Year round walleye season (even if it's with restrictions!!!!!!)

Tips icy outdoors wrote:

Am I just selfish???? Or is ok to think that we should be able.to.fish any kind of fish whenever wherever we want? As long as we respect and protect our fisheries… And that’s a given that most of us do anyways no matter the rule book… Here’s where I’m personally at tho.. and that’s I’ve gotta drive 4 hrs to border states in order to just catch a walleye… I personally don’t want to keep any walleye when they’re in their prespawn and spawning stage! ESSPECIALLY the biggens… But I do want to be able to fish for them…. And here in my state… When we are closed it’s technically illegal to fish for the walleyes specifically!! But its known that you can’t decide what ends up biting your hook… So it’s ok to immediately release if you happen to have fluke fish eat your panfish only bait.. But. I’m not trying to swindle my way around it like that…. I just wanna show my license to the dnr and it’s ok that I’m fishing for whatever… Dnr checks the boat or shack for whatever fish you have and once it’s known your legally abiding everyone goes back to what they’re doing… nd closes for an HR…. That state has some of the most special fisheries in the country!! They close for an hr… … Hmmm… And all that does is makes me leave my own state and start focusing more on fishing a different state.. cuz I can’t afford to do both atm ya know!. That takes away from our states revenue ultimately.. along with everything that ends up happening from that.. and I’m not the only one that feels this way so it’s not a unknown thing either…. Soooo I just want to try and state my opinion that I believe we should have a 1 <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye limit from March to may and make it
up to 15-16-18″ whatever but leave those real super breeders in and release em still! or 1 over 30″ for that massive trophy mount of a life time which at this time of year would give it the best presentation possible instead of catching it midsummer when it’s got nothing and mount it 2 lbs lighter…!!! Please Minnesota can we get with it possibly? It really only gives us the opportunity to fish… Not go out for a limit of fish ya know… It will keep people catch and release because if u got one then ur done… It’s a win win cuz the fishing community I know would respect AND appreciate it very much!!!! Please…

Someone please bump the threads on boat launch etiquette, limits, fishing too close, the river’s scour hole, mishandling fish, trash on the lakes, wanton waste, etc. Call me a pessimist, but my eye test tells me that the bold statement is simply false.

Regardless of peoples’ desires I don’t see any true year round walleye season coming to Minnesota anytime soon. The walleye populations have enough working against them with increased pressure, technology making harvest easier, people breaking laws, increasing water temps, lake associations and chemicals, invasive plants, invasive fish, sedimentation, littering, shoreline development, lack of enforcement, netting, (fill in the rest). I don’t see the MNDNR and legislators going for it regardless of how it is presented.

Just think of the political clout you guys in MN would have if every angler who comes over to SD in the spring to fish the missouri river, Waubay, Bitter, Dry, etc. would take the time to get active and push for change in their own state.

Then our wait times at the ramps would be shorter and I’d only have to worry about SDSU kids casting across my lines when we’re wader fishing gravel shorelines.

tornadochaser wrote:

Just think of the political clout you guys in MN would have if every angler who comes over to SD in the spring to fish the missouri river, Waubay, Bitter, Dry, etc. would take the time to get active and push for change in their own state.
Then our wait times at the ramps would be shorter and I’d only have to worry about SDSU kids casting across my lines when we’re wader fishing gravel shorelines.

That works both ways Tornadochaser. Our State Parks in the western 1/2 of the state are jammed full of South Dakotans (and North Dakotans) taking up space that Mn residents can’t use. So its a 2 way street.

slowpoke wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tornadochaser wrote:</div>
Just think of the political clout you guys in MN would have if every angler who comes over to SD in the spring to fish the missouri river, Waubay, Bitter, Dry, etc. would take the time to get active and push for change in their own state.
Then our wait times at the ramps would be shorter and I’d only have to worry about SDSU kids casting across my lines when we’re wader fishing gravel shorelines.

