Walleye Tournement Fish Mortality

I heard recently from someone who I think would be in a good position to know that the mortality rate for walleye released after a tournement was very poor. If fact he said it was a little know fact that often the fish in bigger tournaments are not returned to the water because they are concerned about people seeing dead fish everywhere that the fish are taken and sold for use in fish markets.

Parts of this sound believable but other part bother me about it. Since I don’t know the 1st thing about Walleye and Walleye tournament I thought I’d ask the experts.

Most permits issued in Minnesota and Wisconsin for tournaments in June/July/August/September are issued as “No Release” permits.

-Jon J.

Mr Warren I see you are from Ia first of all they do not issue summer permits for walleye in Iowa. I have fished lots of walleye tourneys the last few years and have not witnessed any high mortality. Some summer events are kill tourneys where you can take your catch home or give it to a bystander.Most of these events are reduced limit tourneys.The events I fish are well managed and the resource is always meant to be the top priority.As in your bass tournements you are penalized for unreleasable fish.

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Most permits issued in Minnesota and Wisconsin for tournaments in June/July/August/September are issued as “No Release” permits.

-Jon J.

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jon, are you sure about that ? i find that intresting

gut-pile,the D.N.R will try to better the wording on the kill events,just remember every angler has aright to a limit of fish.
If it is decieded by the D.N.R to give kill permits during mid-summer, they are saying the kill rate is to high so just kill them,I beleave they donate the fish.
It is the nature of the beast,at least it is being delt with in reasonable manor,we know we cannot change mid-summer kills.
But there are some things I beleave that eye tournys can do to decress the # of fish killed during tournys.
Don’t use live bait.
Don’t allow trolling.
Don’t allow more than one line.
This will decress the amount of fish killed per tourny.

Dave:

I understand where you are coming from with live bait and only 1 line. But how does trolling increase mortality, in say….comparison to a “rip tearing, jaw breaking hook set”???

gutpile, I’m absolutely certain of those guidlines. Keep in mind that most walleye tounaments only weigh 4-6 fish per 2 man team. That is 1/2 of the the teams limit. In other words, if those same 2 guys were just out fishing, they could keep twice the amount allowed at a weigh in.

Dave C. Fish mortality is not caused by the method of fishing. Rather it is caused by keeping the fish in a livewell for extended periods of time. Especially when the water temps get over 60 degrees.

-J.

The DNR has been conducting a study of catch and release mortality on Mille Lacs as part of their “Treaty Managment” program. Some interesting things have been learned in the last 2 years. First, they found that the mortality was not as high as they had originally figured. If you remember correctly, when we started the harvest quotas, and the DNR reduced the slot mid season a couple years ago, they were thinking there was a 10% mortality rate. The study has shown them they were a bit high in their estamates, and that actually it was closer to about 5-6%. They have also determained that the 2 biggest factors in a walleye’s survival, was 1.) Proper handling and quick release of the fish if they were not keepable (protected) so it could quickly return to the same depth and water presure/temp. that it came from, and hopefully without any, or much of its slime wiped off, and 2.) Soluable oxygen levels in the livewell water. Most common livewell pumping systems just don’t supply ample water/disolved oxygen, to the fish in such a small enviroment as a livewell. The temperature of that water is also a factor. Think about it! You catch a fish out of say 20 feet of water. The temperature at the bottom of the lake is usually much colder, in the summer, than the surface water you are pumping into your livewell. That warmer surface water does not contain the same saturation of oxygen that is found in the deeper cooler water. The fish has been severly stressed from the fight once it was hooked, and you are now putting it into a smaller enviroment with other fish, and its trying to suck air out of used water that is maybe as much as 15-20 degrees warmer. The fish goes into shock, maybe suffocates, either way, thats the end of it.

It also does not help the fish at all to have the boat slamming up and down throwing the fish back and forth bouncing off the walls because the fisherman has to run a long distance over rough water in order to make weigh in either.

There are several things we can do to improve the mortality of our tournament fish.

1. When possible, make the ride in to shore as smooth as possible, and use a survivor system to constantly supply fresh water to the fish while running.

