The present poll

With the present poll on the main page. Which time frame should the area below the dam on the Mississippi River be closed for walleye and sauger? 30% have voted for some time Other. What time frame would you like to see and why.

march 1 till the opener in may

Hi Rigger,

We kinda hashed over that topic on another post that is now a few pages back….

My personal view is to go to a C & R season from March 1 till the May opener. This is due to the fact that the inland lakes are closed and the river is the “Only game in town” during that time for walleye.

Just a personal opinion….

Jon J.

i agree 100% with Jon and gillman, catch and realse from march 1st until the inland opener.

i don’t know how that woudl work with the wisconsin seasons though??

From all I’ve heard there’s no reason for a closed season on the river. If we feel a need for some restriction how about a slot 15″ to 20″ with only one fish over 20″ from Feb. 15 to May 1.Or even a reduced slot limit of 3 fish with 1 over 20″ This early walleye seson is an important source of revenue for a lot of people on the river. including some on this site I would hate to see it taken away when there is no biological reason to do so.

Yellow dog has a great point.All this talk on restricting or closing the season has me confused.What is the problem we are trying to solve,and were is the factual information to support there is a problem?By gosh if there is a problem count me in as wanting to help.But if everyone is looking to make a change based on coffee table conversation and hear say then beware.Every spring I fish the river,and every spring is my best yet.Maybe not in the same pool,but I can say I have never felt the fear we over fished the river.We don’t want to wait until it is too late to change,but there has yet to be any factual,reliable,information shown supporting a season change.If people are looking to make a change to reduce pressure from outside groups such as PETA that is plain wrong.
Just a different point of view here too,but maybe one that makes some sense.What if the walleye/sauger is declining.If it is we want to reverse that no doubt.But I see a trend in the way people think.Example,the business I work in has been slow for months.Other business’s have been laying off employees to try to remain as profitable as possible with the slower traffic.That has been the way people think for as long as I remember.We started to think different.We started to look at ways to expand our business.Guess what.We are looking to add employees right now,while a shop down the road is laying off.Back to the subject at hand.If the population is decreasing,maybe instead of keeping fisherman off the river we could find ways to improve spawning habitat and fish cover.Would you rather spend a few weekends helping the DNR revive lost spawning areas or sit on the couch and wait until it is legal to fish again.
My opinion there must be a clear definition of the problem before we can make any changes to repair it.