At what size do you throw back?

[james_walleye]

You may want to check on the regs, i thought it was illegal to release fish after they've been in your livewell...?

[Quackaddict9]

Quote:

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

you sound like a friendly person...

[stifler51]

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.

ive done that a few times but most of the time its catch one see if we pull some more, if not most of the time that one goes back instead of dragging out all the cleaning supplies for one fish

[T.S128]

14-18 is what i usually keep. and im with james_walleye on thinking that release fish after putting them in the livewell is illegal, along with sorting.

[JakeJ_Mn]

Culling/sorting is against the law. You are allowed to net/unhook/take a pic --- then you must either release or take into possesion of the fish. Once in possesion it can't be put back. This also applys to tournaments unless the DNR gives a waiver.

Possesion limit includes any fish you have no matter where they are kept( in the boat/camper/cabin/home). Hard to control, but that's the rule.

Already this year I have seen a few people get tickets from the CO for culling/sorting.

[PerchJerker]

This is from page 9 of the Fishing Regs ......

Possessing Fish

• Daily and possession limits are the same unless otherwise noted. Fish are in an angler’s possession whether on hand, in cold storage, in transport, or elsewhere.

• Once a daily or possession limit of fish has been reached, no culling or live well sorting is allowed.

When culling and sorting have come up in the past, this part of the regs gets brought up to support it. Sounds like you can cull and release fish, as long as you don't have your limit in possession.

[Drewski]

Sounds like you can cull and release fish, as long as you don't have your limit in possession.

That's what I got out of reading that.

[Musky Buck]

I understand the law, but common sense prevailed. I would hope most would rather see a dozen walleyes returned to the same lake as opposed to them going to waste. Lesson learned, discuss who's keeping and cleaning them before the first one goes in the livewell. I assumed my friend who doesn't own a boat would certainly have wanted them, but that wasn't the case at 2:30 in the AM and it being 36 degrees out. I certainly feel zero shame for that 1 occurrence and once June 6th hits my walleyeing is done for the year.

[C. Ford]

13"-14" by far are the best eaters anything more than 15" i put back thats for me personaly the small fish fillet nice and they fry up so sweet bigger they just dont fry up the same. But its all in personal preference

[B K'S DAD]

I agree 13 and14" fish are good eater but can't you go out and catch 13 and 14" perch, and leave the walleye go.

[stifler51]

I would hope most would rather see a dozen walleyes returned to the same lake as opposed to them going to waste.

i agree, instead wasting fish its better to put it back in the water. As for me i have a couple hundred dollars into my livewell in order to keep some of the healthiest fish. Thats the one perk about fishing, u have the option to release, last year i went hunting next to a river/bridge and saw, well not really saw, my dog brought me back about 3 ducks, going wth i started looking around and found a doz ducks not cleaned in a bag. Thats sad.

[Bearfan1963]

15 to 18 for me

[hooksetta16]

You can always throw that 1st one back and see if the bite is going too... if not at least ya caught fish!

[Drewski]

This is from page 9 of the Fishing Regs ......

Possessing Fish

• Daily and possession limits are the same unless otherwise noted. Fish are in an angler’s possession whether on hand, in cold storage, in transport, or elsewhere.

• Once a daily or possession limit of fish has been reached, no culling or live well sorting is allowed.

They really should think about changing this. I wonder how many dead fish have been thrown back because of it.

[OIF_Veteran_21B]

BullFighter,

You're pompous arrogance is noted. I hope you don't try to make yourself out to others as a sportsman.

Your opinion is your opinion and your entitled to that. Don't need to try and force it on others, or condemn those who may keep fish smaller than what you keep. To each their own.

The laws and regulations are there for everybody to follow. They're made by people who know way more about the resource than you will ever know. So some people like to keep a 13" fish. They paid for their license, you more than likely did not. They can keep the legal length fish they want.

Me personally, I have been fishing up in Canada and myself and others have kept some walleyes as small as 12", not a limit of 12"ers, but a few that size. I kind of thought it was crazy at first, but the daylight was getting short and they wanted a fish fry. That being said, that 12" walleye was probably the best tasting walleye I've ever eaten.

Normally like to keep the 14-17". But do sometimes keep 17-21". Anything over 21", unless it's bleeding, tournament, or going on the wall, it goes back.

To sum it up, as long as it's a legal size fish, it's about personal choice.

[andrew chadwick]

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

you just got to learn how to be good with with a fillet knife:)

[BullFighter]

BullFighter,

You're pompous arrogance is noted. I hope you don't try to make yourself out to others as a sportsman.

The laws and regulations are there for everybody to follow. They're made by people who know way more about the resource than you will ever know. So some people like to keep a 13" fish. They paid for their license, you more than likely did not. They can keep the legal length fish they want.

Me personally, I have been fishing up in Canada and myself and others have kept some walleyes as small as 12", not a limit of 12"ers, but a few that size. I kind of thought it was crazy at first, but the daylight was getting short and they wanted a fish fry. That being said, that 12" walleye was probably the best tasting walleye I've ever eaten.

.

To sum it up, as long as it's a legal size fish, it's about personal choice.

I agree with you.

[fishhawk1750]

But a sandwich that is fantastic! If you like to eat fish, and eat what you catch, does it really matter how big the fish is? So you say that 24 inch walleyes are to thick, they taste to fishy, they are the big females. Well here is my answer to those questions. Cut the filets into smaller chunks, they are fish not a chicken and lastly, most of the lakes are stocked and do not reproduce naturally. If you think that I am going to feel guilty about eating a few walleyes a year you got another thing coming!

[Tully]

If I am cooking them in the deep fryer I will take the bigger fillets, 16-19" fish and seperate the fillet where that little line runs down the middle of the fillet so you end up with 2 strips per side. They cook up really well because they are as wide as they are thick so they cook evenly.

[PerchJerker]

most of the lakes are stocked and do not reproduce naturally

This is true for some lakes, not for other lakes, and not true for "most" lakes. I think we need to be careful about being "armchair biologists" and deciding on our own what is best for the lakes. If it's a legal fish and you want to keep it that's fine with me, but I don't think deciding on your own that it won't reproduce is a valid reason to keep a fish.

[DHanson]

I will keep 13"-19". Ideally the 14"-17" are the best eaters IMO. Also, I don't really like to keep a limit very often. I usually only keep what I can eat that night or maybe the next day. I like fresh fish, not the ones sitting in the freezer for months.

[bigbucks]

I like 14-19, but will occasionally keep them down to 13 and up to 20 or so depending on how badly I want fish for dinner or how many I caught. A 15 1/8" & a 16 1/2" with a 21" thrown in can make a lot nicer meal.

I personally don't have that many outings where a limit or even many walleyes are caught. I would say the outings during the summer season where more then 5-6 walleyes go home in my live well, even with multiple people in the boat most of the time, could probably be counted on one hand. Not sure if that makes me a bad fisherman or an honest fisherman. Spend a lot of time on Osakis, but a lot of 2-4 hour outings & a lot of those times when they're going you catch a lot under the 15" minimum.

[jigginjim]

what so you do with a badly hooked 29" walleye? With a plain hook cut the line and release it But how about one that has a 1/16 leadhead jig in the front of the gullet? Release and hope it lives or keep for mounting?

[Drewski]

That's a no brainer: release it. I've caught walleyes with 1/16-1/4 oz jigs in their gullet and they were doing just fine.