2. Turn off the timers on your aeriator systems. Have them run non-stop, full force all the time while there are fish in your livewells.

3. Handle the fish as little as possible, and get them back into water as fast as you can. Be carefull not to lay the fish on the carpeting of the boat and flop around wiping the slime off it. Don’t keep the fish out of water an extra 2-3 minutes while everyone pooses with the fish for a picture either.

4. Fill your livewells to the lid. If there is no air space between the lid, and the water, there will be much less sloshing back and forth, and less beat up fish at weigh in.

Every year there are more and more guys fishing tournaments. Thats more and more pressure on what is now becoming an increasingly smaller resource. Its all of our responsibility to do as much as we can to protect those resources.

I believe it was Teddy Rosevelt who once said,”any sportsman who is not a conservationist, is nothing more than a fool”.

Gary trolling is the most effective way to catch and locate fish,if this element of fishing is taken out of tournaments it will cut dowm on the catch rate.
Jon don’t you agree that deep catches of walleyes does increase the kill rate in mid-summer.
I’am all for kill tournys on mid-summer walleye if it is the best silution.
But most of have expeirence trolling over walleyes and catching fish after fish ,if they are deep fish and the air bladder is expanded we know we cannot keep catching and release because the fun is not worth the resource.
As a director I get it from all sides on this issue,it is hard to explain that the public wants zero death for bass,but walleye tournys can have kill events.
I remeber the first time I heard about kill tournys,a freind of mine was prepairing for Wave Wackers and put a club in the boat and I ask him what it was for and he told if you get a big fish you kill it so it don’t puke up all the pearch in its stomach this was a high profile angler going by the rules,this is a commmon pratice when it is not in the rules to keep fish alive.
I do beleive that live bait,trolling,use of more than one line,do increrase death at tournys by putting more fish into the anglers live well,and when anglers are on deep fish and keep on sorting,death is sometime delayed.
It has been my longtime beleaf that walleye anglers,not just walleye tournys should put these primitive ways of fishing behind then,if it is a freshwater sportfish you are are after then give them a sporting chance.
I’am afraid of public perseption,and in the future it will be played out in the media.

I am all for fish conservation. But if a fishery is in that bad of shape…….to the point of eliminating the productive ways to catch those trophy fish and not sustain an adequate population of the resource……the permit should not be issued for that particular body of water .

Just my 2 cents!

Dave C

I am not trying to start anything here I just dont understand what you are tying to say. You said no live bait and no trolling and only one line correct? The one line thing I understand what you are saying but no trolling or live bait whats left a fish call and a landing net. I am in no way a professional fisherman but if you eliminate these things what is left???? .

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if you eliminate these things what is left???? .

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Ringworms………….and K-grubs

Dave you may consider these types of fishing primitive in the elitist bass world, but walleyes and bass are very different creatures. I love it when a bass guy says we don’t troll cuz it’s too easy to catch fish, we don’t use live bait cuz it’s too easy to catch fish. Maybe bass are just easier to catch overall compared to a walleye??

I’m not trying to start a measuring contest between the two cultures, but I also don’t see how you can apply the same logic to both cultures. These are two completly different fish and I don’t think they should be compared.

I think most serious tourney fisherman are as conservation minded as anyone. They may deep hook a fish with a lindy rig, but they cut the line rather than yank the hook from the gullet. They need that fish alive or they get penalized. As for trolling having a negative impact on a fishery, give me some hard facts. Until then, I don’t see how anyone can argue it’s an easy way to catch fish. I’ve covered lots of miles on Pepin in a day and didn’t catch a walleye. Fishing with more than one line…I agree it’s more likely a fish will be gullet hooked by the dead stick if not watched properly, but again any responsible sportsman will simply cut the line and re-tie. Heck, us Minnesotans don’t know what a second line is anyway.

Also, as Dustin stated, if the fishery is in such dire need, the DNR wouldn’t be allowing tournies anyway. Part of the DNR granting a permit figures in how many boats, % of kill for that tourney and then totals that with all the tournies for that body of water that year.

