Whats happening with Mississippi pools -time to take a reality check

I started fishing for walleyes on Pepin and Red Wing 20 years ago. I really am not sure of what is going on but I have seen the decline in fishing quantity and quality greatly diminish. Even on this site, we have seen fewer and fewer post about fish being caught this year (especially this spring) with only a few big girls being posted.

How have the creel surveys been over the past 10 years? Are we over fishing this great self reproducing fishery, do we need to take a serious look at limits and slot sizes for both walleye and sauger?

We have an abundance of extra fisherman now coming to the river that used to fish the other lakes that are being fished out by fisherman and tribes.

Do we need to call it catch and release from Feb till May 1st for all walleyes and saugers to protect the future.

I think its come to some serious answers being needed and serious questions being asked to the DNR before we lose this one too if its not too late already.

FISHINFOOL

I fish further down river and I would like to see a slot limit and a reduced bag limit on walleye. No reason to keep 20 plus inchers other then a trophy to mount and definitely no reason any one person should be able to keep six of them. Not too concerned with sauger.

What shows up on Ido (or other fishing sites) really can’t be used to judge the state of the river or anything else. There are many things that effect what a person sees on a website. Only one of them is the quality of the fishery, but it is one of them.

Example? Did you read the report from Nick, Lake City’s Large Lake Specialist about 4 months ago?

Nick does a great job explaining where we are at and he’s easily approachable.

Pool 4 Update January

@LCDNRFisheries

I have also seen a decline in in quality fish over the last few years. I am interested to hear what some others think about this idea. I almost never keep fish, so a reduction in limits or C&R do not bother me at all. The real question is, is a reduction in limits or C&R seasons really the answer? I have no idea.

I totally agree with u fishin fool! The dnr can say what they want but when anglers and some very good anglers at that are struggling to catch fish something is wrong. Yes there are still fish to be caught and us as anglers need to adapt but there is not the fish there that used to be PLAIN AND SIMPLE!!! The DNR is a government agency and as we all know they tend to not be perfect so I don’t believe the biologist(s) when they say “everything is fine”.
There’s a problem and it needs to be fixed!

Buckeye, did you read the report?

Obviously not.

I hear what you are saying Fishinfool and at times I have questions myself. I think part of the problem is that over the last 20 years we were at one of the high points of river walleye and sauger population. I remember back in 2009 my boy and I had an afternoon where we had 7 saugers over 4 pounds. There are few systems anywhere that produce like that and it had to go down from there. I see most guys throwing back the larger fish and it is rare for anything over 18 inches to go in my livewell. I think catch and release is working and most of the regulars respect our resource. The river is changing but that has been the way since before the locks were installed or man got involved. Spring weather affects the spawn—-the reworking of the shoreline up by the dam—- the abundance of shad — zebra mussels—- all play into the equation. As far as change goes, I have heard more about decent perch being caught the last few years than all my time on the river. The lake is putting out really nice blue gills in the summer like never before—or at least in my experience. That would point to the river being healthy.
You mentioned this website and you have to remember that when this website started it was done by a guide on Pool 4 and some of the best sticks on the river made this place their home. What I learned from this site in the early years made me a better walleye fisherman than I would have ever been without it. Over time Pool 4 has played less of a role for the website and people have become much more leary in general of the internet and sharing data. I think Pool 4 is still in very good shape but evolving in many ways. Heck, the lake is filling in on the north end at an alarming rate. I fished an area last Friday that was 13 feet deep two years ago and it is 5 feet deep now. Fish are moving and changing and as fishermen we tend to do what worked yesterday and that may not be working anymore. I truly believe the fish are out there but like you— I am not into them as regularly as I use to be. Pool 4 is my home waters and if I thought getting the DNR involved with new laws would help I would be first in line to beg them for assistance. I think the lake is in good shape but just going through part of it’s constant change. That is just one old guys opinion anyway.

Hey BK, I just wanted to let you know your posts aren’t invisible. In case you were wondering.

