Change the inland lake trout season!

[Steve Foss]

Hi all:

I'm thinking about writing an opinion piece and submitting it to outdoors and editorial page editors at newspapers that cover the northern third of the state.

Currently, inland laker season is closed from the end of September until January, and then again from March until the May opener.

Biologically, there is no reason to close the season except during the spawn, so I could see it being closed from end September until the end of October or even into November a bit, but open at all other times. Socially, as with the spring walleye opener, winter laker opener up here in the arrowhead is a bit of a celebration, but it's on a very small scale compared with the walleye opener, and I don't know a single fan of inland lakers who feels there's a good reason not to be able to fish for them from first ice onward, all the way through ice breakup and into the open water season.

Now, certainly I'm not the first to think of this. I know it has been brought up a few times with legislators in the last couple of years, and that will continue to happen. In considering this, I first wanted to get as much feedback as possible from the great members and staff here at HSO/FM.

I'm not only interested in hearing from people who agree with me. There may be things I haven't considered, so I'd like to hear from anyone with an opinion.

Thanks for your time, everyone.

[Quickstrike]

I would like to be able to fish for them up until ice out. But I believe that the reason the season closes is due to the fact how easy Lakers can be to catch right after ice out. They move into the shallows and can sometimes be as vulnerable as they are in the fall. In locations such as Canada where the season is open right after ice out, the earlier the better. These regs work in Canada because of the limited pressure. However, certain lakes in MN would recieve high amounts of pressure and it could affect the population. I'm not saying that it would, but I believe that this has something to do with the reason the season closes. It would be interesting to see some research that compares regions that leave the season open and regions that close it. It would be interesting to see if it does make a difference. I would love to see it stay open because it would give me a realistic shot at getting some inland lakers on my fly rod!

[DEADhead]

I agree that there is not really a biological reason why the season cannot be extended. One thing to consider, however, is that with the onset of climate change and warming water temps, fisheries managers may not want to do anything to possibly increase harvest of this fish. I think they are already beginning to worry about possible extirpation of coldwater species if mean water temps start to rise. The cause for alarm has been noted in quite a few bodies of waters over the past decade where the hypolimnion has become hypoxic, thus resulting in fish kills of coldwater fish like tulibee. I find it unlikely that managers will approve the change, it is likely that if any change is going to be happen that it will unfortunately come from the legislature. Unfortunate being that the legislature would be making a decision based without the expertise of our fisheries management.

As an angler, I would like an expanded season though, because I don't live near laker waters and it would increase the possiblity of me being able to catch one.

[Big Kahuna]

I would agree that the season needs to change. Right now the way it stands I see no ryhme or reason to the dates set. I would favor a season that more closely matches Canada. Make the opener Jan 1st, period. Any earlier you are dealing with shakey ice conditions anyway on most trout lakes. As for the spring break-up, close it April 15th through the walleye opener. This protects the near-shore first water harvest. I don't understand how we continue to pump money into the trout stamps for a 2 month winter season. BK