Spring Fishing When Walleye ARE SPAWNING

O.K. Hang on here! Please do NOT even think about keeping fish or maybe better do not fish, catch, and release when the walleye spawning season starts in April or whenever. A couple of weeks not fishing and catching fish that spit their spawn when netting cannot be good for the future. I know that I have posted this year in and year out. However, when you see fish being netted and “puking” spawn” and then some members of this site say it does not make a difference are also in denial. Just like alcohol abuse! Wow! This stance should raise a few replys!

I am not a paid “pro” walleye angler BUT….The season here on my part of the river never closes. I have caught walleyes in EVERY month of the year. I have never caught one that was “spewing” eggs. To the best of my knowledge the majority of females of most fish species do not eat while on the bed once they begin laying their eggs. They will strike at anything that invades the bed, but not to eat it, more to protect the bed. They will however really put on the feed bag once they are done laying eggs and have left the nest.
But, if I ever do catch a walleye that is ‘spewing” eggs, I will stop fishing for them provided I am not in a tournament. The next question is..is it wrong to keep fishing them if its for a tourney?

Sir–I whole hearted agree with your stance and have advicated this to my friends who are over killing babies as we speak 3-8pounders to the knife–WHY–in Iowa killing hen pheasants is not legal–question what is the differance.
snagged

come on now how many fish have you caught like that 1 or a 1000 it don’t seem to be hurting the river

Dude, there’s a big old tree someplace in Oregon just waiting for you to wrap your arms around it.

If you’re lucky, maybe there’s a scantily clad hippie-chick shacking up in some of the upper branches with a bowl of granola to keep you company…

Chill out man. Do you really think that many people are out there destroying the fishery during the spring? In some places along the river there are winter closures, because studies suggested there was a problem. I respect the laws and creel limits, but I have yet to see hordes of people out on the river harvesting walleye caviar. What about the DNR egg strippers? Don’t they inadvertently stress and kill fish too? Right during the spawn? What about commercial carp and buffalo netters? How many drowned walleye do they “murder” while just trying to make a living? Do you go out at night and brave the flatheads and turtles to knife their nets to save the walleye from certain destruction and anihilation?

I’m tellin ya, there’s a tree in Oregon needing someone just like you…

Lol at Joe

You guys must be fishing a different river than me or a whole heck of a lot better fisherman than I because I just don’t catch very many pre-spawn females actively dropping eggs. I do catch more flabby-bellied post-spawners with remnant eggs dribbling from their vent but again, not many.

If the loss of spawn while a fish is being caught is a problem I’ll eat my hat.

Snagged, good try, we will all be dead by the time they figure it out. The dam Dam area needs to be closed until May 1st. Giving the females and males ample time to get it on and get it done. There is plenty of fish for the meat hunters downstream but that’s to much work. I know a few meat hunters who think nothing of chopping heads off 4-5 lbs fish throwing the eggs in the trash and bragging to anybody that will listen. Don’t forget to urine on that tree……….

Tell you what guys – throw back everything over 20 and the discussion ends. This is why – it doesn’t matter whether I caught that 17″ fish the day before it spawns or the day after it did last year – it is a dead fish and not gonna spawn. That said if it is of edible length and you want to eat fish then take it home and eat it – it is figured into the limits and at least here the limit has been dropped from a saugy/wally combo of 10 to 6… so pressure has been reduced. This is a RENEWABLE resource. No the fish don’t pull off a great spawn every year – they don’t have to to sustain their populations or they would’ve disappeared with the dodo birds. Harvesting some for food is not the end of the world… just like the lays potato chips commercial said a few years back – they’ll make more. Chuckles

I agree with the 20 and over goes back. In the past few years I have seen alot more of these fish being put back. Under 20 yum, yum. I do not believe for a minute I am hurting the walleye population with this practice. As far as pissing on a tree…you have issues dude

It is a good thing that Pool 4 does not get much fishing pressure this time of year. Sure 2-3 boats wont impact the spawn much, but if there were 10-20 out there each day I dont think that their would be any decent fishing in the future.

Their just isnt enough water there or places to spawn away from the fisherman for the fishery to survive.

Maybe we should have permits like they do in the BWCA so that there will be fish there for years to come.

I really don’t know what to think about fishing walleye during the spawn. I have never had a walleye lose eggs in the boat but did have a large female sauger lose eggs in the livewell during a tournament. Had she not lost some of her eggs we may have won the tournament as we were less than 3 ounces out of first place.

Does fishing during the spawn create undue stress on the fish? I don’t know. I have heard of tournaments set up in conjunction with the spawn so that eggs can be stripped from the females. I have also heard of radio tagged females that are caught every year for their eggs and then released to be caught again the next year. If you release all walleye over 20″ are you still putting undue stress on the fish? Down on this stretch of the river all fish between 20″ and 27″ have to be immediately released anyway.

Eyehunter

This is like a “B” movie I saw once. I think it was called “Attack of the Trolls”

Here is a link that might interest you.

http://www.mississippiwalleye.com/Projects/default.htm They state as part of the club’s fish restoration program holding tournaments in conjunction WITH the spawn. I do not know if they have ever actually stripped any females for eggs but it is listed as one of their objectives.

Eyehunter

Mackeral I must commend you on your persistance to an issue that is obviously important to you, but the truth is your facts are just wrong. why don’t you talk to a fisheries biologist and read the studies. you may get a whole new outlook on the issue.

Fishaholic – you wrote

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To the best of my knowledge the majority of females of most fish species do not eat while on the bed once they begin laying their eggs.

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Just to clarify that statement. Walleye do not spawn on “Beds”. Walleye are “Broadcast” spawners.

-J.