That works both ways Tornadochaser. Our State Parks in the western 1/2 of the state are jammed full of South Dakotans (and North Dakotans) taking up space that Mn residents can’t use. So its a 2 way street.

Eh…doesn’t bother me. I have a cabin. In MN.

John Rasmussen wrote:

8efe28aeba5bfd44

You had to bring religion into it, didn’t you, John.

Surrounding states get a lot of money from MN residents who flee there to chase walleye during the off season. MN might want to keep that in mind too, lots of money going around to chase fish

As with allowing 2 lines, having a year round catch and release season would probably be supported by 80% of the anglers in MN but the DNR wants no part of it.
It’s a fun pipe dream though…

3Rivers wrote:

As with allowing 2 lines, having a year round catch and release season would probably be supported by 80% of the anglers in MN but the DNR wants no part of it.
It’s a fun pipe dream though…

Make the limit 4 fish, let us use 2 rods rear around, and instead of closing the season, make it catch and release.

ND has a strong walleye population in most lakes. They’re open year around with 5 fish limits and you can use 2 rods in the boat.

Maybe you should move to ND then? I’d wager that there’s quite a bit less fishing pressure in ND than in MN.

rjthehunter wrote:

let us use 2 rods rear around

What does this have to do with fishing?

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

Maybe you should move to ND then? I’d wager that there’s quite a bit less fishing pressure in ND than in MN.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>rjthehunter wrote:</div>
let us use 2 rods rear around

What does this have to do with fishing?

Have you fished ND much? I’d guess a higher percentage of ND residents fish then mn residents. There’s also a lot less fishable water in ND.

rjthehunter wrote:

I’d guess a higher percentage of ND residents fish then mn residents.

While that may be true, the population of ND is < 1 million, and the population of MN is > 5.5 million. Minnesota fishing license sales have been fairly consistent between 1 and 1.2 million per year over the past 20 years, so more people in MN buy a fishing license each year than live in the entire state of ND.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>rjthehunter wrote:</div>
I’d guess a higher percentage of ND residents fish then mn residents.

While that may be true, the population of ND is < 1 million, and the population of MN is > 5.5 million. Minnesota fishing license sales have been fairly consistent between 1 and 1.2 million per year over the past 20 years, so more people in MN buy a fishing license each year than live in the entire state of ND.

8.4% of MN is water whereas 2.4% of ND is water. So there’s a lot less area for them to fish…

Source
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/how-wet-your-state-water-area-each-state?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects

437,810 ND licenses were sold in 2014. That’s an awfully large percentage of their population that’s out fishing.

I think a lot of the issue with all of these proposed changes is the simple fact that the DNR already doesn’t have any way to police/enforce the rules they have now. There are so many bodies of water and barely any conservation officers. I believe they think the less they change the less they have to police, and hope that more people will understand/remember the rules.

Poachers excluded because they are going to poach no matter what….

Holy chit man. I tried counting the times you wrote “I” “me” “my” or some variation and I lost track at 10 million. Sounds a lot like you have a personal vendetta against the DNR for not consulting you on management policy.

It must be tough to be you, seriously sounds like the world is just out to urine in your Cheerios everyday

mahtofire14 wrote:

I think a lot of the issue with all of these proposed changes is the simple fact that the DNR already doesn’t have any way to police/enforce the rules they have now. There are so many bodies of water and barely any conservation officers. I believe they think the less they change the less they have to police, and hope that more people will understand/remember the rules.

Poachers excluded because they are going to poach no matter what….

An example of the kind of junk our CO’s have to deal with: Down on Pike Island yesterday somebody called the police because a guy was playing fetch with his dog. They dispatched a pair of CO’s to handle it. They get there and there are at least 3 dogs off-leash. They also run into people with open containers, so they have to address that. While they’re dealing with that, a group of bikers come ripping down the point of the island (they must’ve missed the big NO BIKES sign as they came over the bridge), so now they have to address that.

These guys are spread incredibly thin.

Leave them alone during the spawn….it’s not that hard