Sustainability

[delcecchi]

2 hours ago, rascal23 said:

I wonder how many people really know that your daily limit, is your possession limit.  20 sunnies in your freezer means you can't keep any more. This goes for all gamefish species daily limits except perch, where possession is double your daily.    And assuming every angler knows this, how many break it.    I've often said that fish possession limits are the most broken game law.

 

I agree.  I bet that a majority of anglers who go regularly violate this law.   Certainly many of the locals on Vermilion did, filling the freezer with walleye in the spring when they were easier.   That was a few years ago that I was talking to some of them, but I would presume they are probably still doing it  

[Big Dave2]

14 hours ago, delcecchi said:

 

Genetics?   Shoepack lake?  

 

Got whacked back in the day and got stuck with a stunted population?   I don't know if a lake can get itself back into balance once it gets full of stunted sunnies and hammer handle northerns.   Interesting question.  

 

I don't know the answer. I doubt it ever got whacked but I have no way of knowing that. This lake is very hard to get to so that's what makes me doubt it. I had never even heard of Shoepack lake until you mentioned it, so no that's not the lake I'm talking about.

3 hours ago, rascal23 said:

I wonder how many people really know that your daily limit, is your possession limit.  

 

I think most know it, they just don't abide by it.

[Big Dave2]

17 hours ago, DLD24 said:

Not much food in the lake?? Not every lake has the potential to produce big fish... 

 

That's my point. Everyone likes to point the finger at over-harvesting fisher people but that's not always the case.

[DLD24]

Obviously not always overharvesting, but it's definitely a problem.

[Jim Uran]

Self regulation and common sense are the two biggest things that are lacking in our society. 

[ESSGuy]

Back when I first started fishing with my dad in the late 70's on the St. croix river it was routine to catch a limit of walleyes. Then in winter the crappie fishing was great. Now the pressure is at least 10 times what it was back then, or even 15 yrs ago. Times and pressure have changed so much that limits, I think, need to change. 

[PurpleFloyd]

On the bright side many of the lakes in South Central Minnesota are actually cleaner and have better fish populations than at any time in my life. 

It seems the water in many is getting cleaner by reducing runoff and keeping out nutrients that used to turn them green. 

In many ways the milfoil and other green plants are providing cover where none existed in the past so fish can hide and grow and they can help reduce algae as well. 

Obviously it's not perfect but it's better. Rivers are much the same. The Blue Earth, watonwan and Minnesota used to be nothing but muddy and full of bullheads and carp. Now they have good walleye populations and when they are low the clarity is better. 

 

I think that we can get to the point where we keep less fish and pressure them less. The habitat improvement is really what will make conservation efforts possible. ( In southern Minnesota anyway)

[delcecchi]

And the Mississippi is not the open sewer it was when I was a youngster.   (Hold your breath while driving across the lake street bridge in summer)  

[vtx1029]

7 hours ago, delcecchi said:

And the Mississippi is not the open sewer it was when I was a youngster.   (Hold your breath while driving across the lake street bridge in summer)  

 

You haven't been in st. paul on the river lately

[PurpleFloyd]

Not more than 20 years ago the Minnesota river was listed as one of the most polluted rivers in the country. The cities and private landowners along its banks have gone a long way towards cleaning it up and while not perfect it is a much cleaner river than it was a generation ago.

I believe that the habitat and the way we treat the lands and waters has as much or more to do with the long term success of the fisheries than the catch rate because if they can grow at a healthy rate and reproduce in proper conditions then they can much more easily replenish themselves.  

[delcecchi]

8 hours ago, vtx1029 said:

 

You haven't been in st. paul on the river lately

 

Go across frequently.  I live south and my kids are north, as is my cabin.   You have no idea what it was like, apparently. 

 

How old are you?  Do you remember the 60's?