Do you think ice fishing is damaging open water fishing?

"A little reading comprehension can go a long ways.
"the natural course is not sufficient to replace that fish" IMPLIES that if the lake is not able to repopulate naturally then when you take a fish does not matter.
It ALSO IMPLIES that if it IS capable of repopulating, then that fish's portion of eggs being removed pre-spawn DOES POSSIBLY matter - or CAN have an impact on the natural re-population IF "the natural course is not sufficient to replace that fish" - i.e.; there is not enough surplus re-population to be able to spare that fish's egg load.
It's all in there, you just have to finger it out.
It's not a "broad generalization", it's a statement of FACT !"

What a crock of BS. We have closed seasons and slot limits in MN in order to protect reproducing female walleyes. Killing spawn-filled females prior to spawn has negative implications on walleye populations.

[kzoofisher]

Spawning closures are designed to protect fish when they’re concentrated and vulnerable to over exploitation, not because a fish killed at that time is less likely to spawn than a fish killed six months earlier. This brings the question of increased exploitation due to advances in gear and technology back to the forefront. If there is an issue brewing I sincerely doubt anything will be done until a critical mass of waters have a problem. Current social pressure to maintain management “just like grandad had it” is too strong.

[Wallychowder]

Originally Posted by kzoofisher

Spawning closures are designed to protect fish when they’re concentrated and vulnerable to over exploitation, not because a fish killed at that time is less likely to spawn than a fish killed six months earlier. This brings the question of increased exploitation due to advances in gear and technology back to the forefront. If there is an issue brewing I sincerely doubt anything will be done until a critical mass of waters have a problem. Current social pressure to maintain management “just like grandad had it” is too strong.

What all this boils down to is back in the 60's there weren't NEAR the fisher people that there are now. Hence (everybody and their brothers) and most of them used cane poles and a piece of line. Nowhere near the technology nowadays. I like a challenge 😏

[Walleyenovice1]

I do think there has been more fishing pressure due to the pandemic, as more people have taken up outdoor sports instead for traveling abroad. If we keep up the high levels of fishing pressure, we may need to have stricter rules to protect fish populations.

[kzoofisher]

License sales are through the roof. MN up 58% over ‘19. MI up 32% over last year. Many of these people are new and probably don’t catch a lot of fish but they must catch some, especially prey fish like perch and ‘gills. And they’re getting outfitted which helps explain some empty store shelves. I personally know six kids under the age of 22 who’ve gotten into it and bought gear to get themselves going. Just basic stuff to start with but that’s rods & reels, line, hooks, bobbers, weights, hard baits and soft baits. Can’t imagine what a 40 year old spends after asking the salesman what he needs to get started.

[Walleyenovice1]

Ah okay, that explains why so many tackle items are out of stock.

[Wallychowder]

Originally Posted by Walleyenovice1

Ah okay, that explains why so many tackle items are out of stock.

Yeah i wish more people would of taken up tennis or racquetball or golf or maybe even insulator collecting !

[Anonymouse]

Originally Posted by LV guy

"A little reading comprehension can go a long ways.
"the natural course is not sufficient to replace that fish" IMPLIES that if the lake is not able to repopulate naturally then when you take a fish does not matter.
It ALSO IMPLIES that if it IS capable of repopulating, then that fish's portion of eggs being removed pre-spawn DOES POSSIBLY matter - or CAN have an impact on the natural re-population IF "the natural course is not sufficient to replace that fish" - i.e.; there is not enough surplus re-population to be able to spare that fish's egg load.
It's all in there, you just have to finger it out.
It's not a "broad generalization", it's a statement of FACT !"

What a crock of BS. We have closed seasons and slot limits in MN in order to protect reproducing female walleyes. Killing spawn-filled females prior to spawn has negative implications on walleye populations.

LOL, you just reinforced REW's (and Anonymouse's agreement with it) viewpoint.
Reductio ad absurdum:
Harvest 100% of the fertile female walleyes before spawn and before the closed season - how many eggs will they lay IN season?
Slot limits do protect the spawn but are always implemented post-facto, and that's not always going to save your fishery.

The percentages might change but the point is still there - taking females from a sustainable population CAN & WILL impact the population if you take too many.
Let us not forget that not every fish caught and released survives release TO spawn and so must be included in the harvest assessment total.

[sbark]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

WI used to lead the nation in fisheries science.
WI was where fish science peeps came to learn their business and take it back home (sorry MIN, but yer peeps learned it here, first).
WI had a large permanent base of very respected & very well-funded professionals working full-time on developing fisheries science but about the time when Scooter Wanker & his Koch Brothers fueled cronies took over in 2011 the DNR was trying to change catch limits - because the long-running science was telling them that the lakes were being hammered by catch numbers and limits should be imposed (a good 30%-50% over-fishing is going on, statewide, and it's even worse in the ceded territories where the Tribes control the numbers of fish taken).

The non-indigenous fishermen who have been whining for decades about not getting their fair share of the fish that BELONG to those tribes are taking home everything they lay a hook into.
C&R is a forgotten ideal in the northern half of the state.
(For those of you unaware of the ceded territories, the indigenous tribes had their land stolen but managed to hold onto their rights to hunt and fish in those areas BY TREATY - because those doing the stealing just did not realize that hunting and fishing rights would someday be a multi-BILLION dollar industry.)

Solution?
Fire the scientists - can't have resort owners and the tourist industry (YUGE republican donors in this state) being impacted by reducing the fish murder rate of Flatlander tourists.
With Evers back in charge the DNR science division is slowly recovering it's macho & hiring back more full-time scientists, but you don't just replace the highly trained cadre of professional researchers with studies that had been running for DECADES, overnight.
Nor is the legislature, which is still controlled by the gerrymandered republican Assembly and Senate, at all amenable to increased funding for the DNR science team that Evers is trying to rebuild.
They never net a tax dollar they didn't want returned to their uber-rich donors.

A few of the formerly employed scientists have created their own private voluntary science groups here in WI to continue studying the problems, but it's just not feasible to fund large-scale fisheries research privately or with volunteers.
Fisheries science worldwide took a hella hit because of the short-sighted political aspirations of the science-denial republicans in this state.
It's not just WI that has been impacted, it's the while dammened globe.

......and now those same cheese head head west to Dakota and do all over what they just did to Wi.

[Anonymouse]

Originally Posted by sbark

......and now those same cheese head head west to Dakota and do all over what they just did to Wi.

The 2 Dakotas really should be re-merged back into 1 state. There's only 1.6M peeps in the entire territory - the 5th & 6th least populous states. The entire state of ND is barely equal to the population of a major city (D.C. has 715,000 peeps and doesn't even get representation in Congress, let alone FOUR Senators). Even combined they'd only rank 41st by population.

If you are referring to the republican cabal that is ruining WI's lakes & fishing, rest assured they wouldn't get caught dead in the Dakotas - not enough bribe money - errr "political contributions" - for them to bother with.