I may be the minority, but I have a thing for Hippie Chicks. Especially those that are scantily clad!

the more scantily clad the better?!?! i believe “more scantily clad” is an oxymoron, is it not?

I’ve never caught a walleye that spewed eggs–in my experience the walleye stop biting when they are actually spawning.

I throw all walleye over 19″ back, even in waters where there is little or no natural reproduction. On the Iowa sections of the Mississippi, there is no harvest allowed of walleye between 20″ and 27″, which I support 100%. Whether you take a 20″ fish in April, July, or November, it is not going to spawn again if you don’t release it.

The Minnesota sections of the river have a 15″ minimum on walleye, which is designed to reduce the harvest of fish in highly vulnerable populations before they reach sexual maturity. That is a good start, but I would like to see a 20-27″ slot limit added to that. I have not asked the MDNR about this, but I am guessing that protecting spawning-size females is less important in Minnesota, which has a lot of great in-land walleye water, than in Iowa, which does not.

No Vikefan – not all pools in Iowa are the same – there is no upper slot in Iowa at G’burg or Lynxville – the only size limit there is walleyes must be over 15″.

There is a lot better walleye fishing on the inland streams than you might guess… Chuckles

Thanks for clarifying…but you get my point.

Chuckles,

There is very poor natural reproduction on Iowa’s inland streams, and most of its lakes, and thus less reason to protect spawning-size females on those waters. Poor spawning success is due to poor water quality, and a lack of adequate habitat for any succesful walleye hatchlings to grow in. This is due to stream channelization, draining of backwater areas, and increased siltation from agriculture.

The walleye populations on in-land rivers rely on stocking by the DNR, which has in recent years shifted from a largely unsuccesful program of stocking fry, to a far more succesful program emphasizing stocking fingerlings 2″ or longer.

Thus, whether an angler releases a 20″ walleye or not, it will not make any difference to the population as a whole in most in-land Iowa waters. I release them anyway, so that they can grow larger for other people to catch.

Agree with all you stated – but that wasn’t what I refered to – I just said there is better walleye FISHING in the inland waters than what you think. I didn’t say anything about the spawning and subsequent survival of walleye hatchlings.

The reason that the upper slots weren’t added north of Dubuque is that Wisconsin has a Sportsmans Congress that has to suggest any law changes concerning fish or game before their legislature enacts it. The feeling was that WI Sportsmans Con. would not even come close to going along with the change – so it wasn’t attempted by Iowa any farther north – since the laws must be the same for these limits and slots on both sides of the river… to avoid an enforcement nightmare for the Conservation Officers involved.
Chuckles

The only stretch of river that the Wisconsin DNR would agree to close in conjunction with Iowa is below Lock & Dam 11 at Dubuque down to the Hwy 151/61 bridge. This is only about a 2 mile stretch of the river bordering Wisconsin. The Wisconsin/Illinois state line is about a half mile below the bridge. Iowa extended their closed tailwater area this past winter another mile down to the railroad bridge. I do not know if Wisconsin extended their closed area to the state line or not. I have to believe that the 3 closed tailwater areas below dams 11,12 & 13 are helping to boost the sauger population in these 3 pools. From what I understand the main reason for the closed tailwater areas is to protect the small fish brought up out of the deep water and then released as many of these fish do not survive. I don’t think they closed these areas to protect the spawn as they are open for fishing on March 16th which is well before the spawn. I only wish that Wisconsin had agreed to close the tailwater below Guttenberg as well. The fish numbers just have seemed down in pool 11 the past few years compared to pools 12, 13 & 14.

Eyehunter

Dave

The thing that you need to understand is that April is not the peak harvest month on the river (I’m speaking about Pool 4 specifically and not the entire river where peak harvest months may vary) for walleyes… neither is March. It’s May – June. So if you want to save the most fish in the shortest amount of time, we’d need to close the season right around the inland opener… and who’s going to go for that?

Call the Lake City DNR if you’d like some data to back up the harvets numbers. Everyone is always under the impression that the walleyes get “slaughtered” below the dams in the spring but the numbers point to other time periods having more of an impact. Look to the DNR telemetry study that shows that that many / most fish never even get near the dam in the spring and spawn elsewhere.

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It is a good thing that Pool 4 does not get much fishing pressure this time of year. Sure 2-3 boats wont impact the spawn much, but if there were 10-20 out there each day I dont think that their would be any decent fishing in the future.

Their just isnt enough water there or places to spawn away from the fisherman for the fishery to survive.

Maybe we should have permits like they do in the BWCA so that there will be fish there for years to come.

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Add me to the minority list with Beno. Because I am a minority myself (one eyed left hander) I should get to pick two hippy chicks from the tree tops, its only right.

Question: Does Wisconsin have a slot limit for walleye on the Mississippi that I am not aware of? All this talk has got me thinking. I would not keep them that large anyway, just wondering. I have not seen any regualtions stating this, I have also never seen regs stating that fishing was closed below the Dubuque dam, just took everones word and excepted the fact. Thanks for the help.

Between MN & WI the regs place a 15″ minimum on walleyes with a limit of 6/day. There is no “slot” in place until you get further south.

Dudes:

I got nothing against the hippie chicks. If you re-read my post, you’ll note that I included the phrase “If you’re lucky…” That means just what it says, if he’s lucky, there’s a scantily clad hippie chick in the tree to keep him company…

I think just about any chicks are cool…

The only area that Wisconsin enforces the 20″ to 27″ protected slot limit is the 2-1/2 miles below Lock & Dam 11 to the Wisconsin/Illinois State line. If you have fished at Dubuque or across the river by O’Leary’s lake in Wisconsin the regulations regarding the closed areas and the protected slot are posted on yellow signs in several areas. There is no protected slot limit above lock and dam 11.

Eyehunter