Slot limit thoughts

[Bearfan1963]

Myself and family were up over Memorial day weekend and also had a creel survey done as we left Namakan. So Im sure something is in the works. We were catching nothing but 21-24 inchers w/ a couple of keepers thrown in. He said he was getting the same info from all from all that were fishing Namakan and actually the opposite on Kab, as the fishermen on Kab were reporting more keepers than size.

IMO, the slot works great. Should there be adustments every now and again? Let the fish in the lake tell the story, be honest if/when you are surveyed. I think allowing you to keep one in the slot would damage the fish as there will be some who'll rotate there livewell. I fished in Canada for 10 years and when they introduced their slot, fishing and size improved. I have been fishing Kab/Nam/Crane/Rainy for the last 8 years and once again fishing and size has improved. Or I could keep believing that I just got better

[Sonicrunch]

That's it, I've had it. ;-)

You can keep 1 fish. Done

[pulleye16]

I feel your pain. I'm on the other side though as I rarely keep fish. I love most slots like leech cause I was pounding 22 inchers all day long. But you're right, I was fishing farm island for some eaters (very rare for me) and had to throw back 16-19 inchers which is the perfect eaters...Best bet: If your looking for fun fishing, try a slot lake, looking for eaters, find one with out!

[nofishfisherman]

It seems simple to me, if you don't care for the slot limits then fish a lake without a slot. There are something like 15,000 lakes in Minnesota, it shouldn't be too hard to find a lake that fits what you are looking for.

I think some people forget that not everyone is after the same thing as they are. Some are after a meal, some are after a trophy, and some are just trying to get away from the wife. Everyone should be able to find what they are looking for on one lake or another.

In general slots seem to work, of course some lakes the slot might need some fine tuning every once in a while but in general they can be good thing.

[chasineyes]

Ok, I'll be Mr. Negative...my opinions on slots.

1) I'm guessing everyone on this site fishes at least once a week. My problem comes with the average family that wants to rent a cabin up north, go out with the kids and catch a meal. At the most they will probably fish 3-5 times a year.I'm sure we can all "preach the glory of how we save the fish for the future" but that's not exactly reality, weren't our grandfathers pulling lots of limits in the early 1900's and leech, mille lacs etc still have fish in 2010. Heck my parents have a cabin by leech and I only fish that 3 or 4 times a year.

2) We fished 6th Crow Wing by park rapids 3 weeks ago. It had an old gravel road to the landing that could MAYBE hold 3 boats. But yet there was more signage and literature than at a abstinenece only class. Do we really think the "public fisherman" is the one cleaning out the lake? I'm guessing no, but it sure does open the door for the cabin owners. This seems like a nice way for the lakeshore owners to keep others "off" their lake by instituting slot/limits. As the serious fisherman will simply move on to another lake.

3) Enforcment, enforcment, enforcment. What's to keep a lakeshore owner from going out at 11 pm and catching litterally whatever they want as they know statistically that they won't be caught? Whereas the person at the landing is at a much greater risk of being "caught" as they like to sit their waiting for you to come in. I'm 38 and have been fishing for 25 years and have been checked 3 times. All at the landing.

As the DNR reported, license sales we're up this year which is a good thing but as a father of 2 kids, I simply have many other options in which to spend my money. And please don't say fine quite fishing, afterall the state and the DNR is counting on my $20-30.

[Nick Kuhn]

If there's no special regulation chances are there are fewer fish to catch.

If there's a minimum length chances are you'll catch more fish, but many will be too small to keep.

If there's a slot, again you seem to catch more fish but they always seem to fall in the slot range.

It's really a pick your poison situation. The pressure is simply too high for a have your cake and eat it too situation.

[OnAFly]

+1

[WollMan]

There is a state wide slot... ONE walleye over 20 inches.

Sorry that is not a slot.

[mrklean]

i hardly ever keep fish, but isnt it one over 28"? meaning you get your one trophy and thats it

[mainbutter]

If there's no special regulation chances are there are fewer fish to catch.

If there's a minimum length chances are you'll catch more fish, but many will be too small to keep.

If there's a slot, again you seem to catch more fish but they always seem to fall in the slot range.

