Largest walleye this season?

[fiskyknut]

Bigeyes, us MN folks just ain't use to seeing that kind and number of fish on a fillet table are we! Saginaw is quite the pond, we fish the eastside of the Charities, water is like 50 to 80 foot out here and all the fish are BIG. You gotta try it. Personally I don't eat those big fish so I'm glad I'm here....plenty of small ones in LOTW!

Fishing has been decent up here this winter, tons of small ones as usual to sort thru. I've been eating Perch fillets pretty steady since Christmas so I'm happy. That awesome Pike fishing thru the ice is right around the corner.....The easy Walleye/Sauger fishing gets boring and I really start looking foreward to some tipup fishing this time of winter. This year I will get that 48 incher!

I was offline for about a month, assorted problems and I moved over near Salol which is just west of Warroad. I'm only about 15 minutes from the Warroad access now.

Regards....Fisky

[This message has been edited by fiskyknut (edited 02-11-2004).]

[ccarlson]

Here is some of the info I promised in the earlier post. I pulled it from our Brainerd Walleye Alliance Spring 2003 newsletter. It is a brief article written by Tim Brastrup, our Brainerd Area fisheries supervisor.
Here is a portion of the article.

“...The Pine River egg take ranges from 350 to 800 quarts, depending on the weather and river flow. There are, on average, 122,000 eggs per quart, which is large compared to most runs. Generally speaking, the larger the female walleye, the larger the fry.
The largest females and males enter the spawning run first followed in mid-run by mainly medium to small females. Water temperatures range from 42 to 52 degrees F. Once the fish are trapped over night, they are separated by sex in the morning and kept in cribs. Most females are green or not ready to be stripped for a couple of days so they are cribbed until they ripen. Eggs mature in the fish as the daylight hours or photoperiod approaches. Rising water termperature ripens the eggs, allowing them to be released.
The eggs are stripped and mixed with sperm at a ratio of 2 males to 1 female. The fish yield 0.5 to 1 quart of eggs per fish. Once the eggs are fertilized they are bathed in bentonite slurry for 2 minutes to prevent clumping before rinsing. They are stored in a tub of water for water-hardening for at least 1.5 hours and covered to prevent ultraviolet light damage. They are transported to the hatchery in cream cans and jarred-up at a rate of 2.5 quarts per Meehan jar or 23 quarts per hatching cannon.
It requires about 3 weeks or 290-320 temperature units (daily water temperature minus 32) to hatch the eggs. The fertilization rate averages 98% and the average hatch rate is 80%. .......” end partial quote.

Our Brainerd Chapter donated the new cannon system referred to in the article. From what they are finding the hatch rate is much higher in the cannons than the average hatch rate since stripping the Pine River began in 1921 so the 80% averge hatch rate is lower and more indicative of the Meehan jar technique than the current hatch rate using cannons. Also larger fry from larger eggs from larger females means a better start to the growth process and a fry/fingerling that is more likely to survive more drastic weather and food source conditions that many smaller fry fall victim to. As stated in the article, this is a general statement. Of course there are always exceptions.

My observation is that many (not the majority, but still many) of the female walleye stipped for the Pine River egg take are near and some over 10 pounds. As a matter of fact, there was a fish around 14 pounds that came in every year for several years. As stated these larger fish are also capable of producing more quantity of eggs as well as larger sized eggs. Therefore, it shows that hatch rates from larger walleye are high enough to validate their ability to contribute in a very positive way to the future walleye population of the lake.

ccarlson

[LaVoi]

Biggest of the season was a 26.5" caught last July, although it only weighed 5.75 lbs. Wish they could always stay as fat as they are this time of year.

[can it be luck?]

Bigeyes, the picture you're refering to that has me kneeling in the boat along with less than our legal limit of eyes was taken on Erie. The pic that had me holding 2 eyes with a small child next to me was LBDN. You "slueths" really crack me up. I told you where they came from, shouldn't that be enough? Anysways, I'm still witout internet and I'm borrowing a friends puter. So I seem to be missing all the fun! Just came back last night from Winni and Red. Left Saturday and fished till last night. Crappies were sporadic on Red, but the walleyes provided lots of fun! I did catch a 28 1/2" walleye of Winni on a tip-up Tuesday night, I threw it back. Maybe I should've ate it as so you guys can have a little fun too! j/k

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[Fish Head]

Biggest this year was 27 1/2" on LOTW in early June. A buddy of mine and I were on Mile Lacs in September and he caught a 27" and a 27 1/4" about 5 minutes apart. Thanks god for my extra 1/4", because I still get the bragging rights.

