Mississippi River Walleye & Sauger Slot Limit?

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When WI lowers the ridiculous limit of 25 flatheads per day for it’s anglers, I would be more than happy to support a change for the better in regards to walleye and saugers.

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I agree that’s a ridiculous limit, but what does it have to do with walleyes and saugers!?!?!

On my comments below, I’m not responding to you specifically, Brian, but the larger group in general.

I keep reading that we don’t need a change but that releasing big fish helps the fishery. WTF? I’ve seen the same people defend someone who kills big fish because they’re “doing what is their right under the law” … even though they’d apparently agree that it would have been better for the fishery to have released it/them.

I’m surprised and disappointed by some of the comments here. If releasing big fish is a good thing for our resource, it should be mandated. Nobody should be allowed to keep a live well full of big fish! One fish over 28″ in a lifetime would be a good slot limit in my opinion, but I’d settle for one in a day. 30″ would be even better.

You think Evert’s gets busy now when the weather cooperates? 26″ is downright easy on pool 2 and has been for years. I think the growth potential is limited on P2 relative to P4. You force everyone to release every fish over 20″ on P4 and I think you’d see P2 style fishing (lots of big fish) but with even bigger fish. If a 27-28″ fish on P4 becomes as common as 25-26″ is on P2, Dean will get even less sleep.

I think closing the season or even making it total C&R would be a serious mistake. The research shows, as has been stated, that spring fishing doesn’t hurt P4. The anecdotal evidence, which has not been researched, is that there are more big fish available now that C&R of big ones has become more popular. The study does not say that we can’t change the quality of the fishery by keeping fish. It only says we don’t hurt the overall population. Big, big difference there. And I do mean big, as in 10# walleye kind of big.

Regarding tournaments, look to Muskie tourneys for C&R models. Better for the fish and you don’t have to worry about size limits. Yes, it would take some getting used to but I believe C&R tourneys are ultimately better for everyone.

I’m out the door to Evert’s to enjoy one of the best fisheries around.

Good grief! Can you imagine how boring it would end up being if all we had to look at was photo after photo after photo of nothing but 27″ and larger fish? About the same as looking at photo after photo after photo of 50lb plus flat heads.
ok, I’ll shut up now

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I’ll shut up now

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I agree…but what does that have to do with walleyes and saugers?

>>A Catfish Guy Living in a Walleye World.

I answered NO !!!!!!

Obviously Pool 4 and the upper Mississippi River are phenomenal fisheries and they did NOT get that way from the DNR not knowing what they are doing, so far the DNR and the currently imposed fishing rules and regs are not hurting these fisheries in any manner and if they were I am sure the DNR would change it.

If it’s not broken don’t fix it

I do not think pool 4 is “broke” therefore it doesn’t need fixing. I can not comment on the other pools.

If you really want to do something worthwhile on Pool #4 , tell the city fathers of Red Wing to put in a launch that can accomodate high water conditions away from potential “iced in areas” . so fisherman can gain access to the river and actually bring revenue to your city businesses.Very poor planning to say the least. (Disgruntled)

I spent eight hours in the Prescott area. We saw many 20″ and over fish caught during that time. Most boats landed at least one over 20″. Not one went in a livewell, not one. What does that tell you? Sportsmen are taking care of it and are learning the joy of catch and release. Now, even if one was kept, I don’t believe it would hurt the fishery. That’s not the case though, all were released. I’m not talking one or two here folks, probably more than 15 piggies were caught in that time and all swam away. I was very happy to see it. Even a father/daughter team put an over 20″ back, and his daughter caught it!!.

I’ll agree with Turk, it’s not broke, why try to fix it. If you want a fishery where you are going to pull out a 10 lb fish on every other catch, that’s just not gonna happen. But you sure have a great shot on the river.

impose a 1 fish over 20″ rule daily, and leave the 15″ minimum for walleyes, and no minimum for saugers alone. and a four fish daily limit.

then people can still keep plenty to eat, fish year round, and be happy.

I am not for or against a slot limit. BUT it would cut down on people putting Big Walleyes in their live wells and leaving them in there all day, Just to take pictures of them at the end of the day and then releasing them. I believe its illegal all ready I am by know means pointing out any IDO memebers I know of. But I see the same person on lakestate doing it all the time. Sorry if I got of topic, but people doing the above action pisses me off. How many big fish pics do certain people need anyway. JMHO

Here’s a question I should have asked before posting the first time: if you agree that releasing big fish is good for the fishery, why wouldn’t you support a slot limit? One trophy can still be kept under most slot limits, so I’d assume anything on the river would be the same. What am I missing? Is it about tournaments? I can’t think of anything else unless you think people should be able to keep and eat limits of big fish.

Couldn’t tournaments adapt and continue with slot limits? If not, is keeping Pool 4 as an attractive tournament venue more important than improving the fishery? Why?

Pool 4 defnintly isn’t broke, but could it be even better? I think it could.

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I would like to see a closed season on P4,say March 1st to April 15th.Then the spawning females wouldn’t get all stressed out.

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I second this all the way! Not only for pool 4 but all pools!

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Everts, Dean and likely all the shops in Red Wing would be closed within a year.

At least we’d still have Walmart for all our bait and tackle needs.

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Thanks for biting.Made my day!!

