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| I read an article from Larry Smith in the latest Badger Sportsman in which he talked about the harvest rates during winter on the Bago chain. He cited Kendall and noted that the Walleye harvest is highest during the Winter months as anglers target pre-spawn Walleyes through the ice. He noted that high concentrations of forage fish on Poygan was the main reason for the concentrate rates of Walleyes and the high harvest rates.
He also talked about the fact that many ice anglers will keep a limit of much smaller size Walleyes in winter than in summer.
Larry is a big proponent of a minimum size limit (15 inches I think) and a slot limit to ensure the future of the Winnebago System.
He also cites Social Media and modern equipment as added pressure on the system.
What do you think?
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| Larry is on the water and ice more than Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources. What he says is very true and I believe that if a size and slot limit was enforced, it would protect our Winnebago system walleye population for decades to come. |
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| I just happen to be the 1,000,000 viewer on that other fishing site for the rainbow park link. Over the past 5 days, 20,000 people have viewed this one link. There were enough boats in the river this weekend to clog the entire river from the 41 bridge to Mercury marine test plant. I live here and have witnessed the increase.
I've never seen anything like it. So what do you think is the impact of social media on the fishing pressure. Do you think our DNR is taking this into consideration.
I personally have fished the Winnebago chain a lot for the past 35 years and remember the 80's and a 15" size limit. Over the last 3 years..... Lots of 8-12 inch fish, many 22-28, hardly anything 13-20.
Just wondering anyone else's observations. |
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| I don't fish it much, but I did help prefish for the NWT. I know a lot of 12-14" fish are being kept. Quote" Those are good size perch, so I'll keep them". Personally, I keep 15-18's, and let the rest go back. Small ones to grow up, and the bigger ones to produce more smaller ones.
I'd like to see a 15" limit again. But until people start tipping the DNR on the double dippers, and those filling freezers with fish, it really doesn't matter.
Edited by Shep 5/31/2016 10:42 AM
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Location: Orland Park, IL | I asked Shep this very same question whilst we pre fish the NWT. I mean would it really hurt that much to have a 15 or even a 14 inch minimum? I think growth rate is important hence no size limit. Sauger grow an average of 7 inches per year on the illinois river. And yes, this was before the asian carp trainwreck. I imagine with bait so prolific on bago chain, growth isnt an issue. |
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| I have been fishing the Winnebago system for almost 40 years. I have seen what can happen in a very short time to the walleye population. My outlook as of now is pretty grim. I have seen the landings full 7 days a week in the months of May, June, and July for almost 10 years now. You can't put that much pressure on any system and expect the population to stay good. Rules need to be in place. I also have been seeing people keeping 11 inchers. The scary part is that most of the fish I have been catching this year are 23 inches or 11 inches. Not much in between.
I think we are already to late to help this but I guess better late then never. If we keep it up at this rate the fish over 20 inches will be gone in a year or 2 and because people are still trying to fill the freezer with 11 inchers, those will be gone in another couple years which leaves not much for spawning in the near future. A 15 inch size limit is a must to even attempt to help this system out. |
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| We have a habitat meeting next week and I am sure a lot of questions will be raised about a minimum size. Increasing spawning habitat is only one part in the equation, we need to have consistent year classes to spawn out and some have really been taking a beating from numbers I have been told. I too have seen very few small fish thrown back by others and I think the exploitation study underway with the $100 tags is going to be very interesting. One of the issues discussed is that if the bag limit is lowered or a minimum size put back on that it is very hard to remove once conditions change. The amount of pressure is much greater than years ago and personally I would like to see more restrictions in place.
Unfortunately sportsmen in general cannot be expected to police themselves and will be the first ones to blame the DNR once there is a problem. There are a ton of people out there who are happy catching a Walleye of any size and with the way tourism is looked at now, expecting the DNR to be proactive on any changes is misguided.