[can it be luck?]

rmh2o, Did you recieve my video tapes? My computer took a dive after mailing them out. I'm still trying to recover e-mail addys and other stuff, your phone number was lost too. I was gonna e-mail a warning to you, If your big into CPR.....DONT WATCH! Keep in mind that we only film when weather permits, there were a lot more fish caught which didn't get filmed. Some of the other stuff on the tapes are Red Lake northern(actual length was 44", I called it 41". I thought the ruler on the tip-up read in 15" increments, it was actually 16"), Chequomegon Bay bass, Blackduck variety, Benjamin lake trout, fall run salmon, Florida saltwater fishing, pheasant and chucker dog training, and who knows what else. Sort of a "grab bag" of this and that. Get in touch, I'm back up and at em. PS: Erie doesn't look so hard do fish after all...Does it? Also, the waves can get pretty big, 4-6' aren't uncommon. The tapes dont show it since were not filming on those days.

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[rmh2o]

CIBL got the tapes.Thanks,took me 2 days to watch them Lots of video and lots of fish.I definitly plan on going.Will talk to you soon.

[GEO]

This is a d-ck swingin' contest..but I can't resist.

Last year I caught a 28", 10lb walleye below pool4 dam in April--it pulled so hard I thought I had God-knows-what on the other end of my line--AWSOME. I thought about saving her for the taxidermist (to be honest, I kept her in the live well for about ten minutes thinking about it), but decided on CPR. We caught a 27", 28", and 3 29"s on ML last year--all CPR. I'm pretty determined to get that first 30"er for the wall. Of course I said the same thing about my first 10, yet I decided to let her go..maybe I'll change my mind and release that first fish over 30" ..if I'm so lucky.

BTW, I won a digital camera this winter. Is there any way to post pics on this board?? I think it would be fun to see some big fish pics.

[can it be luck?]

Rmh2o, I sent you an e-mail which I hope you recieved. Yes, keep them untill March, but I do need to get them back being that they are not duplicated. You know, memories and stuff like that. Are you ready for another 4 hours of fish video? j/k. This summer if you decide to go you can make some yourself, it's pretty neat to watch them later. Were you able to figure out my techniques by watching? If you have any questions about it let me know. Take care, Mark... PS: Sorry for makeing this a "personal" type post.

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[First Ice-Mike]

We can keep all the 10 pounders we want becuase the fishery is in good shape so it doesn't matter. Sorry - I just don't buy into that logic. It is that kind of logic that has killed many a good walleye lake in Minnesota. There used to be a time when people kept tons of big fish off of Minnewaska and look what happened - You would be hard streched to ever come across a 10 pounder in that lake now. Nobody ever thought that lake would get fished out either. I also doubt a person capable of keeping that many big fish would have any problem keeping big fish no matter where he is fishing.

CIBL- You were the one defending the Indians netting walleyes here a while back. Direct quote:

"One thing I've noticed about the natives, they hunt and fish for substanence, ulike whites who do it for fun."

Now that I've seen your definition of "substanence" I realize you might quite possibly be the biggest one-who-thinks-I-am-silly on this forum.

I'm sure you have something really clever to say to me or have a nice 2 page post under your sleeve just waiting to be revealed, but I'm sure I'm not the only one disgusted by your idea of sportsmanship. Personally - you can have Erie and I would never go fishing with you.

FI

[can it be luck?]

