Fishin opener mean 0 eyes

[Lee Borgersen]

Fishing opener means no walleye dinners from the Minocqua Chain of Lakes.


                     Wisconsin

 

Zero harvest for walleye on the Minoqua Chain of Lakes
RYAN MATTHEWS - Lakeland Times

  .....
Walleye are one of the most sought-after fish in the state but will be off limits to hook-and-line anglers and Native Americans who spear on the Minocqua Chain of Lakes. The population has dramatically dropped over the past 10 years. Spawning is occurring, but few fish are surviving past a year of age.

Walleye are one of the most sought-after fish in the state but will be off limits to hook-and-line anglers and Native Americans who spear on the Minocqua Chain of Lakes. The population has dramatically dropped over the past 10 years. Spawning is occurring, but few fish are surviving past a year of age.

 
 
 

Thirty years after the rock-throwing, racist taunts and Native American boats filled with walleye, cooperation is occurring in the North Woods.

The spearing has continued along with debate but the Lake Superior Chippewa, resort and bait shop owners, fishing guides and a local fishing club are all on board with an aggressive project to restore the walleye fishery in one of the state's premier destinations.

Under the joint rehabilitation plan created by the Lac du Flambeau Band, the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, the Headwaters Basin Chapter of Walleyes for Tomorrow and the state Department of Natural Resources, it will be illegal to harvest a walleye from the Minocqua Chain of Lakes for the next five years.

That means when the statewide fishing season opens Saturday, anglers will have to pursue other species on the chain that includes lakes Minocqua, Kawaguesaga and Tomahawk. In addition, the Chippewa, which have been spearing the ceded territory for the past three weeks, and every year since 1985, have agreed not to spear the Minocqua Chain this year and the four following years. Violators of the no-harvest rule are subject to fines.

The goal, all parties agree, is to return the highly coveted and tasty walleye to prominence on one of the most fished and traveled bodies of water along the Highway 51 corridor.

"It just takes a lot of trust and a lot of understanding," said Tom Maulson, the former longtime chairman of the Lac du Flambeau Band. "It's time now to really collectively work together to make sure that resource is going to be taken care of for a long time."

The project is separate from the state's Walleye Initiative that increases stocking with larger fish and on more lakes in collaboration with private and tribal fish hatcheries.

Besides a zero harvest, the plan on the Minocqua Chain calls for improving spawning habitat, creating structures for smaller fish to hide from predators and stocking 100,000 walleye ranging in size from 6 to 8 inches. The DNR will also study the chain more closely to determine why natural reproduction has dramatically fallen over the past decade and left the chain with a declining population of walleye. Big fish can be caught on the chain, but there are relatively few smaller walleye to adequately replenish the fishery.

Gregg Walker's family has owned the Lakeland Times since 1958. The newspaper has been outspoken on the DNR and has opposed spearing. Walker is publisher of the paper and heads the local chapter of Walleyes for Tomorrow that approached the Lac du Flambeau Band last summer on creating a plan for the chain. That plan now has broad support.

"The reason that is, is because you have nobody fishing it right now because the walleyes are very difficult to catch," Walker said. "The goal is to bolster the population. And I think it's very important, and you've got to be thankful that the tribes have stepped up to the plate and want to do this. We've developed a great relationship with the tribe to see if we can better all the lakes in the North (Woods)."

The joint effort is in stark contrast to the violence that occurred at boat landings when northern Wisconsin tribes began spearing walleye in lakes off their reservations. The spearing started after a 1983 ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that the tribe's rights still existed on public lands in the ceded territory under a series of treaties from the 1800s.

That led to fears that the walleye populations would be decimated in the lakes speared by the Chippewa. It also resulted in reduced bag limits on many lakes in the ceded territory for hook and line anglers. This year, bag limits for walleye on most lakes are a uniform three fish per day, per angler, per lake.

"There's a lot on the table," said Mike Vogelsang, the DNR's northern fisheries supervisor based in Woodruff, of the five-year no-harvest plan on the Minocqua Chain. "When you say you can't harvest a walleye, that's big. But folks are willing to make that hurt a little bit up front and reap the payout five years down the road."

There is no single reason for the decline in walleye on the Minocqua Chain, said Steven Hewett, a DNR fisheries management section chief in Madison.

Instead, culprits might include drought that has lowered lake levels and increased light levels; predation from large populations of largemouth bass and crappie and a lack of suitable spawning habitat. Fishing pressure from both hook-and-line anglers and Native Americans who spear have not played a role, Hewett said.

"Tribal (members) don't spear 2-inch walleye and anglers don't hook 2-inch walleye. There's been very little reproduction in these waters for 10 years," Hewett said. "It's not an issue of overharvest. Spawning is happening, but the small fish aren't surviving to the fall."

On Minocqua Lake, for example, the number of adult walleye declined from 5.6 fish per acre in 1992 to two fish per acre in 2009. Surveys looking for 5- to 7-inch walleye at one time produced 20 or more per mile of shoreline. Those numbers have dropped to one or two per mile, Hewett said.

Kurt Justice, who has been a fishing guide for 25 years and owns Kurt's Island Sports in Minocqua, said there are hundreds of other lakes in the immediate area for those who want to catch and eat a walleye. The no-harvest rule in the Minocqua Chain could cost him sales but some of that has been buffered by strong bass bait sales. Ideally, his sale of walleye rigs and fathead minnows, a walleye favorite, will rebound five years from now.

"My concern is long term. I want to see the chain come back to what it was," Justice said. "It was nice to be able to work with the tribe. Maybe it will show our two communities that we can work together. We're doing it so everybody benefits."



Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/local/fishing-opener-means-no-walleye-dinners-from-the-minocqua-chain/article_89e3f6db-83e9-5bcd-86e8-0bf6210653a8.html#ixzz3YtM7bzEB

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