At what size do you throw back?

[BuckKiller]

Good reminder! A bunch of guys got pinched last opening weekend up in the Basswood area for keeping too many over 20". For the life of me I don't know why anyone would want so many bigger fish - but that's just me.

I don't get many over 20 inches, so I keep what I can

[nofishfisherman]

I'll only keep walleye between 16 1/4" and 16 1/2", I'm always on the look out for that elusive 16 3/8" walleye!

[JBone]

13-20 inchers I like to keep

[Quackaddict9]

Anyone...ANYONE Who keeps a 13 inch Walleye should "STOP" and think.

I have fish in my Aquarium that are larger than that!

WHAT A JOKE...!

No one keeps a walleye in my boat unless it is 15 inches.

If I were being ultra conservative "on that day" I might let you keep a 14 1/2.

15-19 Best eaters!

I been catching & eating walleyes for over 40 Years & I can say that

21-24 Inch taste dam good too !

Statewide 15 Min.... !

BF

I'm gonna keep eating all the 13"ers I catch (HA ! )

I personally like eating the 13"-17"... best eaters that I have tasted! Keeping fish over 18" depends on my mood if I keep them or not, but usually release them.

You won't see a 15" minimum law statewide for a while.... It's a long shot. There are plenty of walleyes in many lakes in MN.

[BoxMN]

Our sort of unwritten rule is those 14-19 inchers are what we keep, if any, especially in northern lakes. But we were fishing a prairie lake out west last weekend (meaning fertile) and basically all we got was biggies. So yep, I kept a 26.5 incher and it tasted great This lake is one we have fished for 30+ years, and it always has big fish, but you might not catch that many. So if you throw your one biggie back, you might not have a fish fry, heh! And don't worry, there are plenty of walleyes in this lake.

If you are legal, you are good in my book. The one over 20" I think works just fine as a "global" rule if we are going to have one.

[metrofisher7]

14 1/2 through 17 1/2, but I rarely fish for a meal

[Team Otter]

I basically throw them all back. I don't really care for fish that much believe it or not. I got a little burnt out on it in college. I think I ate fish everyday for 2 years.

I'm with Walerak on this one.

[Musky Buck]

The other night we limited out plus released all 20" plus. At the landing I told my friend I don't want to clean them, he said I thought you wanted them, I said how about you he said I don't want to clean them, I said get the net and we carefully put them in it and set it in the lake by the access and we let them all go 16-19 inchers, that was more fun than catching them. I wonder what they thought swimming in a strange place, thankfully the water is cold enough they do so well in the well, if this was July we couldn't have let them go most likely.

[Musky Buck]

Sorry, answer to the question for me is I throw most of them back unless my family wants a meal, but I still have 1 meal in the freezer so why keep any more. I thought my friend would want them and he thought vice a versa. We've released limits of crappies before or walleyes, no big deal to my boat, we've caught thousands of walleyes and crappies in our lifetime already so it's no big deal, been there done that for years now we get more satisfaction out of releasing them, then again maybe it's just easy for us because we fish muskies so release is just what we're all about anyway. Good Luck fishing !

[stifler51]

I'll only keep walleye between 16 1/4" and 16 1/2", I'm always on the look out for that elusive 16 3/8" walleye!

OOOOOOO!!!! i got one on sunday, she was a beauty. 16 3/8 on the dot.

[BullFighter]

Originally Posted By: BullFighter

Anyone...ANYONE Who keeps a 13 inch Walleye should "STOP" and think.

I have fish in my Aquarium that are larger than that!

WHAT A JOKE...!

No one keeps a walleye in my boat unless it is 15 inches.

If I were being ultra conservative "on that day" I might let you keep a 14 1/2.

15-19 Best eaters!

I been catching & eating walleyes for over 40 Years & I can say that

21-24 Inch taste dam good too !

Statewide 15 Min.... !

BF

I'm gonna keep eating all the 13"ers I catch (HA ! )

I personally like eating the 13"-17"... best eaters that I have tasted! Keeping fish over 18" depends on my mood if I keep them or not, but usually release them.

You won't see a 15" minimum law statewide for a while.... It's a long shot. There are plenty of walleyes in many lakes in MN.

You sound Like a Great Walleye fisherman, your last name must be Linder...LMAO....

[Musky Buck]

Answering a ? well for what I spent on my boat I could've eaten walleye almost every night for the rest of my life so releasing what people consider 2 of the main eating fish walleyes and crappies is not a problem. I get off the water usually by 2AM, I fish nights mostly, and I don't want to clean fish until daybreak, we take pictures of the nice walleyes and release em. Retired CO Bruce Pfalzgraf, Pelican area one night said I watched you guys for an hour, you caught roughly 25 dandy crappies and kept none, what's up ? I said our purpose was to catch and release and when our minnows are gone we're done. Told Bruce we're fishing, not harvesting tonight and this went on for years when he checked us.