It's really a pick your poison situation. The pressure is simply too high for a have your cake and eat it too situation.

I don't see why people don't understand how simple this is.

Each lake is unique and each fisherman is unique. We're lucky in MN to have so many lakes that we can have lakes that are managed for CPR, lakes that are managed for big fish, and lakes that have no special regulations.

The special regs are doing their job if the people wanting to take fish look at those lakes in envy for how good the fishing is.

[DTro]

I kind of like the idea of total inches.

Say an angler is allowed 60". That's 5 12"ers, 4 15"ers, 3 20"ers, 2 30"ers or a combination of all 4, but never more than 60 total inches in the livewell.

Probably would never work, but it's a thought.

[PierBridge]

I be down for that DTRO if the used the METRIC system!

[gunflint]

I am adamantly opposed to a state wide slot for lakes that don't need it. However the total inch concept is an interesting idea.

[Koepper08]

Little Mantrap Lake is a success story for the bass slot limit. 12-18" must be immediately returned...Now it is 12-20" I'm pretty sure. Haven't been on a better bassin' lake and if you want to keep some eaters, go to a different lake! I have personally caught three bass over 18" this year alone and it only keeps getting better...

chasineyes - that access is pretty shady, eh? I've been there after dark and I'm always waiting for bigfoot to come out after me...

[BrdHunter01]

Slots are great. Should be a statewide slot limit. I haven't fished a lake where a slot limit hasn't helped the fishery....

Note: I'm talking about walleyes

[WollMan]

Slots are great. Should be a statewide slot limit. I haven't fished a lake where a slot limit hasn't helped the fishery....

Note: I'm talking about walleyes

Totally agree

[merkman]

Over all I think slots are a very good thing.

On the northern pike side of things they just need a few tweaks so they don't exclude responsible harvest via the darkhouse spearing method and they would get 100% of my backing.

[Sonicrunch]

I kind of like the idea of total inches.

Say an angler is allowed 60". That's 5 12"ers, 4 15"ers, 3 20"ers, 2 30"ers or a combination of all 4, but never more than 60 total inches in the livewell.

Probably would never work, but it's a thought.

I don't totally disagree, but the slot goes further in protecting a certain year class.

So total inches isn't really apples to apples.

[Neighbor_guy]

Slot limits would not be an issue if we could change one thing about them, us......

For some reason in this state EVERY walleye between 14 and 22 inches long that bit something with a hook in it ended up in a frying pan.

Now the state has to "protect" some fish from the pan, ie fish over 20" state wide, and "protected" slots on 2 out of every three others.

FWIW I think protected slots work. They definately work for pike and I have to figure they work for walleye's in natural production lakes. As far as lakes with limited or no natural reproducion, I think slots are just there to make sure people have fish to fish for. But they only really "work" for size structure.

Minnesota fisherman fish in the land of "put and take" fishing. We grouse about stocking our precious walleyes in lakes they shouldn't be in, or can't reproduce in. Then complain when we cant take them at the levels we want.

When it all comes down to it, you, me, the guy in that boat over there, and the guy standing on shore all want the same thing, a quality fishery. Until we all start letting fish go and only taking a few we will have to deal with slots.

"Got my limit".... "Did you limit out?".... get your limit?, Limit, limit, limit......

For the record, I did not take my limit of walleye's last year. I caught a lot of them on several occasions, but for the season of spring 09-winter 10 I only kept 3 fish total. And with a nice salad and side, they were more than plenty for a meal for two people.

[cylinder]

Slot limits would not be an issue if we could change one thing about them, us......

For some reason in this state EVERY walleye between 14 and 22 inches long that bit something with a hook in it ended up in a frying pan.

Now the state has to "protect" some fish from the pan, ie fish over 20" state wide, and "protected" slots on 2 out of every three others.

FWIW I think protected slots work. They definately work for pike and I have to figure they work for walleye's in natural production lakes. As far as lakes with limited or no natural reproducion, I think slots are just there to make sure people have fish to fish for. But they only really "work" for size structure.

Minnesota fisherman fish in the land of "put and take" fishing. We grouse about stocking our precious walleyes in lakes they shouldn't be in, or can't reproduce in. Then complain when we cant take them at the levels we want.

