Ice fishing rules expanded on Big Chip

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Some good news.
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Effective December 1, 2010, fishing rule changes supported by a majority of voters at the 2010 Spring Hearings of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress will become effective on the Chippewa Flowage. This represents significant progress toward simplification of some rules that were unnecessarily complex and restrictive. The attached regulation sign will be posted at points of public access in the near future. With this message, I am asking our many supportive partners in the Chippewa Flowage community to share this information on websites, in newsletters, at group meetings, and at lake area businesses.

The Chippewa Flowage will be open to ice fishing this winter for all species except muskellunge (not open anywhere after November 30) and walleye (uniquely closed on the Chippewa Flowage). We anticipate that some unethical ice fishers may attempt to harvest walleyes illegally as they legally fish for northern pike with tip-ups for the first time on the Flowage. I ask that our partners maintain a vigilant watch and report such illegal activity accurately to wardens Sue Miller and/or Tom Heisler. But the best deterrent to such activity will be peer pressure, which we hope you will exert in order to give our walleye population the best possible chance to recover from years of low recruitment due to predation by largemouth bass and to a lesser extent northern pike. Some harvest of largemouth bass and potentially high harvest of northern pike through the ice may help young walleyes and muskellunge to survive in higher numbers in the future -- one reason to implement these changes now. If and when our walleye population recovers fully, we may suggest opening up the Flowage to ice fishing for all gamefish (except muskellunge) in order to expand winter recreational opportunity and simplify enforcement, but that is unlikely to happen in the near future.

Another major change is the abolition of special seasons and restrictions on panfish, especially crappie. We had no sound justification for those former complications, and I appreciate everyone's support for eliminating them. This does not mean that some meaningful panfish harvest restrictions may not be needed in the future. Crappie are particularly important in the Chippewa Flowage and throughout the Upper Chippewa Basin, but we currently have no reason to believe that the old 15-daily limit or winter harvest prohibition was necessary or helpful in managing the crappie fishery. Length limits can be more effective than bag limits in managing crappies; but we only recently (since 2008) began gathering the kind of information that would allow us to make an informed scientific recommendation in that regard. In another year or two, I suspect we will have the information needed to know how best to sustain quality crappie fishing on the Chippewa Flowage.

Another likely change on the horizon deals with the issue of bass harvest. This winter, I will submit a proposal to exempt largemouth bass (but not smallmouth bass) from the 14-inch minimum length limit on the Chippewa Flowage. We will do this by using a little-known statute (NR 20.35) that provides for such exemptions on a species-specific basis if growth rate for the regulated species is below a minimum standard of acceptability. As it turns out, largemouth bass are growing very slowly in the Chippewa Flowage, and smallmouth bass are growing just fine. Largemouth bass eat little walleyes; smallmouth bass eat mostly crayfish. I am optimistic that leaders in the Fisheries Management Bureau will now support this experiment in managing largemouth and smallmouth bass differently in the same body of water. If successful, the change could take effect at the opening of bass harvest season on June 18, 2011. We will change the regulation signs again next June if our efforts come to fruition. I wish I could report that the Northern Bass Zone seasonal harvest prohibition could be lifted also; but I have not yet convinced enough of my colleagues that we need to do that. I'll keep working on it.

Have a great deer season and enjoy ice fishing SAFELY on the Chippewa Flowage this winter!


Dave Neuswanger
Fisheries Team Leader, Upper Chippewa Basin
Wisconsin DNR, Hayward
715-634-9658 ext. 3521

Good luck on the ice everyone, as soon as it is safe.

Walleyemaxx

[DWW]

Hey Maxx, now that the flowage is going to be open for everything except walleye and musky after Dec. 1st are there any resorts that rent cabins during the winter on the flowage? I was always under the impression that the resorts shut down come winter.

[walleyemaxx]

Hey DWW,

There might be a couple of resorts that are open for the snowmobilers, but I don't know who they would be. They would have to have insulated cabins. With the late announcement by the DNR, it doesn't give resorts much time to get cabins ready. The best thing to do is to call a resort you would like to stay at to see if they have any cabins ready. If they don't, they might know who does.

there are also motels inthe area that have rooms available I'm sure. You'll have to make some calls. If there is anybody who knows of any resorts open for the winter, feel free to post that info.

Walleyemaxx

[lost another anchor]

Try Chief Lake Lodge you can look it up on the net

[walleyemaxx]

Thanks L.A.A.

I looked up the Cheif Lake Lodge website and according to that, they are open in the winter. Their phone # is 715-945-2221.

Walleyemaxx

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Went searching for fishable ice all weekend. Didn't find any. Still about a week away. If it snows any appreciable amount, it will take longer. The snow insulates the ice.

