State length limit from 40" to 48"

[TheHawgTrough]

Saw Shawn got quoted in the Star Trib. as supporting this measure. Is there strong DNR support for this and is there anyone we can write/call to support this measure?

Also, can MI get any of the funds from the outdoors amendment that passed for habitat/clean water?

[b1gf1sh1]

i was a adamant proponent of this or even higher or just C&R only. then i did some more reading on it after a poster here at FM commented about the dramatic drop in the quantity of fish. lakes that have the high limits have quality size but lack quantity. since a body of water can only sustain so many fish of certain size it got me wondering if this is wise.

i tried but really could'nt find any ''official'' studies done with data to back up that claim. just guides and locals voiceing what they observed. i did find something before, and just looked again but can't bring it up, about the DNR's fish per acre and expected amount of fish including size per lake class. i'm not even sure if that was official for sure. the arguement against it is the worry of expected extra time on the water just to get anything at all.

anybody know a place to find this iinfo in official reports?

[50inchpig]

I would doubt MI would get public funding. The bigger problem is finding things to spend the funds on, like stocking.

Frustrating for all involved because the fish and the money are there but not the consent from the powers that be.

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I'm for 48 state wide, just to make things simpler.

b1gf1sh1- I recall reading a story about that too, I don't know if it was a MN DNR report or something from another state that I read in a Musky Magazine.

[Shawn Kellett]

"lakes that have the high limits have quality size but lack quantity. since a body of water can only sustain so many fish of certain size it got me wondering if this is wise."

Some lakes that have the 48" management right now include Leech, Mille Lac, Vermillion, Cass, etc. None of which have issues of the fish being too small or to numerous.

The 48" is more symbolic then an actual management tool as 99% of fish are released anyway. It's also a step to some real protection on some of our lakes like Mille Lac and Leech. As far as the muskie population exceeding the carrying capacity of the lake don't be worried. The DNR only manages to .5 fish per literal acrea (water 15' or less). By comparison WI manages their lakes for 1 fish per surface acre (roughly 4-5x MN).

I was going to make a new post about the 3/8 amendment and what went on during the Round Table this weekend. The cliff notes are that the money can't be used for stocking, but rather for habitat and clean water (fish habitat). I'm in the process of finding projects that will help our fisheries that would fall into one or both of these two categories.

[SHAQ]

They should make it 48, but allow u to keep 1 fish under 36 inches per season for the filliting factor, Ive never done that but beleave me theres a couple of die hard muskie munchers out there somewhere. Anyway there is definetally lakes with to many muskie, Look at french in southern mn, Theres fish down there that look like there starving due to low baitfish and heavy pressure, Plus theres way to many skies in that lake for its size.

[b1gf1sh1]

yeah, i doubted the larger lakes would have issues. i will always lean toward C&R only. 48'' is fine if it's helpfull to a ''specific fishery'' like mille lacs. it would help out in every way. including tourism. same as any big name destination. i lean toward, and this is just caution speaking before my heart, large limits on bodies of water that are/have proven to be able to handle it and still have numbers. i really doubt, just conjecture, WBL would be one of those lakes that can. but really, this issue would never affect me because of where i fish. and because i've released evey one i hooked. nobody gets in my boat or fishes on shore with me believeing they can keep one. no purposefully dead trophys of any species is the law. maybe pannies but not around here. i guess i'm just worried about that old adage. ''if it ain't broke, don't fix it''. and minnesotas muskies aint busted. but if i had to choose. i'd choose yes to 48'' and hope for the best. then i'd have to admit it like those who voted Bush if it failed ... hard to swallow, but i'd do it.

[SHAQ]

Yea i agree, except for who cares about tourism. Tourist are hard on fisheries even though were all tourists at some point. Tourism money is evil.

[BuckKiller]

48? heck id round it off and make it 50. good trophy fish there

[dcmusky]

Shaq, I don't know what French your talking about but I've witnessed plenty of big girthy fish out there. Have you even fished it since they put the leech lakers in. If you have doubts go to Chapter 54's web site & look for your self. Last year there were so many shiners & perch in the lake it was making for a tough bite. We have enough anti-muskie people down here, don't give them more misinformation. Thanks, Dan Crooms

[Muskiefool]

This poor thing was starving to death.

