A audience and avid Lake regarding the Woods fisherman took me personally to endeavor last week for a current tale we composed about a Campbell, Minn., angler whom boated “at least 60” walleyes over 25 ins within a June trip to the big pond.
TJ Harig, who supported his claim by sharing a few pictures he may never experience again with me, said his two days on Lake of the Woods served up the kind of fishing. Depending on Lake for the Woods laws, which need fishermen to discharge walleyes from 19ВЅ ins to 28 ins, Harig stated he circulated all the big walleyes but additionally caught fish that is eater-size.
I am a sucker for a good seafood tale, and section of my work is sharing the successes (and problems) of hunters, fishermen as well as other outside enthusiasts and so I was quick to bite whenever Harig shared their tale. It had been the absolute most browse tale on our site for at the least 2 days running.
This summer it seems I’m having to fish vicariously through the stories and experiences of others in addition, truth be told, between the pandemic and storm damage from a recent and ongoing barrage of severe weather at our property in northwest Minnesota.
My friends will attest that this unwelcome change of activities has made me personally quite cranky, every so often.
‘Pretty disappointed’
My tale on Harig’s visit to Lake of this Woods, which later on was included in WCCO within the Twin Cities, possessed an effect that is similar a fisherman whoever household for a long time has owned a cabin regarding the south coast regarding the Lake of this Woods and fishes here often.
“Pretty disappointed,” was their response to the storyline.
“Not yes why anybody may wish to inform that tale, specially because bad as the fishing has gotten in the last couple of years because of the pressure that is extreme the pond,” he published. “Maybe you would wish to accomplish a tale in the more side that is realistic of individual that includes fished the pond for approximately 50 years that can not scarcely get a keeper anymore between mid-June and September.”
Simply the week that is previous he stated he’d spent more than 15 hours fishing Lake associated with the Woods and caught just two keepers.
“when I see or read a tale similar to this i recently bristle!” he penned. “we wish their next 10 trips are just like mine so he will not be therefore fast to brag.”
He included: “One thing has to be performed to either decrease force or limitations (or both), but a ‘one in a million’ tale such as this does not assist.”
Although the harsh effect caught me personally off-guard, We have had comparable concerns, particularly in regards to the degree of cold weather fishing stress on Lake associated with Woods. Throughout a mid-February snowmobile/ice fishing visit to Oak Island in the Northwest Angle, we saw plowed roadways and a town of wheelhouses most of the option to Garden Island, some 25 kilometers through the south coast associated with the pond.
Time was, you aren’t a snowmobile had that area of the pond just about to by by by themselves.
A number of columns we published about the escalation in wintertime fishing stress created tremendous response from other fishermen, the majority of who additionally had issues concerning the quantity ice fishing stress.
The figures are staggering.
Centered on outcomes from the creel study the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources carried out this previous wintertime http://www.christianmingle.reviews/catholicmatch-review/, fishermen logged almost 2.8 million hours of ice fishing time from the big pond from December through March, smashing the prior record of 2.1 million hours during the cold winter of 2019.
This winter that is past number probably could have been also greater in the event that pandemic had not brought journey to a screeching halt into the second half of March.
Fishermen additionally kept an believed 243,803 pounds of walleyes and 461,240 pounds of saugers this winter that is past. In contrast, fishermen during the cold winter of 2019 kept 370,000 pounds of walleyes and 479,000 pounds of saugers.
Therefore, harvest this winter that is past down, despite a considerable escalation in fishing force, in line with the DNR creel survey outcomes.
Away from stability?
Another longtime Lake of this Woods fisherman from my hometown of Roseau, Minn., this week said he believes the pond may be out of balance and has now way too many big walleyes, seafood that either autumn in the protected slot or are also bigger.
“It is a strange trend when you are fishing and you also set the hook and you also state it seems too large and no one gets the internet extremely fast,” he stated. “then you definitely set the hook and state, ‘This is like a keeper.’ Man, (they) obtain the right that is net as you’re finally planning to get someone to consume.”
We shared the 2 anglers’ frustrations with Phil Talmage, area fisheries manager when it comes to DNR in Baudette, Minn. The DNR’s annual fall population survey on Lake of the Woods, which begins the Tuesday after Labor Day and continues for 17 consecutive days, yielded walleye and sauger numbers that both exceeded DNR management goals as i reported in December.
The study produced good amounts of 13- to 15-inch saugers and above-average abundance of 15- to 19-inch walleyes; 13- to 14-inch walleyes had been somewhat below historical averages in final fall’s study.
Expected this week exactly just how he’d react to the declare that Lake of this Woods may be out of stability, Talmage stated present laws do a “great task” of protecting spawning-size seafood, which means that the abundance of bigger walleyes just isn’t astonishing.
“We do monitor the fishery that is entire near, as well as this time around we now have excellent variety of seafood underneath the protected slot,” Talmage stated; “keepers” lower than 19ВЅ ins, put simply.
If fishermen are not catching keeper-size walleyes in time-worn locations, Talmage recommends attempting areas that are different.
“they are on the market,” he stated. “Lake associated with the Woods is a sizable and lake that is dynamic and walleye can move about a lot.”
Wherever you stay on Lake of this Woods, its fishing stress and walleye that is current styles, be good to your messenger.
The time that is last caught a walleye, and even had a way to catch them, was within my February ice fishing visit to Lake regarding the Woods.
Perhaps i am using this pandemic too really, but i have very nearly forgotten exactly what a walleye seems like. And it is making me crankier every day.
That said, I would be inquisitive to listen to your ideas if you are A lake that is frequent of Woods angler; strike me up.