On Some lakes, I got about 20 feet from shore before I started to go down. It goes so slow I can get back to shore before it breaks open. I use my spud bar and keep pounding ahead of me. When the spud bar goes thru on one hit, I back up and leave. I'll keep testing the ice untill it freezes up thick enough and let you know.

Untill then, BE SAFE.

Walleyemaxx

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Read a report on another website of a guy who ice fished a shallow bay off chief lake. He said he caught many Northerns, but no Walleyes. He also said that Chief lake was wide open yet. With the rain we had for Monday and Tuesday, I expect the ice is a little suspect right now. But the weather changed Tuesday night, so I really expect to be ice fishing this weekend. I'll fish around here so I can try for Walleyes. My favorite little lakes are starting to freeze up.

Be carefull out there if you go and post a report on how you do.

Walleyemaxx

[Nitroboats]

I'm just not quite sure how LM bass can have such a devastating effect on the walleye population. Hope they aren't missing some other factors. All adult fish from bluegills to muskies could be feeding on the fry. with the LM bass not growing very fast it doesn't sound like they are over feeding on anything. Don't get me wrong, I understand LM bass take a back seat to walleyes but I really wonder if they are the culprits in low walleye populations.
Maybe someone can enlighten me.

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for posting your question Nitroboats. I'll give you my opinion, and qualify it by saying right out that I did not do any studies, but have read many studies done by the DNR. Many of which I obtained thru the internet. Some info I obtained from conversations with fisheries people, and A lot of stuff is just from experience over the years.

Things started to go south on the Chippewa Flowage when the powers that be decided to stop lowering the water up to 16 feet every winter. The main species that could survive that event were the Walleyes, Muskies, and the Crappies. Some other species survived, but in low numbers. That kept the numbers of Walleye and Muskies strong. Being originally river fish, they were smart enough to go down with the water and survived. Other fish,LM Bass included, not being native to the rivers, would be left high and dry and die off.

Sometime in the late 80's early 90's, they stopped lowering the water. Not only did this help the LM Bass survive, but also let the weeds grow out of control. The species that live well in weeds survived well with the added cover for them, the Blugills and Lm Bass.

Now couple this with how Blugills are very prolific and with the over regulation on the LM Bass- 14" size limit, delayed opener on the keep Bass season to late June and the fact both these species survive well in the invasive weeds that have over taken the Chippewa Flowage, and the die has been cast.

My opinion is to just lower the water 16 feet every winter again. That one event would restore the Walleyes and Muskies back to historic levels and keep the weeds under control. The Chippewa Flowage is historically Walleye water. Unfortunately, that would spell disaster to the LM Bass and the Blugills. The first year of such an event would see many thousands of dead LM Bass and Blugills lying around after the ice went out in the spring. After a few years, that would not be a problem and in a few years there would be excellent Walleye populations again.

I saw a report last summer that stated that LM Bass were chowing down the Walleye fry. But in reality, every thing is. All fish eat all fish. Just the way it goes. In light of the fact that they do not lower the water level any more, it is my opinion that the fishery people at the DNR dropped the ball in managing for Walleyes. They should have been monitoring how the change in not lowering the water levels were going to affect every species in the lake. Now they are scrambling to try to keep a viable Walleye fishery in the Big Chip. They have been telling us for years how they are seeing less and less YOY Walleyes on their annual fall surveys, but did nothing to rectify the situation. Last year was my worst year ever on the Chippewa Flowage for Walleyes. I'm talking 50 years here. I caught a bunch, but no where near the numbers I used to. I did catch a ton more LG Bass and Blugills. A lot of very decent Blugills too. When you can average 8" Blugills, well I know guys who would give their left nut to catch them like this. Caught lots of very nice LG Bass too. By over regulating the LG Bass, the DNR has given the impression that people should release them. Now they are saying we should eat them. I for one think they are very tasty. But most of my clients won't keep them. They don't realize how good they taste from the northern waters.

Now I know that the DNR budget is limited and that stocking any kind of fish is expensive, But I think a few simple rule changes that would cost nothing would go a long way to helping the Walleyes make a comeback. Now that the DNR did nothing for so long, it will take longer for the Walleyes to come back.

#1- Take off all regulations for LM Bass- No size limit and start the keep season in the begining of May. With the less Walleyes available, people can easier be convinced keep LM Bass to eat.