Mn regs need to be simplified as a additional benefit, I wish it would go to 50 as well but the majority of anglers feel 48 is a trophy, MN DNR research has shown the average size is larger in lakes with 48 in relative size comparison to to the 40 lakes; this would be a positive move for MN Muskies.

Heres some of the lake survey info from French:

French Lake continues to support a healthy population of adult musky. A separate spring assessment was conducted as they are better able to capture muskellunge than are summer assessments. Population estimates suggest a stable population size and relatively good abundance when compared to other lakes. Size distribution remains well balanced and includes good proportions of individuals exceeding 45 inches.

Crappie size has improved in size since the 2003 assessment. More crappie 10 inches and larger were sampled including some 12 and 13 inch specimens. Bluegill are still abundant but not many are over 7 inches and no 8 inch bluegill were observed.

Northern pike have historically been scarce in French, but the catch of about 2 per gillnet with an average length of 26 inches represents a population increase since the 2003 assessment. Largemouth bass were not estimated to be in high numbers but some larger individuals are present.

Yellow perch numbers are holding steady. They, along with golden shiners and young freshwater drum are important forage species available to larger predators in French Lake. Not represented in the August survey, but observed in the spring was a significant population of large bigmouth buffalo. They, along with freshwater drum and common carp, represent a large fraction of the fish biomass in French Lake.

[dcmusky]

Yeah that poor skinny sickly looking fish, luckly the angler is good looking& healthy. LOL Dan Crooms

[SHAQ]

Are u being sarcastic with that fish pic? Any way ive caught lots of muskies in french, some were over 50. Now some of theese fish were beasts but some were very skinny. One of my 50 inchers weighed out at 15lbs. Now does a 15lb 50 inch muskie sound remotly healthy, that could have been a 30 to 40lb fish oughta millacs. Anyways i caught other skinny fish there aswell. Im not trying to spread misinformation just stating my opinion, i personally think most of them muskies in French feed on sheephead and sucker. Again im not dissing french, Ive caught muskies oughta tonka that were monsters, And others that were very skinny so this kinda stuff happens everywhere. although most 50 inchers ive seen in tonka were solid. I also commend chapter 54 muskies inc or whatever there called for there support and stocking of french lake. I wish there was more organizations like this around esp in the metro and in the northwest where i live. Thats that, i dont wish to continue on this topic that others have hashed out before me nor do i wish to be harrased for my beliefs. I wish all fish species were c&r in this state for gods sake thered be a few left. now we can drop this topic period. who the heck would wanna mount a muskie anyway, they aint that bigga prize.

[honker23]

Who's the sarcastic one here??

I think we have to remember our 5,10, or 15 fish from a lake are hardly enough to make generalizations about the state of the entire population. The DNR is trying to manage each lake for success.

I'm in favor of the 48" limit, but not in favor of total C&R, just in case that world record finally eats. The angler should be able to keep it. Just my opinion.

[JRedig]

I'm amazed that people (fisherman no less) think that based on their experience fishing and fish sited they assume they can make statements about the health of a fishery. Because clearly muskies are that well known and predictable? They never change their patterns, habits, etc etc etc...

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....LOL!

[Muskiefool]

Hey Shaq, the 15# 50 was likely sick or had a sucker rig in its guts is the only thing I can figure, Ive looked at about 50 pictures from that lake over the past 3 years and have seen nothing to indicate problems the one I have seen that was skinny was identified as a male, also I just looked at the spring survey of 80 fish, there was a 48 inch mature male that was 17 pounds otherwise anything close to 49 is 30+#, you possibly got a old male is the only other possibility.

I dont doubt you cought that fish but it's one fish not the whole system.

MN DNR has done research on all 40+ stocked lakes and found no problems with forage or game fish after the stockings, if anyone would like any info on any of these reports just drop me an e-mail at [email protected] it may take me a day or 3 to get back to you I'm pretty busy right now.

[Muskiefool]

ps it is Chapter 54 and thanks for the kudos they are a great group of people and some even better friends to the fish.

