Nothing wrong with that. Rainy still lets you keep plenty of eaters.
What I am saying is that I think the slot on Rainy has greatly improved the fishing. And I don’t see how leaving it the way it is could possibly hurt.
Years ago the myth was that there were too many crappie in Rainy and they were eating up all the baby walleyes – NOT (it was the gill netters I believe). I have cleaned many walleyes with baby crappie in their stomachs but never the other way around. Then it was the all the sturgeon that were now so numerous on Lake of the Woods that they were eating all the walleye eggs there. Now apparently the story is that the walleyes that are eating up all the walleyes! When I clean fish from Rainy what I find they have been eating mostly is crawdads, perch, mayflies, sculpins, shiners, and ciscos. Sadly the smelt seem to have disappeared. Once in awhile, I find a walleye in a pike. But for every walleye I find at least a hundred perch. Apparently smallmouth bass are too ornery (har!) to be eaten as I have yet to find one in another fish’s stomach.
I have no trouble catching walleyes of all sizes (well the BIG ones are scarce) on Rainy. And if you go to Red Gut Bay or Spawn Inlet in summer you will find it is absolutely loaded with dink walleyes. So I don’t think there is any shortage of little ones. The reason eaters are sometimes hard to catch is most of them are KEPT. I do wish they would have a minimum size on Rainy in addition to the slot. It is sad to see the cigars some people are keeping for shore lunch.
The best fishing for any species is on waters that have had restrictive harvest for several years. The fewer fish removed, the more there are to catch.
Long term slot limits? Death wish…
I think Rainy, for one, is in a bad way for down the road. Hot bite now! Big fish–no problem! Great pics–no problem! Livin’ the dream! And livin’ in denial..??
Slot limits and reduced bag limits are the main reason the fishing is so much better now on Rainy than it was 45 (or 30 or 20) years ago. I fail to see the logic of how slot limits and reduced harvest leads to poorer fishing. Limit your kill, don’t kill your limit.
Three trips so far this year = 90 smallmouths and a few pike. No walleyes yet but who fishes for those when bass are biting? Oh OK, I will eat the first keeper I catch this spring.
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To be honest I wouldn’t expect them to run out and track you down.
Well they finally backed down in a letter once I was able to give them the US law that exempted the upper Wisconsin. Just seems that they should know where they have jusrisdiction BEFORE they start hasseling licensed guides. Other guides got the same letter I did but I don’t know if the Coast Guard ever notified them about the real law.
I ran exactly 1,000 guide trips before I quit. Never had one client ask me if I was licensed or insured! (I had both).
I have never seen a Coast Guard boat up here so am surprised to hear that they do patrol Rainy. Course like you said I spend 90% of my time in Canada so wouldn’t see em up there.
Unlike Chris, I would not run out and buy some red shirts if Coast Guard decided they were required.
The requirement for Coast Guard permits on Rainy is the main reason I have no desire to guide up here.
Long before 9-11, when I was guiding on the Wisconsin River, the Coast Guard decided I needed one of their permits! Now the river is not under Federal jurisdiction nor is it “navigable” except for the last little section that dumps into Mississippi River. There are half a dozen dams (none with locks) between where I guided and the Mississippi.
They sent me a letter similar to the Texoma notice posted above. I called the Coast Guard and raised a stink. What do they offer me as a guide? Do they plan on posting a boat on the Wisconsin River that will help in case of emergency? (no – of course not.) All they had done is contact every licensed guide in Wisconsin that might possibly guide on the Great Lakes or any river. They never checked to see which areas they really have jurisdiction over. I tried to explain that the river was not navigable and NOT under their jurisdiction. All to no avail. I told them I would not take their classes nor buy their permits and if they didn’t like it, they could take me to court. Never happened.
I finally tracked down a federal law that specifically exempts the upper Wisconsin River from Federal (Coast Guard) jurisdiction. But even under the definition of “navigable” the Wisconsin R. is exempt. The Coast Guard must think they are back in the days of Father Marquette when you could take a canoe all the way up the Wisconsin from the Mississippi.
Seems like if the Coast Guard is going to enforce their rules they should maintain a presence locally to HELP when folks have an emergency. Handing out fines, but no help when you need it – such a deal.
I will not be able to attned due to a family emergency. If someone is interested in taking my spot contact James Holst
I agree with that Lindy rigs kill MANY fish as do split shot rigs and bobbers IF you use regular hooks and take too long to set the hook. I have sometimes tried live bait on Lindy Rigs with circle hooks. Every fish I caught except one was hooked in corner of mouth.
It will be impossible to regulate a ban on Lindy rigs (and split shot rigs can be just as bad). It would be much easier to ban all live bait. Many lakes have such a rule and it is easier to enforce than banning a specific technique. But I would not want to be the one trying to pass such a regulation on Rainy!
I think the best bet to end most of the gut hooked fish is to strongly encourage the use of circle hooks whenever live bait is used. Looking at a circle hook you would swear you could never hook a fish on one, but they work very well when used correctly. You can feed line if you want, but do NOT set the hook – just start to reel in when you think the fish has taken the hook. It is amazing how the hook wiggles its way into the corner of a fish’s mouth with a medium steady reeling in of line (NO jerking!).
In my opinion, fishing live bait with regular hooks results in a hundred times more gut hooked fish than any other technique. Some studies have shown that the vast majority of gut hooked fish die when the hook is left in the fish. About a third die when the hook is skillfully removed immediately. Still unacceptable in my book unless you are going to eat the fish.
Yes, other techniques kill fish too but nowhere near the damage live bait can cause.
Wimping out again.
Days like this I am glad I am no longer guiding. Current weather at 7:55 a.m. 27 degrees, west wind 29 MPH gusting to 38 MPH, wind chill 9 degrees. I believe I’ll juat go hang out at Hardees.
Killing me since I was crushing the smallies Sunday & Monday. My partner drove all the way up from the Cities so hope we can get out tomorrow. He likes those bottom feeders but maybe I can talk him into some bass fishing for half the day.
