May and June walleye closure on Pool 4

Here’s an idea for those that would like to save walleyes for the spawn, especially the females. Forget about March and April. These aren’t high harvest months for walleye. Plus, these are the months when people can readily tell a male from a female and release the females if they choose.

After the spawn and through the summer the males and females become hard to tell apart. May and June also happen to consistently be the two high walleye harvest months for Pool 4. These kept fish don’t get a chance to spawn the following spring.

A May and June closure would decrease harvest, potentially allowing increased spawner stocks. And I think this is what those who’d like to reduce the spring season at this time would like to accomplish. The early summer closure just has more biological sense to it.

I think you pose a rhetorical question such as “What came first? The Chicken or the Egg” I say the egg, so let the fish lay them in March and April.

My 2 cents……

Jon J.

Yep I’m sure those PWT, MWC, RCL, and ARM guys would be all over that closure…..LOL

I’d still like to see some credible data showing evidance that the system is being over fished. I’m not saying there isn’t room for special regulations during the spawn but they need to be chosen on a basis of need. I personally do not consider “the fishing was better 15 years ago” as credible data. I want to see actual creel survey results and shocking results.My belief is the DNR is under a lot of pressure from sportsman as well as sporting goods stores to keep a harvestable population of walleye and sauger. Allowing a decrease from over harvest would be very hard on the business’s that rely on sportsman dollars. There is little doubt we all want a better fishery from year to year but it has do be done based on hard data rather than what we remember last year being like. Wisconsin has learned a hard lesson in that each body of water has to be managed on its own merits rather than what the next body of water has done. The river is no different in my opinion.

Riveratt…. I hear ya… but I think the presumption here is not that the fishing is bad right now… but that we are at this momment seeing an unprecedented run at the pool 4 fishery…. the population is great.. I would think nearly impossible to improve at this momment… but what if intelligent and increasing pressure changes that? do we want to be looking at the hard data of the population crash.. going…. yep.. guess we should have acted there back in 2003… oh well… guess it will recover in a few years….. (maybe)…..
its hard to take action based on hypothetical… but we may wish we had….. we may see the day where we all agree that action should have been taken… and if we can protect the fishery now then why not? I dont think we are taking food from starving families mouths…. I think it has come to this… this is a resource for entertainment… not subsistance…. its value is very high as an entertainment attraction… and not so high as food….. why should we risk this precious resource just for food? why not protect now and hope to improve or maintain what we have??

As always you raise a good point. But I also wonder how cyclic the fish population is regardless of fishing pressure. What I mean is the rise and fall of the population just by natural causes like upland game birds experience. The last thing I’d want is to empty the river of fish,but the idea of not keeping fish to eat isn’t much better. There was a day when a person could take a few bass home to eat if he so chose,and now that same action could result in a serious beating at the ramp. I’m not going to b/s anyone here,I eat walleye. I fish to eat walleye. But I also practice moderation and sensible harvest. To anyone that cannot accept those terms I’m sorry. I also see a growing trend from walleye fisherman looking down on other walleye fisherman for keeping subjective stringers. Subjective as in too many,too big,too early. There are a lot of variables that determine what each of us feel is ok to keep even though the general acceptable rule is about the same for everyone.
I’m not sure whats worse. Not having walleyes for my son to catch or telling him he can catch a couple from time to time but they are off limits to keep. I still feel we need to have better information to determine what type of restrictions may be needed. Is there a way we can get together to work with fisheries managers to be sure that they are using up to date information to magage this awesome resource?
Please don’t anyone take my posts as argumentative. I’m simply trying to add an often over looked point of view on this subject.

This subject is realy filled with emotion,past memories,good DNR data,and present results.What I would like to say is pool 4 fisherman should fish down on pool 11 or12 right after you have fished up there for awhile.Same river same time frame. Just one time.Believe me I have seen the good and the terrible. I can only control what goes on in my boat but that doesn’t mean that I like everything that I see going on either.I can’t change anything but i do feel better after I put in my 2cents worth

Hi Riveratt….
the beauty of this forum is that it allows us to present our opinions… as with anything else some will agree, some wont….. in this issue, as with many its difficult to argue as to who is right or who is wrong…. but in my opinion we are well into a new age of fishing…. with the trend being that the population of fish is for sport and not food…. you are correct in bringing up bass… due to pressure from bass anglers this population has enjoyed a great comeback… as has the musky….. with these as examples its difficult to think that similar measures wont be taken with every species of fish that enjoys considerable popularity/pressure…. walleyes ARE great to eat…. though I prefer sunfish….. but Ive eaten my share of ‘eyes still I think the catch and release trend will be relentless and that eventually nearly every fish species will be mostly a sport resource….. there is just too much money at stake for it to end any other way….. Im sure it will always be possible to keep some fish to consume… but Im equally sure it will be a limited thing…. and I think this is a good thing…..
lets face it… many of us have invested considerable time, effort and money to hone our walleye catching skills…. its way past being simply a food gathering excersize… its a passion… and therefore the clash of venues is inevitable, bioligical data or not… those who just want to enjoy the sport vs those who think its mostly about food…..
I have kids too.. and I AM sure whats worse, and thats not having walleyes to catch, or anything else.. and have fishing become a thing of the past….. my boys totally embraced catch and release from the start… lets face it, when push comes to shove most kids are not into killing.. they want to keep the fish because its fascinating… but take some pix and tell them they will catch the same one again but bigger… and also its sons and daughters and the kids become nearly rabid about catch and release…. my kids have been known to gently hassle other anglers about keeping fish.. they feel very strongly about it…. it may be crazy but I favor putting total protection on a number of waters…. sure nature has its cycles… its natures way… but its been shown again and again that anglers do impact fish populations….. if not then why do they care how many pounds are removed from Mille Lacs?
I really dont think anyone here is going to verbally or physically beat anyone for keeping fish….. right now its the law…. but I think there is a growing wave of people who want to protect the resource they love and are willing to give up all or part of their harvest to do it…. is this a bad thing? how can it be??