Not meant to be a personal attack on your logic, I just don’t see that it fits in the walleye world.

Dustin
Any day you want to take me out and school me on plastics Im game. Heck we can use my boat I’ll even pick you up just say the word . That vertical bite in red wing is not hard its the pitching I cant get a good grasp on .

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That vertical bite in red wing is not hard its the pitching I cant get a good grasp on .

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Once you put your time in pitching, it’s like everything else………….it all comes together . The key is to not give up.

I know when I am working on a new presentation that I am not familiar with that I have heard or read about someone else having significant success with, the results are seldom positive for me the first few times. After playing with a new technique the pieces of the puzzle will all fall together one day. Having confidence in what you are doing is very important as well.

You will get there before you know it.

Thank you Duston,walleyes are cautchable with non-live bait

Look at what the top pros are useing to win and is it not about 50/50 that wins these days,50% non-live, 50% live.

Ten years ago other than bass fishermen who new that the ring worm and superdoes are the cats meow.

I got another tip for everyone go down to the river and cast rattle traps,no need to tip with live bait.

I know bass and walleyes are differnt fish, as I stated in a post above if kill tournaments are the option I support it.

Some one asked for facts

MN. 6212.2500 permit conditions subp. 11 state that,permits may be denied for live realease contest where the use of live bait may cause increased mortality.

As for the statements I made about liveone rod and trolling.

I will have to do research to find the articles.

All I know as fact is when Ray Scott started BassMasters

he deceided that any fish that is readily catchable should not be persuede with live bait.

Trolling was allowed in early bass events but was found to be to effective.

The use of one rod,it does not take skill to cast a lure and have second in the water and might pick up fish,

anotherone of rays rules that is adopted by most bass tournys is no rods over 8 feet.This comes from the presitation of doodeling.Doodeling is where you take a very long rod about 15′,with about 3′ of line tied at the end,anglers would tie on a spinner bait then can hit every pocket very fast and silent water entry.This was so effective that about all tourneys made it against the rules,and some states made it illegal.

I have always felt walleyes are very catchable on non-live baits,and feel with a change in trends the walleye anglers will follow the lead of bass,muskie,and fly fishermen.

I also feel the day will when walleye anglers talk about the old days when top pros thought the only way to hook a walleye was with live bait.

I have respect for any one that devotes time to a passion they love,and I respect you guys for your opinon and passion about the sportfish you love.

I know it is not all about me,or is it?

Interesting opinions about this topic….. Could the culture of walleye tournament fishing be changed from “nearly anything goes” to artificial bait only, excluding cranks? Good question. If the guys/gals supporting tournament fishing feel that’s the way to go, it can and more then likely will. Personally I don’t think a lip hook set (or non-life threatening hook set) on a fish caught in 10 – 15 ft of water over 40 ft is going to sustain too much stress. What’ll more then likely impair the fishes recovery ability is either the high temperature of the live well or the sometimes rough return to the weigh scale.

There’s nothing better then tossing out a ringworm to 3 foot of water and having a 7 pound walleye crush that thing almost immediately. A couple guys that fished a lot of the MTT last summer had quite the plastics arsenal. In talking with them they basically reiterated what Dustin has said in that it takes a lot of time and patience. Keep changing styles and sizes and sooner then later you will find the matching combo.

Let’s go fishing and why not take a kid along………

In Iowa this year there is a rule change stating that no culling will be allowed.I think its kind of funny that the new rule states that some bass tourneys will be excempt from this rule. I will just say that I think there is just a little politics involved here

The Walleye Searchers club out of Rochester, MN hopes to have zero delayed mortality for all our tournaments in 2005. We will be measuring our fish and converting the length to an equivalent weight. This allows for immediate release of the fish.

This format may not work for tournaments involving money, but for fun tournaments it is a step in the right direction to reduce delayed mortality. Other fishing clubs have done this in the past, and hopefully more clubs will do it in the future. It sets a good example on conservation to both the fishing and non-fishing community.

Dave Gulczinski