Mark, the Sauger here are growing at a fraction of the Illinios river and unfortunately we haven't been running hatcheries for a number of years due to DNR cutbacks. There is natural reproduction but not nearly what it could be if we were allowed to run the hatcheries again. |
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| It's now official.... (A rather successful guide that appears on many tv fishing shows) on today's Gillespie's show said it's those 12-13 inch Walleyes that taste the best! He said the action on bago has been fantastic the last few weeks and that he keeps those instead of the bigger 19-20 inchers. Except they did not release anything on the show on camera today and said later in the show that they got their 15 man limit that day. They made it sound like Bago has an unlimited supply of Walleyes and that nothing could hurt the system.
Fantastic news..... Let's reset everyone's mind that it's ok to keep a 12 inch Walleye.
In other words.... Hey, I got $70,000 invested in my Walleye boat and darn it I'm going to keep my limit today and every day I take clients out. And while I'm at it... Why does every guide talk about about taking home a 3 man limit with only 2 guests on board...
Guides are an important part of the education of selective harvesting on Bago. So I guess the new rule is a paying client gets a limit of 12-13 inch Walleyes because that's what's in the system right now
Not blaming guides, but what was unacceptable a few years ago, has now become the norm!
Edited by Purple Skeeter 6/18/2016 4:51 PM
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Location: Orland Park, IL | After spending the last 5 days camping at a site on the East Side, it's gonna be an uphill fight on this one. Plenty of trucks pulling 5th wheels and boats. These guys were staying for 2, maybe 3 weeks. They are not spending time and money camping, to let 12 and 13 inch walleye go. Seen plenty of short ones in buckets, always with the "I had to step on a few to measure". Measure what? Ha.
Most of these guys are so used to taking a limit, no matter what. So, if thats the size available, then thats the size of the limit.
Other good news. Was surveyed about invasive species, cleaning my livewell of weeds and water, and properly throwing out live bait on shore and not the water. Seems the Gobie is creeping closer and closer to bago.
Hotter than balls most of the time. Morning and evenings were best for us. And yes, plenty of skinny, short eyes or those over 20. We put a ton back. Didnt take any fish home, a first for me on bago.
One last item. FIB is no longer an acceptable term. FIB's are now referred to as FISHTAB...Frickin Illinois *hit Head Towing a Boat. Please make note of it....
Edited by Mark Komo 6/19/2016 9:29 PM
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Location: Orland Park, IL | Just seen the Gillespie episode here in Chicago. We are getting our buckets ready for a trip to Winnebago...
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| A little bit of an update on the habitat meeting we had the other day. I will synopsize a few things here but one of the problems we identified was marshes that fish were tagged in that were suseceptible to dramatic fluctuations in water levels. Walleyes would go in the marshes and spawn but when the water levels dropped a little bit the eggs or fry were left dry and not able to flush out. A number of projects were marked for culverts in roads and bank cuts. Hopefully we can get to these prior to next years spawning.
The exploitation level was talked about and this year is running higher than the average. The 2013 year class are the 10" to 13" fish we are seeing and because of the low forage they would normally be about 15". This year class is the 5th highest on record so there is a lot of them out there but as I said, the exploitation is very high. One way to help the forage base is the rebuilding of the Princeton dam, unfortunately this has been a stagnant project by the state due to a lack of allocated funding.
The DNR tagging study with 210 tagged fish with $100 tags has a return of about 20 tags already.
I am awaiting hard info but it seems like the 17" to 21" fish we are used to seeing are not nearly as prevalent as years prior.
There was a discussion about a lot of double and tripple dipping on small fish so if you see anything please contact the DNR.
Thanks
Randy
Edited by RSR 6/22/2016 9:29 PM
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| One thing I did not mention is a possible thought about regulation change if one were to be recommended by the DNR. A size limit or slot really is not being looked at but a possible reduction in bag limit to 3 fish per day would be an option. Unfortunately the state legislative process moves very slowly and it would be years before it would take effect. |
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Harvests rates on the Winnebago Chain