By SAM COOK, Duluth News Tribune
Sauteed Walleye with Tarragon Roland Hill 2020-07-16T16:37:28-06:00 July 2nd, 2019 2 Comments Directions: Pat the fish fillets dry with a paper towel and season them on. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has adjusted slot limits on Upper Red Lake. 1, all walleyes from 17 to 26 inches long will have to be released. The protected slot is currently 20 to 26 inches. Anglers can still keep four walleyes from. Walleye: Beginning November 1, 2020, the daily and possession limit is three. Only one over 17' allowed in possession. Those portions of Red Lake located within the Red Lake Indian Reservation are closed to non-band members except by special authorization of the tribal council.
- In state waters, for the first time since walleye fishing on Upper Red Lake reopened in May 2006, the Department of Natural Resources has relaxed the protected slot limit during the winter season.
- The Walleye/Sauger aggregate limit is six (no more than four can be Walleye). Walleye from 19.5 through 28 inches must be immediately released. Only one Walleye over 28 inches total length may be possessed. There are many different habits of the Walleye on Lake of the Woods.
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - 'Slot limit' used to be a dirty word. Ortwo words.
Nobody was keen on the idea of putting back walleyes thatotherwise might have wound up in a frying pan.
Deer River fishing guide Jeff Sundin remembers speaking up for aslot limit that was proposed for Lake Winnibigoshish in the late1990s.
'I was a believer in the first place,' Sundin said. 'Istumped for it. I lost some friends over it initially. Some havecome back around. Some haven't.'
Slot limits on northern Minnesota's main walleye lakes have comeof age now. The more restrictive limits require anglers toimmediately release walleyes in a specific size range, perhaps 17to 26 inches or 17 to 28 inches.
The first walleye slot limit was established on Rainy Lake in1994. Mille Lacs went to a slot in 1999. Big Winnie's slot tookeffect in 2000. Leech Lake's was implemented in 2005.
When used in conjunction with other management tools, slotlimits have proven effective in increasing anglers' catch rates andincreasing the number of larger walleyes in a population.
'It gave us a more quality fishery and initially it preservedmore spawning fish,' said Barry Woods, a guide on Rainy Lake,about that lake's slot limit.
It's almost hard to remember that in the mid-1990s, when theslot was established on Rainy, catch-and-release fishing forwalleyes was still a new concept. Now anglers are accustomed tomeasuring the fish they catch and throwing some back. Resorts haveadapted to the change and now draw fishing clients who are lessconcerned about taking home a pile of frozen fillets.
'There's been an evolution,' said Tim Goeman, Department ofNatural Resources regional fisheries supervisor at Grand Rapids.'It's almost a prestigious thing to have a walleye slot limit onyour lake.'
Al Maas has been guiding anglers, mostly on Leech Lake, for 41years now.
'We have an 18- to 26-inch slot, and you're allowed one over26,' Maas said. 'With a four-fish limit. People are perfectlyhappy with that.'
The regular statewide walleye limit is six fish, but four-fishlimits are in place along with the slots on Leech, Rainy and MilleLacs.
'If we look back, over the years I've guided, it used to bethat if you didn't limit out, you had a bad day,' Maas said.'Those days are gone.'
Anglers still hope to catch enough walleyes for a shore lunch ora meal, but almost nobody is taking pictures of big stringers offish anymore.
Still, one segment of anglers remains bitter about slot limits,Sundin said.
'Most of the guys who were opposed to them are still opposed tothem, even though they can be shown evidence that it has beenbetter for their lakes than they think,' he said.
But young anglers, especially, embrace slots, Sundin said.
'It doesn't represent anything that has been taken away fromthem,' he said.
The slot limit on Lake Winnibigoshish came up for review lastfall. Although DNR officials offered to relax the Winnie slot to 18to 26 inches from the current 17 to 26 inches, public testimonyfavored leaving the slot at 17 to 26 inches.
'I never dreamed people would want that,' Goeman said, 'butfor the last 10-year period, fishing has been better than ever onWinnie, and people can catch fish to eat.'
Creel surveys show anglers are still keeping as many walleyesper hour as they did before the slot limit, said Chris Kavanaugh,DNR area fisheries supervisor at Grand Rapids. But they're catchinga lot more walleyes.