good discussion, we each have to do what we think is right. there is no one in the DNR currently who thinks that the Miss R. is in any type of trouble at all. and this topic comes up often, and there is nothing that we can say to them to make them change their minds. they do look into alot of livewells and they do see what is leaving the river. they have done studies, they are not being blind or subborn. and that is life on the river. if it wasn’t so late, it’d keep going, but can’t for now. Release all fish til you want to enjoy a fresh meal, then keep a couple males. see you on the water. Jack.

I guess there are no wrong answers here. I would rather see our DNR manage on good biological and sceintific data. Right now this issue is nothing more than a social issue. The catch and release effort was never legislated, it has been evolving for the last 25 years. And I beleive it will continue to grow in popularity. If we start with slot limits and decrease daily bag limits maybe we end up with a fishery like Millac {which I hear no one is happy with right now}. Will this effect the economy of the river you bet. I think you’ll see the booming guide business go bye bye, and you can kiss the tournaments goodbye. Cause they aint gonna come if they can’t keep. And just how many walleye can this system produce? What effect will an over population of walleye have on the rest of the game fish in the system? This is just my oppinion, and as I said there are no wrong answers here. One way or another the majority will dictate the outcome of this debate. Thanks Ken.

well Bait Caster, i wouldn’t say everyone is upset with the millac situation right now. the people that are upset are the ones that want to keep fish. mainly the locals and some others that live on the lake that can’t even go out and catch a few fish for a meal once and a while. i fished there a couple times last summer and did fantastic for size and numbers of fish. no keeper sized, which is fine. if i really want to keep fish i’d go somewhere that i could, like the Mississippi. thats the great thing about it. i can go fish the river any time i want and catch a few to bring home, but if i want to catch some true hogs i can go to millacs. i really don’t think anything needs to be changed.

the reason why a May and June walleye closure on the river wouldn’t work is for the same reason somone mentioned earlier. these are the 2 bussiest months. these are the two monthes that people really want be out fishing and catch and keep fish. it doesn’t make sense to me to not allow anyone to keep fish at the time when they have the opportunity to fish for them. at least i thought it made sense .

i would also like to say that we can’t wait for the DNR to make any kind of change in the regs. they’ve been watching the waterfowl pop. plummit for the last decade or so and have done a thing about it. it seems obvious to me that when the resource starts heading south that you put some kind of restrictions on it. lower the bag limits, change the shooting times, shorten the season. do something. don’t just sit back and watch it dissapear. this is what i don’t want to see happen to the river fishing. but it inavitably will, unless some one takes the inniatitive to stop it.

i agree that something should be done, and soon, but i don’t think it needs to be completely catch and realese for any period of time. i think that some kind of slot limit would be the way to go:).

Not being able to keep any fish during May and June would be an extremely tough sell as mentioned above. Also I don’t forsee the states being able to agree on that drastic of rule change. I do see the possiblity of reduced harvest and slot limits. I don’t think that the changes in regulations in Canada has had a negative effect on the fishing/tourism industry there. On the contrary the increased fishing potential and the long term stability of the population has probably help things there. One word of caution however is that no matter how well informed the DNR is and what type of scientific research they utilize there are mistakes. In today’s news the DNR admitted that they over estimated the deer population in the eradiacation zone by as much as 10,000 or more animals. Fish would be just as difficult to get a good handle on the population. I would think that every effort would be made to allow selective harvest and most if not all sportman would understand a person’s right and priveledge to take some home to eat.

I have great respect for the DNR, heck… I used to work for them, and I was educated with a fisheries degree….. they do indeed try and do what they think is best… but they are often handicapped by politics…. it was well said when written above that in the end the majority will have their say.. and really thats what I think too….. its the way it will be… just a fact of life…. and what Im saying is that the catch and release ethic is increasing…. and its because of dedicated anglers who have invested their time and money into the sport and who want the resource to be ALL it can be….. as was also mentioned above, did Canada loose revenue when the closed reigns on the fishery? they DO allow some fish to eat in most cases… and I say thats good…. I fish pool 2 a lot… and others that fish it frequently enjoy the tug of trophy class fish on the ends of their lines… there isnt one of us that thinks that it would be the same if not for total catch and release….. our fisheries peoples mission is to sustain a fishery that is capable of making everyone happy….. which is to say they are willing to allow the removal of a significant portion of the population and hope that recruitment covers it…. what if it does not? we cant predict how many fish will be caught this year…. we cant predict the affect of more and great fishing pressure…. we can only see the results… by the time we have hard data the damage is already done…… I still maintain that this resource should not be viewed mainly for its food potential… but for its sport…. the value of the sport is way greater than the food…… its been proven time and again….
good debate and great points everyone….