Chamber Tourney

[Lake Region Local]

As I could see by the RCL thread there are alot of people upset about the Chamber tourney not being a catch and release tourney. The excuse that too many people don't have a way to keep their fish alive is alot of BS. I've seen the boats fishing it and that just isn't true. Besides, being able to keep fish under their rules makes it alot easier if someone wants to cheat. Another one of their main reasons that they aren't C&R is that it would be too expensive to set up a system like that. Come on!! A couple of stock tanks, a small pump and some sewer pipe to return the fish to the water. How much can this cost?? I'm sure if they checked around they could probably find the tanks that someone would give them and it would be easy to find a pump to use for those couple days. They say the small amount of fish harvested in this tourney isn't going to affect the fishery at all but if you combine this with some of the other overharvest and it makes a huge difference. The other overharvest I'm talking about is the annual kill at Mauvais coulee on Hwy 281 and Channel A. I have seen time and time again people taking limits of fish from 6-8 pounds. I talked to 2 different fish biologists about this and they both told me that they could take all they wanted out of those two places and it would never hurt Devils Lake. How can they figure that? Those two spots are the biggest concentrations of spawning walleye on Devils Lake and alot of the big females caught out of there aren't even caught but rather snagged. I have watched these two places alot and you don't ever hardly see a warden at either. No body of water can support that in the long run. I firmly believe that a slot limit needs to be put in effect for the spawning period. There isn't a reason in the world to be keeping limits of big females. In my opinion there is no reason to keep anything over 18" although I much prefer a 15-16" for my eating. I think a slot of no fish from 19 to 27" with only one over 27" would be very reasonable. If not done now we could be looking at some real trouble down the road and there are alot of lakes around the north country where the same thing has happened to support that. Sorry so long but I just had to vent. Lets hear some other input on this, especially from some of the North Dakotans.

[Ben]

I agree 100% on the catch and release issue. I find it hard to believe that there are not enough "funds" to set up such a system. It is more along the lines of there is not enough "motivation/effort" to set up such a system. What is this about keeping the tournament open to everyone? Just because the fish are not able to be released doesn't mean that those boats without livewells can't fish. Does catch and release automatically imply a penalty for dead fish?

[Jim Carroll]

Another idea: Get some volunteers with boats and rulers. Measure fish length on the water and use a length to weight conversion formula to determine the final weights. You would need at most perhaps 5 official weigh-in sites (Mauvee, Minnewauken, Grahms, Six Mile, and Creel?) This system is used very successfully at the KX Heart of Lake Sakakawea and the Montanna Goveners Cup. Both of these tourneys have well over 100 boats.

At the KX, the rule is once your third walleye is in the boat you must stop fishing and take your fish in to be measured. Your given a CC ticket with your official lengths. At no time can you have more than 3 walleyes in the boat. Using this system the handling and stress on fish is minimized. Sure the spectacle at the weigh-in is diminished, but the resource is better off. It has taken over a 4 pound average to win the DL Chamber Tournament the last several years.