Fisheries We will provide information on these Fisheries pages dealing with the fishing
issues on our lakes (see the menu bars to the left under Fisheries). We will provide statistical information about recent lake fishery netting surveys. We have information on the Walker Area Walleye Coalition and other fishing information. We hope you find these pages enlightening. Let us know what other information you would like to see here! ! DNR Lake Management Plans Our Fisheries Committee meets with the Minnesota DNR, Walker Area Office, at
least annually to discuss the DNR Fisheries Management Plans for each of our
lakes. The Minnesota DNR creates plans to help manage the fisheries on each lake.
The plans discuss a number of items including results of lake surveys, netting
information, long range goals, operational plans and many other items. We meet with the DNR in December and/or FebruaryMarch timeframes to discuss
the fishery management plans for our four lakes. We work together with the DNR to make changes to
the plans and discuss stocking and netting recommendations. We continue to be actively involved in the Walker Area Walleye
Coalition to try to ensure the future of the walleye fishery in our lakes
by participating with them in discussions with the DNR about these plans. Select the lake name on the menu bar on the left to see the fisheries
management plan for that lake. There are some technical terms and abbreviations used in the DNR reports. I
will try to explain some of them here (give me a call if you have other
questions). CPUE - Catch Per Unit Effort - a measure of fish taken in a defined
effort. For these reports it is number of fish per net for the netting survey
results. PSD - Proportional Stock Density - a measure of the size stucture of a
population. It represents the percentage of fish attractive to anglers. RSD - Relative Stock Density - proportion of fish to any designated size
group of fish. RSD is generally followed by a subscript indicating the size
group (S-stock, Q-quality, P-preferred, M-memorable, T-trophy). Generally,
RSD-P is used to measure the preferred or larger size fish. WR - Relative Weight - is a measure of body condition. The measured weight
of a fish is compared to an established standard for a fish of the same length.
Values greater than 100 indicate the fish weighs more than the standard and
values less than 100 indicate the fish weighs less than the standard. Average
values close to 100 indicate fish populations are in balance with their food
supply. Fish with values less than 85 are underweight. NOP PSL - Northern Pike Protected Slot Limit (both Little Boy and Wabedo
have a 24-36" protected slot limit for Northern Pike) BLC-Black Crappie; BLG-Bluegill; LMB-Largemouth Bass; NOP-Northern
Pike;MUE-Musky;SMB-Smallmouth Bass; YEP-Yellow Perch Growing Walleyes We found the following facts from a
blog site very interesting. It stated that the adult female walleye will
drop 50,000 to 300,000 eggs (average 175,000) in one night! The
fertilized eggs will drop between the rocks. There, predators will have great
difficulty reaching them, so they can mature safely. Over 25% of all the eggs
will hatch. Walleye do not stay over the eggs to protect them, instead they
leave right after spawning is over. Depending on water temperature, fry
will emerge from the eggs after just one or two weeks. They will feed off the
egg sac for a few days. One in 1,000 fry will survive the spring and
summer to reach fingerling size, and between 5% and 10% (7.5% average) of
fingerlings will survive to catch able size. So to recapitulate, if
the average female drops 175,000 eggs on a rocky bottom, 43,750 eggs will hatch,
43 of them will survive to fingerling, and 3.2 of them will make it to catchable
size. Let's do all we can to protect this resource for future
generations! ! |