Sundin agrees.
'We're keeping the same number of fish we used to keep, but thecatch rate has improved,' he said. 'It isn't that we're keepingsmaller fish. It's that we're not keeping that odd big one.'
Why not more?
Kavanaugh said he gets a good number of calls from people whowould like to see slot limits placed on their lakes. But theregulation isn't right for every lake, DNR officials say.
'It gave us a more quality fishery and initially it preservedmore spawning fish,' said Barry Woods, a guide on Rainy Lake,about that lake's slot limit.
It's almost hard to remember that in the mid-1990s, when theslot was established on Rainy, catch-and-release fishing forwalleyes was still a new concept. Now anglers are accustomed tomeasuring the fish they catch and throwing some back. Resorts haveadapted to the change and now draw fishing clients who are lessconcerned about taking home a pile of frozen fillets.
'There's been an evolution,' said Tim Goeman, Department ofNatural Resources regional fisheries supervisor at Grand Rapids.'It's almost a prestigious thing to have a walleye slot limit onyour lake.'
Al Maas has been guiding anglers, mostly on Leech Lake, for 41years now.
'We have an 18- to 26-inch slot, and you're allowed one over26,' Maas said. 'With a four-fish limit. People are perfectlyhappy with that.'
The regular statewide walleye limit is six fish, but four-fishlimits are in place along with the slots on Leech, Rainy and MilleLacs.
'If we look back, over the years I've guided, it used to bethat if you didn't limit out, you had a bad day,' Maas said.'Those days are gone.'
Anglers still hope to catch enough walleyes for a shore lunch ora meal, but almost nobody is taking pictures of big stringers offish anymore.
Still, one segment of anglers remains bitter about slot limits,Sundin said.
'Most of the guys who were opposed to them are still opposed tothem, even though they can be shown evidence that it has beenbetter for their lakes than they think,' he said.
But young anglers, especially, embrace slots, Sundin said.
'It doesn't represent anything that has been taken away fromthem,' he said.
The slot limit on Lake Winnibigoshish came up for review lastfall. Although DNR officials offered to relax the Winnie slot to 18to 26 inches from the current 17 to 26 inches, public testimonyfavored leaving the slot at 17 to 26 inches.
'I never dreamed people would want that,' Goeman said, 'butfor the last 10-year period, fishing has been better than ever onWinnie, and people can catch fish to eat.'
Creel surveys show anglers are still keeping as many walleyesper hour as they did before the slot limit, said Chris Kavanaugh,DNR area fisheries supervisor at Grand Rapids. But they're catchinga lot more walleyes.
Sundin agrees.
'We're keeping the same number of fish we used to keep, but thecatch rate has improved,' he said. 'It isn't that we're keepingsmaller fish. It's that we're not keeping that odd big one.'
Why not more?
Kavanaugh said he gets a good number of calls from people whowould like to see slot limits placed on their lakes. But theregulation isn't right for every lake, DNR officials say.
It isn't right on lakes where stocking is used to support thewalleye population, such as Pokegama Lake near Grand Rapids.
'The best return to the angler is when those fish reach acatchable and keepable size, and people are keeping them,' Goemansaid.
When slot limits are established, they are made as experimentalregulations and reviewed after 10 years. Sometimes, the regulationsneed tweaking.
Rainy Lake's slot was expanded after several years to protectmore fish because biologists had thought too many fish were leavingthe system.
The slot on Mille Lacs lake is watched closely each summer, andit sometimes is relaxed, if overall harvest is low, to allowanglers to keep more fish.
Maas says lots of Leech Lake anglers would like to see LeechLake's slot limit replaced by a four-walleye limit with just oneover 20 inches, similar to the statewide regulation that allows sixwalleyes with one over 20.
Woods has some concerns that Rainy Lake may have too many largerwalleyes in its population now. He hopes the DNR will be flexibleenough to revise the slot limit if necessary.
The DNR's Goeman says that's one thing that biologists try to beaware of with a slot limit.
'There's some potential for stockpiling older, bigger fish,'Goeman said. 'That can suppress recruitment of young fish comingin.'
Imposing a slot limit on a lake is one thing. Getting anglers toabide by them is another thing.
