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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Vermilion walleye regulations set to change

DNR loosens the slot limit to 20-26 inches, effective May 13

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 1/12/17

LAKE VERMILION— Anglers here will be able to keep walleye up to 20 inches long this year, as the Department of Natural Resources has opted to loosen the lake’s slot limit to allow for a greater …

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Vermilion walleye regulations set to change

DNR loosens the slot limit to 20-26 inches, effective May 13

Posted

LAKE VERMILION— Anglers here will be able to keep walleye up to 20 inches long this year, as the Department of Natural Resources has opted to loosen the lake’s slot limit to allow for a greater harvest on the lake. Anglers will also be allowed one walleye over 26 inches. The four fish limit will remain the same.

DNR fisheries officials say the change is warranted given the lake’s abundance of larger walleye and the fact that overall harvest levels have been below safe limits for a number of years. “Lake Vermilion has abundant walleye with good numbers of large females,” said Edie Evarts, the DNR’s Tower area fisheries supervisor. “The regulation change allows slightly more harvest while still protecting plenty of mature female walleye that produce future year classes.”

The walleye regulation is getting mixed reviews from some lake stakeholders, but most agree it’s an improvement over the previous rule, which included an 18-26 inch protected slot. Many members of an advisory committee that helped draft the new rule say they preferred a different alternative that would have set a protected slot above 18 inches, but with the allowance of one walleye of any size.

That would have allowed anglers on the west end, where large walleye dominate the population, to keep at least one nice walleye.

Eric Hanson, who owns and operates Pehrson Lodge on the lake’s west end, said the change marks an improvement, but wasn’t the change he had hoped to see. Hanson, who served on a DNR advisory committee on the change, said the noticeable shortage of keeper-sized walleye on the west end has had a negative impact on resorts on that end of the lake. He said most members of the advisory committee had preferred the 18-inch limit, with one walleye of any size.

Pike Bay Lodge owner Jay Schelde agreed. “I think for the lake overall, it wasn’t the best choice,” said Schelde, although he acknowledged it will be a welcome change on the lake’s east end, where his resort is located. The east end has a strong and well-balanced walleye population and the change will allow anglers to keep more of the fish they catch. “That’s how you keep them happy,” said Schelde.

DNR officials say the public weighed in on a range of preferences, with two-thirds supporting a regulation change and one third preferring no change. “We went through a rigorous regulation review that allowed us to take the biological and sustainability considerations into account while trying to satisfy a diverse angling public,” Evarts said.

DNR officials say they chose the 20-to-26 inch protected slot because it has a lower risk of harvesting too many fish and is in line with public input indicating a preference for less risk.

The need for change

At Lake Vermilion, walleye abundance has remained relatively steady during the last 20 years and the proportion of mature females in the population has increased, according to the DNR, most likely in response to slot limits first implemented in 2006. The DNR enforced the new regulation in order to limit the walleye harvest to a sustainable level – estimated at 65,000 pounds for the open water fishing season– following years when the harvest had significantly exceeded that level.

More recently, the harvest has been significantly lower, running 40,000 to 45,000 pounds annually. This lower harvest allowed the DNR to consider a less restrictive regulation while also taking into consideration the health of the fishery, potential harvest levels and public desires.