By Brad Dokken on Mar 29, 2015 at 5:20 a.m.
This 16-inch walleye was caught in late January during an evening of fishing on Upper Red Lake. The DNR is looking to ratchet back the harvest on the state's portion of the lake surpass quotas. (Sam Cook / scook@duluthnews.com)
Anglers on Upper Red Lake likely will face continued conservative regulations this spring as fisheries managers look to rein in a walleye harvest that is beginning to creep past target levels on Minnesota's 48,000-acre portion of the lake.
According to Henry Drewes, regional fisheries supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Bemidji, anglers this winter kept 140,000 pounds of walleyes on Upper Red and logged 1.75 million hours of ice fishing pressure from Dec. 1 until the season ended Feb. 22.
That's a 75 percent increase in winter fishing pressure from the previous record set during the winter of 2013-14, when anglers spent 1 million hours on the ice of Upper Red.
Freeze-up came early, and anglers through November could keep four walleyes on Upper Red but had to release fish from 20 inches to 26 inches. The DNR lowered the limit Dec. 1 to three walleyes with a 17- to 26-inch protected slot before a further reduction -- two walleyes with a 17- to 26-inch protected slot -- became necessary in late January, Drewes said.
Anglers could keep one walleye over 26 inches as part of their limit.
Getting close
The limit reduction was necessary to avoid exceeding harvest quotas in light of the excellent fishing. As part of a 1999 recovery agreement between the DNR and Red Lake Band of Chippewa, the annual "safe target" range across the lake is 1¾ to 3½ pounds of walleyes per acre -- a top range of 168,000 pounds in Minnesota waters and 829,000 pounds in tribal waters.
Drewes said the DNR would close the season in Minnesota waters if the harvest reached 240,000 pounds.
That cap is drawing closer. Drewes said the harvest for the 2014 fishing year, which ended Dec. 31, was 230,000 pounds, and the good fishing this winter likely will result in a similar scenario for the remainder of 2015. The harvest in 2013 was just shy of 168,000 pounds.
The 168,000-pound top range is based on a three-year running average.
"We're trying to dial it back, but we're not off to a very good start," he said.
The Red Lake Fisheries Technical Committee, a panel of experts that includes state and tribal fisheries officials along with citizen members, met earlier this month to discuss the big lake's continued recovery and plans for keeping the healthy walleye population on track.
Drewes said a subcommittee is reviewing the 10-year harvest plan for state and tribal waters. That could result in higher quotas, but any change in the plan would require approval from the entire technical committee, he said.
Two fish likely
Though not official, it's likely anglers will face a continued two-walleye limit and a 17- to 26-inch protected slot for at least the first few weeks of season, which begins May 9.
"We'll likely go into spring with fairly conservative regulations," Drewes said. "We may loosen it later in the summer depending on the changes recommended from review of the harvest plan."
He said the increase in this past winter's fishing pressure is "unprecedented."
"We don't know when we're going to peak on that," Drewes said. "Even if the harvest plan results in a higher allowable harvest, so many people are coming up it doesn't allow us much latitude to really relax those regulations."
Fishing has been equally good this winter in tribal waters. Pat Brown, tribal fisheries biologist for the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, said band members this winter are on track to harvest 400,000 to 450,000 pounds of walleyes by hook-and-line commercial fishing. The tribal harvest was 760,000 pounds -- 94 percent of the band's quota -- for the 2014 harvest season that ended Nov. 30, he said.
Brown said this year's winter harvest will set a record.
'Quite healthy'
Despite the high harvest, fish populations are keeping pace with the pressure. Brown said strong year-classes of walleyes produced in 2009 and 2011 are sustaining the harvest, and surveys have shown walleyes up to 17 years old in the population.
Surveys in Minnesota waters also confirm good fish populations, Drewes said.
"Overall, the fishery is quite healthy," Drewes said. "Levels of abundance are near record highs, so really, other than not being able to contain angling effort, things are going pretty well, and the condition of the fish is good."
Walleye populations in Red Lake crashed in the late 1990s because of excessive harvest in state and tribal waters but have been on the rebound since 1999, when the DNR and the band signed a recovery agreement that called for intensive stocking and a moratorium on walleye harvest until stocks recovered.
Populations rebounded to the point where fishing resumed in 2006. As part of the recovery plan, the two jurisdictions closely monitor harvest levels and meet at least twice a year to share information.
Red Lake, at 260,000 acres, is Minnesota's largest inland lake and consists of two basins. All 152,000 acres of Lower Red Lake and 60,000 acres of Upper Red Lake fall within the boundaries of the Red Lake Indian Reservation and are open to tribal anglers only. The DNR manages Minnesota's 48,000-acre share of Upper Red.