[bwana_d]

First off let me state that I don't have any issues with why anyone keeps what they keep, it is their decision as long as the fish do not get wasted, I do have an issue with people wanting to impose their values on others, specifically what size fish they keep, we have enough thought police in the rest of our lives, do we really need it in our fishing past time.

So with that said, for me it depends:

[*]if I am in the BWCA and planned for 1 or 2 meals of fish, (it adds a thrill to know you have to catch something to eat, it is also fun to do this when hunting in the BWCA) [*]if the lake has a high contaminant level or not - the higher the contaminants the less likely I am to keep anything over 17 [*]On the taste of the fish out of the body of water and the time of year - smaller fish taste better when they are from warm shallow lakes. Some lakes like Winnie have fish that taste good at the higher end of the size range. [*]On what I will be cooking them in - pan fried, deep fried, etc. Thick fillets work well in a deep fryier, thin fillets on a pan.

Bottom line I enjoy eating fish and adapt to the situation. My preferred eating size is from 15 - 17. Of course on one lake I fish I can not keep anything under 17 and it is a warm shallow lake, so I only keep those fish in the months with an "r" in them - typically colder water.

My recommendation - stay within the law and have a good time fishing and savor the taste of what you catch. For my family it is only considered fresh fish when the fillet is still twitching when it goes into the pan, but they taste good frozen if you get them to the freezer right away.

[PierBridge]

Depends on the lake and the state of the walleyes in that lake. Some lakes I'll keep 13s to 19, other lakes 16 to 19.

Yep!

[james_walleye]

Hey bullfighter why is keeping a 13" fish a joke?? You do realize that biologically speaking its much better to keep a 13" than a 19", much less a 23" or 24" fish? You obviously don't know that, either that or you just don't care. Its the reason you see 19" fish protected in all slots and you don't see 13" fish protected and also the reason you won't see a 15" minimum statewide. I don't keep alot of fish myself and i try to keep 14-17" fish.

[bgreen82]

14-18 inches, and thats if the wife wants to filet them for me.

[JakeJ_Mn]

Keep what you like, but come on - a 13 inch walleye is barely enough for a sandwich.

[Moe Szyslak]

2-30" go back.

[fallingredbass]

Have tossed back two between 28.5"-29.5" and plan to do the same when I land a 30". Replicas can be made and someone else should get a shot at that pretty lady.

[Jackpine Rob]

Keep what you like, but come on - a 13 inch walleye is barely enough for a sandwich.

They make great sandwiches! I will be fishing a remote little lake in NE Minnesota this weekend that would drive some of you guys nuts. The fish simply don't get any bigger than 13 inches or so. There's plenty of fish - but I can count on one hand the number of fish over 14 inches we have seen in the last year or two. It sure isn't fishing pressure - its just the nature of that lake.

And they are tasty little devils!

[nofishfisherman]

Originally Posted By: nofishfisherman

I'll only keep walleye between 16 1/4" and 16 1/2", I'm always on the look out for that elusive 16 3/8" walleye!

OOOOOOO!!!! i got one on sunday, she was a beauty. 16 3/8 on the dot.

Man am I jealous. I bet that fish was a real beauty and I bet it tasted even better.

[RIPN LIPS]

As long as your willing to clean it, eat it, or mount it, its your fish do what you want. My range 13" to 19" anything bigger gets its picture taken and back in the lake. Just some fyi a 13" walleye fillet is bigger than some of the panfish fillets that you see guys filling there livewells with. No vote for me on the state minimum but a state slot would be great.

[stifler51]

Originally Posted By: stifler51

Originally Posted By: nofishfisherman

I'll only keep walleye between 16 1/4" and 16 1/2", I'm always on the look out for that elusive 16 3/8" walleye!

OOOOOOO!!!! i got one on sunday, she was a beauty. 16 3/8 on the dot.

Man am I jealous. I bet that fish was a real beauty and I bet it tasted even better.

its in the freezer, im gonna wait for that special occasion to break it out over some wine and a candle lit dinner for the gf. she'll never know how much of a delicacy that fish is.

[james_walleye]

I have cleaned some 13 1/2" fish out of Winnie and those fish have nice fillets in my book.

[Musky Buck]

16"-19" inchers when I want a meal, otherwise I catch and release all of them, take a picture of the 24"+ ers. Keep what you want, release what you don't want. I released my friendand I's limit last weekend, neither wanted to clean them so late so once I pulled the boat out we carefully let them go, next time we'll discuss if either want them before fishing, then we'll release them after being caught.