Next month I will be talking with some DNR reps. and the discussion will focus on a Walleye management plan in one of our rivers here in Maryland. Does anyone know of any really sucessful management plans that promoted both trophies and good numbers? I'm thinking 2 fish a day limit and they have to be slot size 17" to 22". The river produces enough food sources that diet is not an issue and deep water is availble for winter/summer grounds and lots of spawning areas... What would you say to the DNR reps. at that meeting? How do you manage for abundance?

Next month I will be talking with some DNR reps. and the discussion will focus on a Walleye management plan in one of our rivers here in Maryland. Does anyone know of any really sucessful management plans that promoted both trophies and good numbers? I'm thinking 2 fish a day limit and they have to be slot size 17" to 22". The river produces enough food sources that diet is not an issue and deep water is availble for winter/summer grounds and lots of spawning areas... What would you say to the DNR reps. at that meeting? How do you manage for abundance?

In St Paul Minnesota on Pool 2 of the Mississippi River we have a great walleye fishery. The reg is year around catch and relesase only fishing. We have both trophy eyes and good numbrs of smaller fish. I would say to maintain what we have her we'd have to have a maximum size reg and low limit. Probably something like 1 fish under 17". We have high fishing pressure and a more restrictive reg would be warranted here. I don't know how heavily your area is fished for walleye.

Good habitat & plenty of feed, first and foremost
Some places are incapable growing trophies, nor will support large populations of walleyes.

But where the fish are big, they all have good habitat and plenty of feed.
Slots or restrictions to protect the 20-28" (or variations) classes are pretty common on waters that produce trophy walleyes.
Fishing pressure will help determine how restrictive it has to be.
Your guys will have to monitor what's out there on a yearly basis.

Catch and release.....1 or 2 under 18 " for the frying pan

up here in northwestern ontario on gullrock lake the camp owners took it upon themselves to regulate the size of fish allowed into camp a few years before the ministry of natural resources put size limits on. We have a limit of 4 walleye on a regular licence and 2 walleye on a conservation licence. you are allowed to keep fish under 18.1 inches ( up here we use the metric system so that is 46cm) and allowed 1 over that size.

however, as stated previously the camp owners do not allow any fish over 18.1 inches into their camps and the fishing has gone from pretty fair to great . Keeping the bigger fish in the system keeps the spawners and this has shown to increase the sucess of a great time on the water.

most camps also include the 2 fish licence with their rental rate so they can reduce the number of fish taken OUT of the lake.

But some of the camp owners have tracked the numbers CAUGHT during the season and 1 camp owner I know told me they had a cabin with 4 guys in it and they logged over 1000 walleye caught in their 1 week stay.

I'd say the rules our lake runs on is working well.

Great Info guys... just the type of thing I was looking for... keep 'em coming... Thanks!!!

Can anyone comment on the fishery on Lake Delevan in S. Wisconsin. I do not know the regs or what the DNR does there but trhe lake is a fantastic fishery for both size and numbers of multiple species. I am strictly a catch and release fisherman so I don't look at the regs there but I do know they have a fantasic fishery that gets a ton of pressure.