First Ice, as long as were quoteing, let's quote your entire post. Sound like fun? ..Quote: We can keep all the 10 pounders we want becuase the fishery is in good shape so it doesn't matter. Sorry - I just don't buy into that logic. It is that kind of logic that has killed many a good walleye lake in Minnesota. There used to be a time when people kept tons of big fish off of Minnewaska and look what happened - You would be hard streched to ever come across a 10 pounder in that lake now. Nobody ever thought that lake would get fished out either......Who's logic is that? Did I or anyone else say keep all 10lb. walleye on lakes that are in "good shape"? Are you selective in your reading skills? Have you read the entire thread? It seems we have two choices here, 1. You cannot comprehend the English language. 2. You suffer from some sort of mental disease. Perhaps delusional, with a touch of psychosis. Nowhere is anything like that stated........Quote: I also doubt a person capable of keeping that many big fish would have any problem keeping big fish no matter where he is fishing.......What can I say? You do a fine job displaying your ignorance and insecurities! Tell me, what's it like to live a life of fear, lined with pessimism and doubt? ....Quote: CIBL- You were the one defending the Indians netting walleyes here a while back. Direct quote:

"One thing I've noticed about the natives, they hunt and fish for substanence, unlike whites who do it for fun."

WHAAAAAT??? How does that statement pertain to this? It made sense in the thread that it was used, "Reservation Lines". Perhaps you should pull something I said from the thread "He Opened Mouth and out Rolled the Marbles". .........Quote: Now that I've seen your definition of "substanence" I realize you might quite possibly be the biggest one-who-thinks-I-am-silly on this forum......No, you're quite wrong. Here's my definition of substanance, Substanance; The one thing which is lacking in First Ice's posts! Other than talking alot without saying squat, the one thing you said which may have any relevance in this thread is that you're unable to catch fish on lake Minnewaska. Is that all you can come up with? That's like bringing a knife to a gun fight......Tell us something of value. What about all the success stories of fisheries that are thriving today? I'm not sure, but I'd have to say it's a good chance they out way the bad, Eries one of them. The biggest one-who-thinks-I-am-silly? I guess time will tell wont it, right know you're makeing a pretty good run for that title with no help from me.......Quote: I'm sure you have something really clever to say to me or have a nice 2 page post under your sleeve just waiting to be revealed.......Two page post? In response to what? You haven't said anything....At least not worth while, just a bunch of unsubstantiated claims and assumptions.....Quote: I'm sure I'm not the only one disgusted by your idea of sportsmanship.......Speak for yourself. Stand and deliver....And do it alone! People and animals seek strength in numbers when not strong enough to do it on thier own. Similar to the way little minnows and baitfish form large, tight, baitballs when escapeing predator fish and animals, hopeing to win the "numbers game". I see this is the case here. Are you the designated spokesman for the general public? Perhaps self appointed?......Quote: Personally - you can have Erie and I would never go fishing with you.......Well it's about time! You finally got something right! NO, YOU WILL NEVER GO FISHING WITH ME! Wait maybe I'm wrong. I'll bet you'd love to go fishing with me. I'd also bet that once you start catching fish you'd keep them all! Is this some twisted gesture of friendship?.....If so, it's disgusting! ....Signed: The one-who-thinks-I-am-silly

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[Matt Breuer]

I want in on the fight....

CIBL, you were 10 miles from my house this past weekend and you didn't stop by, I'm very upset with you!

Let's tone this thread down a little huh?

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Matthew J. Breuer
Northcountry Guide Service
[email protected]
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Custom Jigs and Spins
Phelps Tackle
Stone Legacy
Ice Leaders

[can it be luck?]

Hey Matt, there's always next week! I think I might check out the new "crappie highway" on Red Did you guys do well on Blackduck? I definitly want to try that one again. Maybe I'll take a couple of weeks off and hang with you fellas in the great state of Minnesota! Or even rent an apartment in the area. Take care, Mark

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[muskyon]

Another perspective?

Don't want to keep the rocks flying in this thread, however it really has me thinking. My story goes, I keep nothing. Personal reasons whatever. I don't even keep so called 15-18 inch "eaters". I however love to eat walleye (as many of us do) and after releasing everything I've caught will happily walk into a famous "fish house" in central Minnesota with a clear conscience in my mind and purchase a box or two of walleye fillets marked "Product of USA" I was comforted in believing I could "release my fish and eat them too"

Now I'm starting to think am I any less guilty? I'm patronizing commercial harvest of walleye! I guess I could be judged on that? I may now have set myself up for personal attack. But think about it.

I'm careful to judge. I accept others beliefs and "legal" practices with out "throwing rocks at them"

Just some "food" for thought?