[Rebel9921]

French Lake... I LOVE that lake... but I make it a point to avoid this lake during the summer months when its heavily pressured... Best time to fish this lake would be after the hunting season starts when nobody really fishes this lake... I've seen few muskies that might've been thin but no way does this make it unhealthy... nature has its own way of balancing things out... You'll have to consider how stressed those fishes are when the lake is heavily pressured... which would definitely add up to some thin muskies... but I'll bet you that once fall arrives and nobody fishes those lake... along with the abundance of forage... they really do fatten up big time til spawning season comes around... just a normal cycle... and given the size of this lake, you can realize how easily it is to over-pressure the fishery and truly stress those muskies out...

French is truly an unique lake, only 800 acres or so large... and yet I consider it a fine lake to fish out of...

[dcmusky]

With any luck we can get a few more "French lakes" down here. Oh yeah no fish in the fall, everyone knows thier teeth fall out that time of year on French. LOL Dan Crooms

[Nick Kuhn]

I'm amazed that people (fisherman no less) think that based on their experience fishing and fish sited they assume they can make statements about the health of a fishery. Because clearly muskies are that well known and predictable? They never change their patterns, habits, etc etc etc...

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....LOL!

I would disagree with you on that statement. The informed angler knows enough to tell the health of a fishery, so long as he/she fishes it long enough to get a pattern. You have to remember that (and especially in the muskies case) many lakes have fish not native to the lake. They are put there to be caught, so the most accurate assessment of the health of the fishery is angler success.

The DNR is not an all knowing body. I read the area lake reports and the phrase "it is not known why" is relatively common in them. Creel surveys are pretty common and Wisconsin and most management is based off a combination of the creel report as well as netting/electrofishing. One was performed on our lake in 2007. At the beginning of the season the creel clerk said based on netting results we was expecting to see a lot of big walleyes caught. By the end of the open water season he was saying he couldn't believe how awful the walleye fishing was. Is the walleye population healthy? Netting would tell you that yes it is compared to other stocked lakes, yet you couldn't catch one to save your life out there (<1 legal fish per 2,000 hours of angling). The funny thing is shortly after the DNR posted it's netting results online, quite a few boats that looked like they had no business on a small lake where out hammering "the deep weedline" listed on a hotmaps (trust me, that weed line doesn't exist and hasn't for 10 years). A month later it was back to normal.

[SHAQ]

Yea i was just stating my observation not giving a complete overview of the fishery, I think the lake is great just have a hard time puting up with the crowds even though my lake of choice: Minnetonka makes french look like an untapped gem. Oh well i guess it is what it is, im just glad theres people who care enough to help with private stocking & other things to help fisheries like french. By the way that 15lb 50 incher was tagged, I wanted to call the dnr with the tag number but i just wanted to get the fish back in the water as soon as possible because it crushed a large trolling bait pretty deep, I dident have a pen or paper with me. Any ways the fish was only airborne for about 90 seconds thanks to the tools but i thought it was prolly best to get a fished that looked already stressed returned to the underwater world. I caught to more skies that day & was only on the water for about 4 an half hours total, pretty cool.

[10,000 Casts]

as far as raising the state limit to 48"... yes please, why not make it mandatory catch and release?

[ONE BIG POLACK]

AT $11.00 PER INCH, THAT MAKES FOR AN EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE MOUNT.

[SHAQ]

The DNR claims that raising the limit to 48 inches would not help certain fisheries, They also clam dropping the walleye limit to 4 fish wouldent impact walleye numbers in certain fisheries. Well im hear ta tell ya that is the most false stament ever even if biologists support there claims. A second grader could tell ya that, & im 100 percent convinced that both theese things could do nothing but good, & i can darn near prove it, is simple really just think about it, thats several more years AKA several more people who could catch that muskie before its shlacked on someones wall prematurally. Also if theres to guys fishing on a small lake & one guys fishing the north end & the other the south end, & the guy on the north end is sitting on a spot holding six walleyes, assuming there all willing bitters he pulls up 4 walleyes & then has to leave because of the NEW limit rule, Then the guy from the south end investigates & catches them other 2 fish that would have been gone from the lake had exhibat A fryed em up. Hows is that not proof? Hunh? Anyways im pretty sure that was the dumbest thing i ever wasted my time doing posting this. I cant beleave i just wasted that much energy.

[Muskiefool]

That's the beauty of the net SHAQ its 99% waste of time its what keeps me interested LOL