#2- Put on some kind of regulation on the Walleyes. Either a 1 over 14" rule, or a slot limit of no fish kept between 14"-18" with one over that. In Vilas county where I live, both regulations have been put on many lakes here. The 1 over 14" rule worked the best. Every lake I fish that has that regulation had the Walleye populations come back strong in just a few years. The slot limit failed on many lakes, so personally, I would like to see a 1-over 14" rule.
Stocking the extended growth Walleye fingerling is effective, but very costly. That could help the Walleyes make a faster comeback in the short term. So we should all be helpfull in the efforts from the tribe and other private parties trying to raise money to buy and stock them. After the Walleyes are re-established, there would be no need to keep stocking them as they would naturally be able to keep their numbers strong.

Sorry for the long winded answer, but this is one subject I feel strongly about.

Walleyemaxx

[JerkyJosh]

Sister in-law told me this morning that Cheif Lake was froze over. Would I go out on it? No! But the last report i got said it was still open.

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Thanks JJ. Just remember to use a spud bar and pound your way out when you go. I'll be heading out today. A small lake next to home looks like it's got enough ice. I'll tip toe out and set tippups and sit on shore and watch them. I'll report tonight how I do.

Walleyemaxx

[Nitroboats]

Thanks for your reply Tom.

You may be right on the lowering of the water in the winter. Although killing of the weeds and exposing wood to the air would start a deterioration of the cover that fry use to hide in to keep from being lunch. There are a lot of reservoirs or flowages down south that draw down to a winter pool and bass and bluegills for the most part seem to know to follow the water. One of the problems could be is that the Chip unlike most of the lakes up there is a reservoir and that means that they age different in my opinion. In my experience I have seen different lakes age and as they did and habitat changed so did the fish populations. Maybe you are trying to fight Mother Nature here.
The bass and bluegill population could just be from their habitat getting extended. Working on extending and enhancing the walleye habitat along with some harvest regulations could be the way to go. Don't know if it is possible but maybe increasing flow thru out the year would give the walleyes a more river type environment and keep sediments from building up.
Whatever the answers are I hope that you guys find them. Thanks for the reply again and God Bless.

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd post this at the top for a reminder. I've been getting emails about the ice fishing on the Big Chip. The letter from Mr. Nueswanger is the best explaination I can think of.

Walleyemaxx

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Saw this article in the Sawyer County Record



Big Chip to be drawn down six feet

Xcel Energy has announced that the Chippewa Flowage will be drawn down six feet this winter to a projected low elevation of 1,307 feet MSL, or one foot below its typical winter low.

The Flowage’s elevation as of Dec. 10 was 1,312.46 feet and the discharge at the dam was 819 cubic feet per second.

“The drawdown last winter was only 3.35 ft. (elevation 1309.65 ft.) due to severe drought conditions,” said Robert Olson, Northern States Power hydro electric plants manager.
Olson added that the projected 1307.0 ft. drawdown elevation is based on an average winter snowpack. The projected drawdown depth may be increased if significant snowpack accumulates and inflows into the reservoir during the winter months remain high.

Discharge flows from the dam will be maintained well above the minimum level (250 cubic feet per second) at the onset of winter, with some changes through the winter months to reduce the reservoir to the projected 1307.0 ft. elevation, Olson added.

For more information go to the Wisconsin DNR’s website click on the link to water levels.

Even tho it probably isn't enough, hopefully lowering the water will kill off some of the shallower growing weeds and some of the abundant panfish. I know that is not the reason for the drawdown, but I'm hoping for a residual affect.

Walleyemaxx

[JerkyJosh]

Does anyone know how this affects the ice?

[walleyemaxx]

Hi J.J.

I quess it depends how fast they draw it down. If they draw it fast, the ice could bridge. I've heard of that happening on another lake. A guy said he walked out to ice fish a particular flowage that is south of the Big Chip. He said after he drilled his first hole, he looked down to see he was about 10 feet in the air. The ice had bridged as the water went down. Now that would scare the hell out of ya.

When I was a kid, they lowered the water gradually and would strart before freeze up. My dad took us deer hunting by our trailer the last week of November and we would set tipups in the bay which was usually froze over. As the water went down, the ice went down too. But the shore would have a sheet of ice on it. One year, it was so slippery that to get off the ice, my brother had to lay down on top of the bank and reach down and grab my hand and pull me off the ice. By the end of the week, it was over my head. I would throw the fish up to him and then he would lay on the bank to grab my hand to pull me up. By weeks end I had to jump to grab his hand. Pretty wild stuff, but at least the ice didn't bridge.

I'm hoping that the ice will just go down with the water. We'll have to wait and see.

Walleyemaxx

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyome,

I saw some questions regarding the new ice fishing regulations on another website, so I thought I'd bring this post back up so people could reread the letter from Dave Nueswanger. It pays to be informed.

Walleyemaxx