Here’s the 2015 Update.

2015 Link

I tried to stay out of these topics as much as possible. I will put something out there that a lot of people aren’t taking into consideration.
There is a lot more big fish and numbers of fish being caught than what is said or posted on this and other websites. A lot of the more common posters in years past, MYSELF INCLUDED, have not posted reports and pictures like everybody is used to. Due to many different reasons people are deciding to post less and less about the bite and big fish.

Case in point, Myself and 1 other good fishing buddy spent a total of 19 separate days on the water from February 24th to April 17th. In those 19 trips there was a total of 24 fish over 26″ and within those fish 13 of them were over 10 lbs. And yes I have pictures of every one of them.

So what im saying here is that although a lot of people are not seeing the pictures and hearing the stories, they are still being caught and more than most people think.

Now on a side note, do I believe this year was a down year, yes I would agree. But with that said, for as many years as I have fished the river, I cannot say that conditions have ever been the same between any 2 years. The river changes, the fish follow suit and change also. Also there is a general cycle of highs and lows in the population also.

That’s my .02 of it all.

I would say that after fishing a certain piece of water after all these years some people may be guilty (myself included) of ‘Fishing Memories”. Rivers are an ever changing body of water and thus the fish change. I have read the reports that BK is talking about for the past couple years and have no reason whatsoever to question the validity of the science. I would say change the way your fishing…

“Someone’s always on fish”

Just isn’t me…

I don’t think the population is down. I think there is so much forage in the system they don’t need to eat a fake meal. I caught some 22″-24″ males this spring that were so fat I thought they were females. If they hadn’t been milting I would have never known the difference.

Last year late summer early fall I marked piles and piles of fish down there and couldn’t get them to bite for nothing but there again tons and tons of baitfish were in the system as well. Fish are there it’s up to the angler to figure out how to get them in the boat.

fishmantim wrote:

I have read the reports that BK is talking about for the past couple years and have no reason whatsoever to question the validity of the science. I would say change the way your fishing…

Damn that hurts.

Eric Rehberg wrote:

I tried to stay out of these topics as much as possible. I will put something out there that a lot of people aren’t taking into consideration.
There is a lot more big fish and numbers of fish being caught than what is said or posted on this and other websites. A lot of the more common posters in years past, MYSELF INCLUDED, have not posted reports and pictures like everybody is used to. Due to many different reasons people are deciding to post less and less about the bite and big fish.

Case in point, Myself and 1 other good fishing buddy spent a total of 19 separate days on the water from February 24th to April 17th. In those 19 trips there was a total of 24 fish over 26″ and within those fish 13 of them were over 10 lbs. And yes I have pictures of every one of them.

So what im saying here is that although a lot of people are not seeing the pictures and hearing the stories, they are still being caught and more than most people think.

Now on a side note, do I believe this year was a down year, yes I would agree. But with that said, for as many years as I have fished the river, I cannot say that conditions have ever been the same between any 2 years. The river changes, the fish follow suit and change also. Also there is a general cycle of highs and lows in the population also.

That’s my .02 of it all.

I agree with everything said above. I am not saying websites like this have ruined fishing, but as far as publicity to certain areas and the ease of learning about a bite hasn’t exactly helped with all of that in my opinion. There has been more fishing pressure then I have ever seen in my life right now. The river has also changed a lot. If you ask any biologist a lot of the fishing relies on the creel surveys. That is a large part of it as well.

Don’t get me wrong, I think there is a lot of education on here that extremely helps people out, but at the same time others abuse the info I believe.

Its either natural or a result of too much pressure on the spring spawning run. Time will tell.

My question is what was the dnr saying about Milacs 7 to 10 years ago. Where they saying things where heading in the direction they are now. I am asking this question because I don’t know. But if they were not predicting it with Milacas how accurate are they in their predictions?