When it all comes down to it, you, me, the guy in that boat over there, and the guy standing on shore all want the same thing, a quality fishery. Until we all start letting fish go and only taking a few we will have to deal with slots.

"Got my limit".... "Did you limit out?".... get your limit?, Limit, limit, limit......

For the record, I did not take my limit of walleye's last year. I caught a lot of them on several occasions, but for the season of spring 09-winter 10 I only kept 3 fish total. And with a nice salad and side, they were more than plenty for a meal for two people.

I totally agree.

[ANYFISH2]

Slot limits would not be an issue if we could change one thing about them, us......

For some reason in this state EVERY walleye between 14 and 22 inches long that bit something with a hook in it ended up in a frying pan.

Now the state has to "protect" some fish from the pan, ie fish over 20" state wide, and "protected" slots on 2 out of every three others.

FWIW I think protected slots work. They definately work for pike and I have to figure they work for walleye's in natural production lakes. As far as lakes with limited or no natural reproducion, I think slots are just there to make sure people have fish to fish for. But they only really "work" for size structure.

Minnesota fisherman fish in the land of "put and take" fishing. We grouse about stocking our precious walleyes in lakes they shouldn't be in, or can't reproduce in. Then complain when we cant take them at the levels we want.

When it all comes down to it, you, me, the guy in that boat over there, and the guy standing on shore all want the same thing, a quality fishery. Until we all start letting fish go and only taking a few we will have to deal with slots.

"Got my limit".... "Did you limit out?".... get your limit?, Limit, limit, limit......

For the record, I did not take my limit of walleye's last year. I caught a lot of them on several occasions, but for the season of spring 09-winter 10 I only kept 3 fish total. And with a nice salad and side, they were more than plenty for a meal for two people.

+1

especially against slots on stocked non-reproducing lakes.

Also, we(sportsmen) really need to stop seperating ourselves, exp.. "meat hunters/fisherman" vs "trophy/C&R guys", we're all in it together, enjoying our resource. We should be able to accept differences other have and not criticise.

[Xplorer]

WIWF,

Since this topic was starte about Kab/Nam, I have to ask if you fished it before the first slot was placed on the lake?? Although I havnt fished it near as long as Dusty, I started on Kab/Nam 2 years before the slot was introduced. And it has come a long way since then, for the positive IMHO. My suggestion is if you can't catch slots, then fish deeper, or areas away from other fisherman. After near 15 years of camping on the islands and fishing, my sonar is my best friend hint hint.

Going from no slot, to a between 13-17" keeper slot, to the current under 17 slot has been interesting. If you are looking for change to the regs, I believe that unless the regs on Rainy and all the VNP lakes is changed, nothing will change on any single lake in the chain. Simple enforcement issues dictate that.

For me, I have gone from skunked to catching 43 "keepers" in a single day (my wife and I, when the slot was between 13-17"), too having had an afternoon where I caught 17 fish in a row that were in the slot. Xtremes in all cases, but they were sill incredible experiences!!

[delcecchi]

The main reason for a slot in most lakes is to limit harvest to a sustainable level. If folks harvest more fish than the lake can produce, eventually the harvest will equal the production with both at a low level thus providing crummy fishing.

The same thing could be accomplished by reducing the limit but it would have to be to a very low number, like 1 or 2 fish. Or the system used in sandiego county california bass/trout lakes. Fishing is only allowed on certain days, like tuesday and saturday.

Of all the alternatives that I can think of, a slot seems the most palatable to me.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

I still think slot +1 would be great. Many people don't get the chance to go much, maybe once a year. Not a lot of time to learn a lake.

I don't think keeping one fish a day is going to kill the fishing. The idea of a slot that only increases your odds of catching big fish is one sided and doesn't provide for the guy that wants one meal.

As I stated above, I still think slots are great, but would be even better if you could keep one of them to eat.

[WollMan]

If you want to keep fish to eat, try fishing different areas. The 'keeper' fish are there, sometimes you just have to look for them instead of fishing the spots you are used to fishing.

Again there should be a state-wide slot IMO