Mn Walleye Slot Limits

By SAM COOK, Duluth News Tribune

. The 17-26' protected slot limit for walleye on Deer, Battle, and Pickerel lakes in Itasca County has been dropped. Changes to Wisconsin-Minnesota Mississippi River portion of border waters. Lower possession limits and some changes to length limits for walleye, sauger, crappie, sunfish, yellow perch, catfish, white and yellow bass. Special regulations modified for several Minnesota lakes. The 17-26 inch protected slot limit for walleye has changed to a 20-24 inch protected slot with only one over 24 inches allowed, on the following Itasca County lakes: Moose, Split Hand, Swan and Trout. Slot limits on northern Minnesota's main walleye lakes have come of age now. The more restrictive limits require anglers to immediately release walleyes in a specific size range, perhaps 17 to 26. Walleye season opens May 11, 2019 According to the most recent fisheries management plan, between 5 and 15 million walleye fry will be stocked annually based on the condition of the walleye population. All fish caught from 20-26' must be released immediately. Possession limit four, only one over 26'.

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 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.

Mn Walleye Slot Limit 2019

'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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Mn Walleye Slot Limits

Information from: The Duluth News Tribune

Mn Walleye Slot Limit

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Mn Walleye Slot Limit 2020

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