are hurting the juvenile walleye population? Pike vs catch and release fishing?

So yes, in conclusion…when there are almost infinite 18″ pike stacked up on every clump of weed and the DNR drops X amount of fry or fingerling walleye stocking only to have them vacuumed up by all the stunted hammerhandle jacks, yea we need to rethink our harvest objectives.

I’m not sure why you have the attitude with Mike. You jumping on a guy for enjoying the resources the state has to offer doesn’t make sense to me. I’m am obviously slow too in that I don’t know what your argument is. The fish population would be in better shape if there wasn’t a closed season?

Bass Pundit wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike W wrote:</div>
Im good with the way the seasons run. Going on about 12 days since Ive last fished for walleyes in mn. St Croix walleye opener is this Friday night. Think Big stone opener was last weekend. Pool 2 and 4 are open all the time for <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass and walleyes.

Just dont see what is broken.

Well we are happy for you Mike W. who has the means to travel all over the state and who’s waters aren’t inundated with hammer handles. Some of us in life aren’t as fortunate. The 10 <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike limit coming to central MN seems to indicate to me that something is indeed broken.