Most anglers will play by the rules - once they know them.
'It takes a couple of years for a slot limit to catch on andpeople to understand it's in place,' the DNR's Goeman said. 'Forabout the first two years after a slot limit is put in place, wehave pretty significant noncompliance, about 20 to 30 percent.'
Even a small amount of noncompliance can be significant, hesaid.
'We've determined that if there's 10 percent noncompliance withany length-based regulation, it's the same as that regulation notbeing there,' Goeman said.
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Information from: The Duluth News Tribune
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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News Release Mille Lacs Lake winter anglers allowed 1 walleye starting Dec. 1'Winter anglers on Mille Lacs Lake will enjoy a walleye harvest this winter for the fifth season in a row. Starting Tuesday, Dec. 1, anglers will be allowed to keep one walleye between 21-23 inches or one fish longer than 28 inches. This is the same regulation as the last two winter seasons.
'It's good news that anglers will be able to harvest walleye again this winter,' said Sarah Strommen, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 'Conservative management continues to sustain good fishing on Mille Lacs.'
Mille Lacs was a popular ice fishing destination during the winter of 2019-2020, in part due to poor ice conditions on other large Minnesota lakes. Anglers put in a record of more than 3 million fishing hours on the lake last winter. In each of the previous three winters, anglers spent about 2 million hours fishing on Mille Lacs.
'We want to provide anglers the opportunity to catch and keep some fish when the walleye population can support it,' said Brad Parsons, DNR fisheries section manager. 'As in recent winters, we're confident that the walleye population is abundant enough to support some harvest.'
Winter regulations are set after the DNR completes its annual fall netting assessment. The DNR's 2020 assessment found that the walleye population has remained relatively stable over the past four years, having rebounded from population lows seen from 2012 to 2016.
Harvest from the winter of 2020-21 will be counted toward the state's annual share of walleye from Mille Lacs under the 1837 treaty. State anglers share harvest with eight Ojibwe tribes that have fishing rights under the treaty.
The state's allowable harvest for the coming year will be set in early 2021 through discussions between the state and the tribes. The DNR will set open water fishing regulations in March 2021 following discussions with the tribes and the Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee and after the conclusion of winter fishing.
Red Lake Slot Limit 2020
Conservative fishing regulations in response to population lows have contributed to the recovery, allowing the DNR to offer anglers a harvest opportunity in recent winters and in May 2019 during the open water fishing season.
Minnesota Walleye Limit
Insights from fall assessments
While encouraged by the rebound in walleye abundance, the DNR is taking a cautious approach to managing Mille Lacs' walleye fishery. Survival of walleye to age 3 and older has been inconsistent in recent years.
The 2013 year class – that is, fish born in 2013 -- continues to be the most abundant class of fish. These fish are mainly 17-21 inches long, with faster growing individuals exceeding 21 inches. Year classes from 2009 to 2012 were weak, and had low numbers grow to adults, while those produced since 2013 have had more fish survive to adulthood.
The 2014 year class is below average compared with those from the last 15 years. The 2015 and 2016 year classes appear close to average, and the 2017 year class is well above average. Since 2008, only the 2013 and 2017 year classes have been above average.
'We are encouraged to see additional year classes that will be contributing to the fishery,' Parsons said. 'Having multiple year classes approaching maturity makes us comfortable with continuing to harvest some of the 2013 year class under this winter's regulation.'
The assessment also looks at food abundance and walleye health. Perch and tullibee are the primary food source for Mille Lacs' walleye. Perch and tullibee from 0 to 2 years old were caught in moderate numbers.
Walleye condition, often referred to as plumpness, remained lower than recent averages. The relatively thin condition of fish suggest that forage was limited during parts of this year.
That lack of food contributed to the high catch rates in Mille Lacs early this summer. But that rate dropped in August and September, suggesting that the availability of forage improved later in the summer as fish hatched in 2020 grew and became a part of walleye diets.
'A lower catch rate in the late summer can sometimes carry over into the winter if forage is abundant,' Parsons said. 'But predators also can reduce available forage later in the winter, possibly leading to an improved bite.'
Information about Mille Lacs Lake, including complete fishing regulations, is available on the DNR website at mndnr.gov/millelacslake.'
