Slots,closings, limits working?

Other than the inconvenience does this seem to be making a difference in fishing quality,(size/quantity) yet. I would have to say yes at Bellevue…seem to catch more fish in the 23-28 inch range many days than any other size. What are the rest of your takes on the it. Indian here,(ME), still says leave it alone and let nature and use control themselves, but I might be rethinking it …Lake of the Woods , St. Louis River, Petenwell Flowage, Bellevue, and pool 9(home pool), are my favorites. All but pool 9 have restrictions other than minimum length. Big thumbs up for all except Petenwell… don’t know why but it seems to be quite a bit worse in slot size fish.. Tons of shorties and almost none over the slot and less every season legal to 20 inches.. I know a lot of us as fishermen and guides over there keep very few fish,( and some keep everything), and it’s still declining??? Again what’s everyone elses take on the slots and closings.

I really think the size has increased at Bellvue and talking to others last year on the water they seemed to agree also. Their reasoning was they couldn’t believe the size of the fish they were catching. I also had good luck last year the week after it opened and caught 5 walleyes and they all were between 22-25 inches and weighed about 5 lbs. Those fish may be 6-7 lbs this year hopefully.
On the other side of this topic there are several fisherman who don’t like the slot and closing of the dams because they say the fish are all taken out of the holes anyway two weeks after it opens back up. Good point also I think. We will never have a fishery like Redwing but decreasing the limit to 6 and adding slot limits can olny better the fishing in Iowa.

I do believe the slot limit is working in pools 11,12, 13 and on down the river. I spend much of my time on pool 12 as I live in DBQ and I noticed many, many more fish over 20″ this past year that I released. There were times when it became diffcult to find legal sized fish because they were either over 20″ or under 15″ but I still managed to get a few legals for the fryer. This year there should be an abundance of 15″ to 17″ fish as there seemed to be tons of 14-3/4″ fish out there last year. As far as the closed seasons on pools 11, 12 & 13 I think it is too-soon to tell. This is primarily to protect the saugers from being brought out of the deep water. This is the 3rd year of a minimum of 5 years that this has been in place. I do think the average size of the saugers below the DBQ dam has increased as well as the abundance of them but I don’t spend a great deal of time fishing below the dams so I don’t think I am a good gauge on the saugers. These closed areas open up this coming Thursday the 16th so I’m sure somebody will report soon. I do know that there are going to be more and more fat piggy trophy walleyes in these pools every year because of the slot and that is a very good thing. I thik the DNR said that these are minimum 5 year experiments but I wonder if they will ever lift them. Maybe John Pitlo is out there and he could shed some light on the timing. I am in favor of the slot limits and the closed areas except for the extended closed area at DBQ which I think should go back to the Hwy 151/61 bridge. I think it was overkill to extend the closed area in just one pool and not all 3 of them as there are deep holes all up and down the river. This is the only thing that really upset me and still does.

Eyehunter

I haven’t been in Iowa long enough to give a personal opinion on whether the various restrictions are working, although what other people tell me is that they are. I spoke to a a USFWS agent in Bellevue last fall, and he told me that the closed season seems to be helping the walleye and sauger populations.

Only been on one MN body of water with the slot…Rainy. Unquestionably, it is working there. The highest percentage of ‘eyes we caught were in the 19-24″ range. Just a blast

We had a couple of close calls over the 28″ top end, but neither quite made it. We had no trouble coming up with our limit of eaters close to the 17″ mark. Keep the slot going!

NWBuck

The reason behind the slot limit is that mortality is high. Lets let those fish that are old enouhg to spawn do their thing.

I have seen a very marked improvement in the numbers and quality of saugers I have landed in the last year. Last summer I boated more sauger in the 17-20″+ range than I’ve ever caught fishing near the dam in spring or fall. No question the regs are helping the sauger population.
I, like eyehunter, struggled some last year with catching any fish for the pan on some occasions, but caught more fish in the 22-26″ range than ever, by a long shot. I am sure that a portion of this is due to a very strong year class, but I am convinced the slot is allowing many more fish to reach true trophy size.
I had a very long talk with the same USFWS agent last summer, and let him know in no uncertain terms that I would love to see this slot at least extended beyond five years.
I am also hoping to talk with the fisheries biologist at the Cordova Nuclear Station after they perform their annual harvest of eggs. I am very interested to hear what their take on the slot is, and if they are seeing more very large fish in their shocking runs. They prefer 3-7# fish for the increased viability of eggs compared to the older, larger fish, but I am quite sure they also milk the larger females to include those genetics in their stocking efforts. I’ll make sure and post any info I can garner from these sources!

