2011 walleye limits?

[DWW]

Anyone know what the 2011 walleye size and bag limit on the flowage for 2011 is going to be? Heard a rumor that they may change it this year?

[Ty Sennett]

I was also wondering the same thing. Not sure where to find out.

[Mark Benson]

I would suspect that even with the other management type of things going on regarding the flowage, that they may not make any kind of decision until the Native American Tribes declare which should be soon.

Mark

[Downsouth]

Not sure how many people may have seen this or not, so I thought I'd go ahead and post it:


http://www.haywardwi.com/articles/2011/04/17/news/doc4da86a730858f160845905.txt

[walleyemaxx]

Hi Ty,

Hope you don't mind me answering DWW's question. As the article states, the bag will be 2 unless the tribes harvest less than their declaration. Than it can be adjusted up. But that wouldn't happen until Memorial day. Their will NOT be a size limit this year according to Dave Nueswanger of the DNR. In a phone conversation I had with him, he said something about the heads in Madison and he do not agree which way to go on a size limit, so they did what they are good at, NOTHING. I'm still hopimg that they come to their senses and realize that a problem exists and to stop bickering like children. Oh, Dave Nueswanger did say he is promoting that people do a voluntary release of Walleyes under 15". Like that's going to happen!

Walleyemaxx

[Nick Kanauz]

Tom...I think you underestimate a lot of your fishing buddies. My brothers and I actually do not keep them unless they are at least 15", and release them if they are over 22". In fact, a good friend and guide of ours has adopted this philosophy as well. It hasn't even affected his business, and I know that when we go with him, he's to the point of "just another dink boys...back you go little guy!" There really isn't enough meat on a 14"er to even try to fillet them out. You want them that small, go catch perch! Just sayin. Happy Easter everyone!

[Chuck Schranz]

Saw the regs re: The Chip for 2011 Daily bag limit for walleyes is 2. No minimum size. However, anglers are
encouraged to release any walleye 15" in length.

Didn't see anything about the limit being increased depending on
the tribe harvest.

By the way...walleye opener is Saturday, May 7th

FISH ON!
Chuck

[Ty Sennett]

A two walleye limit might keep some meat hunters away from the Chip. That's good and bad. I don't think the Chip has any problems as far as walleye fishing goes but I'm glad the DNR and others think there is a problem so more stocking continues. I think the main issue people are having with the Chippewa Flowage walleye fishery is changing the way they fish. The lake has changed drastically in the last five years. Sometimes old ways die hard. West side anglers are the main ones I hear complaining about not catching fish. Funny thing is the west side was our best numbers side last year for walleye with most being in the 15 to 19 inch range. We had quite a few low to mid twenty inch fish also. I always have a policy to throw back anything twenty inches or over for good future genetics. We usually don't keep anything under 15 either. Actually, a lot of the guys I take out just want to catch fish and don't even care to keep any. That or maybe they've seen me clean fish before........pretty painful to watch.

I'm all for protecting a fishery to some extent. Walleye should be managed as a put and take resource though. You can't have tribal spearing and angler harvest and expect the resource to take care of itself. A lot of the resorts finally got together to work with the DNR and the tribe to help out the walleye population. Last year was a great stocking year for walleye on the Chip so hopefully the trend continues. A big thanks goes out to everyone that was involved.

[Mark Benson]

I'm all for protecting a fishery to some extent. Walleye should be managed as a put and take resource though. You can't have tribal spearing and angler harvest and expect the resource to take care of itself.

Very well put, Ty!!! Too many things involved in the loss of numbers of that species in our northern waters to continually point our fingers in the same direction all the time.

By the way last night I re-watched the Keyes shows from last November, great stuff, did you see their Vermillion shows that they filmed a little later that month, absolutely awesome!!!

Question, if its not too private, what was significance of Hurley on the black t-shirt you were wearing the last day on the chain???

Mark

[Ty Sennett]

Mark, hurley is just a name brand. I'm not big on the gaudy nascar style shirts that a lot of guys wear. Just not my style.

I did see the other Keyes episode. Pretty awesome! Ben Olson had some pretty crazy shoots with Keyes last year. He was on fire.

[RobertTB]

Hmmmm...Mr. Ty, so I infer that you have actually cleaned a fish ? Possibly for a client ? Hmmmm.

Say...did you know that I actually LIKE eating Pike ? I think, and I'm lucid really, that Pike have a fine white flesh that is absolutely delicious, given that the slime from them never touches a fillet knife. So, IF, and that is a huge if, you do clean Pike, maybe even for a client, do you suppose that I might watch as a fish cleaner properly removes them durned Y bones from them very, very good tasting Pike at some time in the future, maybe ?

I don't care about pretty, it's ok.

[Ty Sennett]

I can show you how to do that Robert. It's a slow process for me but you get a lot of meat out of it. I should fillet more of them to get the process down faster but there's that muskie season thing that gets in the way. I do agree that pike are darn tasty. I actually like them better than most everything else.

[andracke]

Pike are very easy to clean. A few years ago I was shown a way to do where you get 5 nice boneless fillets. One fillet from the back, two from both sides of the tail, and two fillets across the ribs. Smooth and quick - I bet you do a youtube search.

[Ty Sennett]

Don't you have to catch them first Eric?:p

[lil man tait]

robert, I think thare is a you tube video(or several) on how to clean pike. It's not really a hands-on experience, but might help. Just in case you catch one before fishing with Ty.

Tait

[Editor]

Check this out:

http://www.learninghowtofish.com/pages/learn-how-to-clean-your-catch.php

Thanks

[RobertTB]

Cool ! Thanks, guys. Usually, I get my friend Wayne to fillet the Pike, (and now he's teaching Amy how to fillet them) but one of these days I really gotta' just clean a few myself. Most every trip to the Chip, I get a few Pike over 30 inches, mostly on a Suick, and I'm not too bashful about harvesting those for eating. I'll release the big ones, and I don't eat every Pike I catch, just one every now and then for a nice fresh piece of fish. I really do think they taste great and are quite the abundant resource on the Chip.

One good thing about good sized fillets is, the Y bones tend to be kinda' big too, so if you cook one, you can pick it out pretty easy. hahaha

Good luck this season y'all ! They are starting to catch some Muskie on my local lake this past week ! DNR netted a couple that would have made state record. Nice.