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One trophy can still be kept under most slot limits,

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I don’t care how big they are, two walleye cheeks don’t make a meal.

Herein lies the problem with a slot and why the 15 inch rule was originally put into place.

Here is my backround with pool #4 in particular. I was born in Lake City my dad and grandfather had an ice house and were also avid open water fishermen. When I was younger I would tag along on fishing adventures. In the late 1960s it was common to catch alot of quality fish eaters to 2-2.5 lbs.

In the early 1970s the sate of Wisconsin decided it would be ok to have the season 0pen year around and Minnesota had a closed season for a year or 2 and then they followed suit and opened it year round because minnesota businesses werent making any money.

All that happened was that the quality 2-2.5 pound fish disappeared we were getting alot of 12-13 inch fish all winter in our fish house this wwas back in the day when lake pepin had 100-200 fish houses all over before the warm water discharge at prarie island.

In the 1980s I fished ou of Everts quite a bit in Febuary and March and you had a lot of people from all over the midwest that came up and raped the resource. You ask what do I mean by raped the resource. There were people that would keep limits of walleyes and sauger that were 12 inches or less, there were 8-10 pound walleye carcases laying on shore in front of Everts. There were big filleted carcases floating in front of Everts.

Once the 15 inch rule was imposed the quality of fish came back. Now once again we can catch quality fish year round. For the amount of pressure that this pool faces it is an incredible fishery yes it has ups and downs, what fishery doesnt.

My point being is if you put a slot in place you will have the fish hogs back and there wont be anything left on the front end for the future.

As far as silting of some of the the pools yes this is happening. I know 1st hand pool 5 has had some real issues of this happening, Prichards a very popular place to tip up fish Northerns has silted in, you would be hard pressed to find 12-18 inches of water now, there used to be 3-4 feet. Alot changed when the corp of engineers did some dredging and built some Islands and did some work around the Weaver Bottoms. My vote leave pool #4 ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Due to all not being equal, this could be done(slot limits) on a pool by pool basis-more than likely helping some pools. Pepin is a totally different animal than the rest of the river. Pool 2 is small and could never handle the pressure-so it makes sense to do what they did and they have a little gem in the process. On a good note, more big fish than ever are being released on pool 4 and the day of the fish monger is slowly receding-younger generations are surprisingly more proactive with fishing conservation and older generations still feel like they have to feed the neighborhood, sticking a knife into any fish they catch. I would like the DNR fisheries opinion on how many fish (females) they project NEVER even see a lure during the spawn on pool 4-bet that number is much, much higher than people would ever realize as MOST of the fish never even see the dam, lower diamond, WI sand, pigs point, Katrina, Hay Creek, Vermillion, etc.

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I don’t care how big they are, two walleye cheeks don’t make a meal.

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I didn’t know you were allowed in here…

Doc, you need to be careful. You’ll be seeing fishermen in black suits and copters.

I for one would like to see a min. size limit on the sauger but wouldn’t care for a slot on the walleyes. Reason I say that is I wouldn’t travel 6 hours to fish a slot river I would instead stay back home where we already have the slot. I make a few trips to SD to shoot pheasants and I make a few trips to MN/WI to bring home walleye. Believe me, I don’t hurt the numbers any

I think each pool needs to be evaluated individually. Pool 4 is one of a kind. I was fishing pool 4 pre-nuke [late 60’s] and can say that the fishery, as it is today, is light years ahead of that earlier era. The quality of the fish is better and the size is better. Sa for a need to fix pool 4 for anything….nada. The dnr supports this.

One super sized issue that hasn’t been mentioned is the need to have Minnesota and Wisconsin agree on any suggested. That, in and of itself, would put any suggested fix out in the future about twenty years.

Pool 5 is another outstanding pool that has gotten nothing but better since the 60’s. I don’t see a need for any “fix” there either.

In lieu of creating a negative economic impact on some very fine establishments…Everts comes to mind right off….I think that the suggestion of continued education on sites like this id the most beneficial type of fix. Next in line would be setting yourself as a role model to others.

Personally I’d rather eat a sauger than a walleye. Unless a wldo gets hooked deep and is going to be gull food, I am reluctant to keep any and if I do its going to be less than 17 inches in length.

Again….I feel that the big river has a uniqueness woven into each pool. Nowhere on the river in this region is there a “one size fits all” fix for anything, but pool 4 is one that fixes itself as long as people don’t try to make it into something it isn’t pre-destined to be.

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One super sized issue that hasn’t been mentioned is the need to have Minnesota and Wisconsin agree on any suggested. That, in and of itself, would put any suggested fix out in the future about twenty years.

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That Tom is why I was referencing the 25 catfish limit…and there was another post that talked about WI doing it’s own thing pertaining to the open all year walleye season.

I’m not as smart as all the arm chair biologist we have here, but I do know that nothing will change unless it’s the WI DNR’s idea.

Sorry, that rant didn’t have anything to do with walleyes or saugers either.

Speaking for pool 4 – Why fix something that aint broke? Try my neck of the woods and tell me what good the slot has done for Lake Wissota…Not much good. I here many success stories with slot limits. What is the issue here on my home lake?

I am very surprised to see this thread. I have not read one post in years that Pool 4 is in trouble or decline. As stated earlier, Pool 4 is not broken, let’s not ‘fix’ it.

ET