John, I know that they shock the brood fish down at Cordova out of the river. I was told that these were radio tagged fish that they were able to get every year. I think it was 3 years ago or so they said they were able to get like 6 or 7 of the 8 radio tagged fish that they had in the river. I realize that a few of these brood fish are probably caught during the course of the year and to be able to get 6 or 7 out of only 8 tagged fish is fantastic. From what I understood the largest of these females was less than 8Lbs. I know the Mississippi Walleye Club has been getting fish for stocking from Cordova for the past few years and this is where I had first heard about the radio tagged females. They just go out and find the fish and shock it, strip the eggs and release it again. They produce thousands of walleyes from just a few females which still amazes me. That alone makes a very strong case for releasing the females between 20″ and 27″ which the DNR said are the prime egg producers. The stocking seems to be working well as I have caught many of the double bar branded walleyes up here in pool 12 and many are now over 15 inches. One of my friends caught one double bar branded one up near Guttenburg this past Saturday. It was less than 12″ long which leads me to believe it was stocked just this last year. I know the Cordova plant brands the fish with a single bar as I have caught these up at Bellevue and down at Clinton. They have been gracious enough to allow the walleye club to take some of the fish out of the moat after they have reached their quota which made a great deal of sense as they always drain the moat at the end of the year killing off any walleye that were not removed for stocking. They drain the moat every year. Why I am not sure but I imagine it is to get the larger fish out so that they don’t feed on the fry.

The slot limit can’t hurt. My friends and I were practicing our own selective harvest long before it became law so there was not much adjustment for us. The major impact of course is more large fish in the system which I believe we are starting to see. The impact on overall population gains may not be that great however because weather conditions during the spawn, habitat, and barge traffic all have much greater importance when it comes to the size and survival of a year class. The biggest benefit of this law, I think is that it promotes the selective harvest/conservation concept. The closed seasons at Dubuque, Bellvue, and Clinton to Me are a totally different issue. The DNR cannot correct the real population problems created by siltation, barge traffic, and Corps of Engineers river channalization, so they come up with the closed season as a political solution for themselves. A recent article in Walleye Insider magazine quotes a study by scientists with the Tennessee Cooperative Fishery Research Unit. In their study, Saugers were taken from dephs ranging between 16 fow and 60 fow. Gas bladder overinflation was evident in 38 percent of all saugers landed, with 11 percent exhibiting severe overinflation. The biologists concluded that gas bladder overinflation wasn’t a serious problem for that fishery. Sauger bladders resist expansion and if quickly released can usually regain deph and repressurize. Other practical matters make this a dumb move. The total sauger population does not reside all winter in the tail waters. There are many other deep holes down river. The DNR has no real knowledge of what the population is or what per cent of population is impacted by winter fishing. Winter fishing is really the only time there is a measurable harvest of saugers in these areas. How many fishermen do you know who target and catch many sauger the rest of the year? With this season closed the resource is being wasted. Fish will be lost to natural causes that otherwise would have been harvested and enjoyed. The limit was changed to six saugers from ten previously. That along with better law inforcement to eliminate double dipping etc. should be all that is needed. I believe that the closed seasons are not based on good science and have had a negative impact on sportsmen and a segment of the economy.

I personally would like to see a slot on more lakes and rivers. I fish the lower Wisconsin River (Spring Green) alot and catch between 30 to 50 walleyes on a good day and 98% will be between 12″ to 17 7/8″ long. The limit is 18″ and over to keep and it seems that people have such a limited amount of fish to keep for the pan that they keep any thing over 18″. I think that a slot would take some of the pressure off the spawners and help put fry back into the system. It seems to work above the Sauk dam and lake Wisconsin as they seem to have quite a few in the 20″ to 26″ range caught every year. Now if i could just get every one else to see it my way (lol).

Lot’s of great information thanks.

Lawrence, I also cant understand Petenwell. It seems with the slot imposed (15 to 20″) would have by now produced many , many, many more 20 to 28″ fish. I have been seeing more 17 ot 18″ fish, but it shouldnt take 10 years to go from 18 to 22″. ?? . I wish a biologist familiar with the water would pipe in here to shed light on the problem. It seems to be working at different levels on different waters, but Petenwell just seems to be remaining the same , or even getting worse. Unfortunetly it is one of my favorite fisheries as it is relatively close to home……..Murf

i’ve been wondering why the dnr didn’t extend the closed season for another 2/3week if there concerned about killing the small saugers. to me all they’ve done now is let more and more saugers come to the tail waters to be taken/killed or whatever. i believe the slot sizes are a big plus for everyone, unless ur just a meat hunter. i agree politics seem to play a large role, but where doesn’t it? i don’t understand why they just stopped with these 3 dams.

3WAY, I believe the closing began on only three dams to use in a trial. If, in the DNR’s eyes, it is a success, it may be expanded up and down IL/IA border waters. I don’t believe you will see the closings expanded much, as spring and fall eye fishing is a too big of a draw for those who only fish eyes these times of year. They are, at least, reducing the amount of time that the spawners are harvested. Hopefully a good balance will be found!

thanks for the info john, i know nothing official just here say from anglers. i haven’t heard anything negative about it from any fisherman sportsman yet john. its only going to help for future fishing. i am not big on the tailwater bumper boats anyway. its fun and a learning experience looking down river. not always a success, but hey if everyone got there limit everytime out, our walleye/sauger populations/sizes would be in big trouble. hope to see u out on the pond soon john.