FWIW – the results at the end of mine and my fishing partners lines have been similar to what fishinfool describes. We fished it pretty steady for going on 15 years and the glory days of 50 plus eyes (and sumo saugers) have not been enjoyed for going on 5 years. We enjoy locating & catching them and haven’t filleted many over those 15 years….

Like most everything in life I feel it’s a natural low point that with time will rebound.

Kind of a crazy question but could pool 4 ever become over populated w big head carp like rivers in Illinois?

Kurt Turner wrote:

FWIW – the results at the end of mine and my fishing partners lines have been similar to what fishinfool describes. We fished it pretty steady for going on 15 years and the glory days of 50 plus eyes (and sumo saugers) have not been enjoyed for going on 5 years. We enjoy locating & catching them and haven’t filleted many over those 15 years….

Like most everything in life I feel it’s a natural low point that with time will rebound.

Kind of a crazy question but could pool 4 ever become over populated w big head carp like rivers in Illinois?

I agree 100% and I have mentioned this on IDO in the past numerous times. It’s not only the walleyes but panfish as well. Brian will through out a DNR survey but unless your out there as a fisherman and do the actually fishing with those results why believe. I grew up on the river and have seen the highs and lows of multiple species. Right now the lows are getting bad. This is on pools 5-7. Sure people have good days but it is not like it “use too be”.

Must be global warming :rolleyes:

Whatever is happening to the fishing on the Mississippi Pools I think the Twins got it too. Maybe they ate some of the fish. Time for a reality check there too.

Eric Rehberg wrote:

There is a lot more big fish and numbers of fish being caught than what is said or posted on this and other websites. A lot of the more common posters in years past, MYSELF INCLUDED, have not posted reports and pictures like everybody is used to. Due to many different reasons people are deciding to post less and less about the bite and big fish.

Agreed

Pete Bauer wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Eric Rehberg wrote:</div>
There is a lot more big fish and numbers of fish being caught than what is said or posted on this and other websites. A lot of the more common posters in years past, MYSELF INCLUDED, have not posted reports and pictures like everybody is used to. Due to many different reasons people are deciding to post less and less about the bite and big fish.

Agreed

X3

I can only speak for pool 2 but understand the comments above 100%.

suzuki wrote:

Its either natural or a result of too much pressure on the spring spawning run. Time will tell.

Open season all year since the early ’90’s. 25ish years.
DNR reports since the ’60’s. 50ish years.

How much time is needed?

What’s the difference of taking a female walleye out while in the spawn or taking it out the rest of the year? One Spawn, because she will never spawn again.

From what I witnessed, the eye’s of upper pool 4 had less fishing pressure this year than in the last 9.

Riverruns, we are talking about Pool 4 here. But I do have a question. If the DNR netting/shocking reports show better numbers of panfish then the average over the years but some anglers (meaning more then one) aren’t catching as many fish, should we assume the DNR is inflating the numbers or possible something else?

Brian Klawitter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
Its either natural or a result of too much pressure on the spring spawning run. Time will tell.

Open season all year since the early ’90’s. 25ish years.
DNR reports since the ’60’s. 50ish years.

How much time is needed?

What’s the difference of taking a female walleye out while in the spawn or taking it out the rest of the year? One Spawn, because she will never spawn again.

From what I witnessed, the eye’s of upper pool 4 had less fishing pressure this year than in the last 9.

Riverruns, we are talking about Pool 4 here. But I do have a question. If the DNR netting/shocking reports show better numbers of <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>panfish then the average over the years but some anglers (meaning more then one) aren’t catching as many fish, should we assume the DNR is inflating the numbers or possible something else?

I dont think you can compare fishing pressure from the 90’s to recent years. Technology and gear have come a long ways too. Hopefully that’s not it and its a natural cycle instead of pressure related like other large walleye waters in recent history.

There isn’t any walleye netting on P4. (thank god!)

Gill nets, electo shocking and creel surveys do not know of this thing called “technology” or fishing pressure for that matter.

should we assume the DNR is inflating the numbers or possible something else?

I agree Brian! Thanks for finally coming around on this!!

Got me!