Rule change Winnibigoshish

[Lee Borgersen]

Walleye rules to change on Winnibigoshish, Saganaga and other lakes

 Feb 1, 2015

Walleye rules to change on Winnibigoshish, Saganaga and other lakes  Walleye fishing regulations will be tighter on Saganaga Lake this year but will be relaxed on Lake Winnibigoshish as part of changes announced Monday by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The changes will take effect March 1.
 
Walleye fishing regulations will be tighter on Saganaga Lake this year but will be relaxed on Lake Winnibigoshish as part of changes announced Monday by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The changes will take effect March 1.

Anglers on Lake Winnibigoshish near Deer River will be required to release all walleyes between 18 and 23 inches long, which is less strict than the current rule that requires walleyes between 17 and 26 inches to be released. The daily limit will remain six walleyes per angler.

On Saganaga, Sea Gull and Gull lakes at the end of the Gunflint Trail in Cook County, a 17-inch minimum length restriction for walleyes with a bag limit of three will be established to protect small walleyes.

The current limit on those lakes is six walleyes with no minimum size limit and one fish longer than 19½ inches allowed. DNR fisheries biologists have been concerned for several years about low numbers of young walleyes in those lakes and the possibility that without more restrictions, the numbers of adult fish would drop even lower.

The new Saganaga area regulation will be analyzed for a decade and reviewed in 2024.

These changes are some of the new rules for three dozen lakes and rivers across the state that will take effect March 1.

The DNR also announced that what had been a temporary catch-and-release only regulation for a genetically unique population of lake trout in Mukooda Lake in Voyageurs National Park is now a permanent special rule in order to conserve these fish.

On nearby Little Trout Lake, which also has a unique genetic population, there will be a new catch-and-release only regulation for lake trout. Anglers may travel through these lakes with lake trout legally harvested on other waters.

[snow1]

I smell something fishy here...Does anyone here remember what lakes the Wisconsin tribes declared open to sustenance fishing last summer in northeast Minnesota? Hmmmm I do. But hey,gill netting spawning fish in the spring has nothing to do with reproduction right? Lets wait and see come ice out,it would be a slaughter if our dnr lets them net@ the mouth of the seagull river.