For Minnesota River Anglers

A few fellow Minnesota River angler and I are starting a river keepers program.What we are going to try to accomplish is to educate fellow river anglers on the affects of over harvest on our river for all species, to promote selective harvest,and to keep our river clean for others and ourselves to enjoy.This river is a wonderfull natural reproducing resource and we need to preserve its beauty and fishery.We are looking for people who fish the river from the Miss.all the way to the head waters.We are in planning stages and are welcoming any suggestions.We do not intend to become a watchdog organization just freindly fisherman promoting good fishing ethics.If you are interested in this program or have ideas I would like to hear from you. We plan to have a date set for a meeting in a couple of months for all those interested in attending.

What about printing some flyers up explaining your idea which I think is great, mabe you could talk to the local bait shops and see if you could leave them their? Maybe contact the DNR or try and find out an average of how many people go down on a weekend and give some data on how many pounds of fish are taken then show total nunber a year, also explain the size vs spawning vs fry = how many fish. It does get abused down there I am basically a catch and release I think in the last 3 years I have kept 6 fish.

Kirt

protect the big flatheads!!!!! I go flathead fishing down there and everytime I see ( out of state anglers mostly) taking huge catfish and chopping them……. 30, 40 + pds …. it is crazy…… go to a slot limit….. or something…….

Hey Fishhead once you guys get organized let me know and I know walleye searchers would love to have you come and speak at one of there meetings. also let me know when you decide to have this meeting I would like to come and see what everyone has to say.

Nate Cadwell

This river really does get abused.There is a mentality that no one cares about it so some people break the laws and treat it with disrespect.I have seen boats that fish every day take limits and limits of walleye.I have also seen stringers of large flatheads headed for the fillet board.One guy actually boated up and showed me a boat full of channels that he had caught that day and started bragging about it.It is out of hand!

The original member was once an emplyee of the DNR and has contacted them.They would be willing to help with sighns at access points.

We have discussed flyers and need others all up and down the river to hand them out when we get them printed.

It will take a while to get to the point where we are organized enough to take actions but we fully intend to.

Thank you for the ideas and please keep them coming.I will post the meeting date when it is decided.If you think you would attend please let me know.The more people involved the more successfull we will be.

I heard on KFAN Outdoors the DNR is looking to set a limit of 5 with 2 over 24″.

Last year the DNR came to a Walleye Searchers club meeting and were asked many questions about Mississippi pool 4 fishing ethics dealing with selective harvest, catch & release, slots, tournaments, keeping smaller fish compared to bigger fish, keeping trophy hawgs, etc. At that time it was very interesting to hear the DNR say that anything we could do to change the way we fish was insignificant compared to the silt washing down from the Minnesota river into the Mississippi. This will, eventually do the most harm to our river system.

If the DNR is correctly predicting this future then maybe “soil conversation” in central Minnesota is what should be our primary concern. The DRN is coming again to the Walleye Searchers Feb 5th meeting. It will be interesting to hear if they still think this is our number #1 problem with the Mississippi from pool 2 on down through southern Minnesota.

I am in total support of your statement about “keeping the Minnesota River clean”, or any body of water clean.

Dave Gulczinski

What we are working on now is an agenda.We are working on a mission statement and we could use any information on problems facing the Minnesota River.I like that the Miss.guys are interested in this also.We all know where the Minnesota flows and the enviromental problems facing the MN also face the Miss.I know of the siltation problem.I know that this destroys spawning habitat thus reducing the population of walleye and other species.If any one can help out with links to articles on this it would be greatly appreciated.We would also like any information on fisheries studies pertaining to natural reproduction and the effects of harvest on various sizes of fish .Most guys know this information but the more detailed the information we share the more compelling it would be in print. I know I could search the web for afew days and find this information but all involved at this point work for a living and any shorcuts would really help.Plus it would be good to see several studies of articles on these subjects.Any help would be appreciated.

I would also like to attend a Walleye searchers meeting just to observe.I have a long way to go before speaking at one but it may help us by getting an example of a structured meeting.As of now we have no structure and are at most half a dozen guys with a few ideas in our heads talking to each from our boats on the river and at the landing.

Thanks

fishhead

There is a guy that does something similar to what you are talking about out of the quad cities area. He has been on TV for it and there was an article in a conservation magazine on his efforts to clean up the miss. Glad to hear more people are interested in helping to maintain our environment.