I hope you didn't already discuss this. I picked up the new fishing regs yesterday and saw the new northern pike regulations and was curious as to what you thought about it.

First I've heard of the new regs. They seem like a good idea, but it doesn't really matter to me since I haven't kept a fish in years, and never keep pike.

Yep, we just discussed this a few threads back.

I'm in favor of the regs. Others make good points against them.

I must have not looked back far enough. We also do not eat northern, but my dad does and he sure has an opinion lol

Since northern our one of our favorite fish to eat I wish there was a little more room to keep one in the 30" range for the BWCA. I get having to deal with all the hammer handles but I don't think this will work down here who whats to keep a 14" that has more bones than meat.

For those that don't eat northern, you are missing out panfish is the only thing that tastes better.

The new pike harvest regulations apply to inland waters of the state.

North-central: Limit of 10 northern pike, but not more than two pike longer than 26 inches; all from 22 to 26 inches must be released.
Northeast: Two pike; anglers must release all from 30 to 40 inches, with only one over 40 inches allowed in possession.
South: Two fish; minimum size 24 inches

As far a the BWCA a 30 inch NOP is like 6.5 pounds. For eating I prefer the ones around 22-24 inches.
In the BWCA will the regulation make a difference? I don't know do people keep fish over 30 inches now? I think Basswood lake which gets heavy fishing pressure might benefit some.

The 10 fish under 22 inches in the past really didn't do much because nobody wanted to keep 10 to begin with. I would of like to seen something you could keep one maybe in the 22-24 inch bracket somehow to harvest a few more males. Some lakes the males will sit under 26 inches for a long time.
There is no perfect answer that fits all lakes etc..

I'm not sure why anyone would not eat pike. I think it tastes great. As far as the new regs, it will not affect my fishing. While I do eat pike, I rarely keep anything over 30 inches. Any trophy pike gets a photo taken and quickly returned to the water.

egknuti: "I'm not sure why anyone would not eat pike. I think it tastes great."

Man, I don't know. I've only eaten pike a few times, but I remember it being oily and soapy? I'm sure it depends where you do your fishing, how you do the cooking, and perhaps cleaning of the plates the night before!

Being in the central region I hate the slot of 22" to 26" as my keeper range has generally been 20 to 25. I also have to agree with egknuti on the taste as I actually prefer pike over any other warm water species. People hate the Y bones but once it is cooked the meat slides right off the bone and you don't really have to worry about them. Or you can just cut them out but I try not to waste any meat.

TheGreatIndoors: "

egknuti: "I'm not sure why anyone would not eat pike. I think it tastes great."

Man, I don't know. I've only eaten pike a few times, but I remember it being oily and soapy? I'm sure it depends where you do your fishing, how you do the cooking, and perhaps cleaning of the plates the night before! "

If you think you don't like pike, try this:

Pike is GOOD...

You go back like 30 years and just about everyone ate northern pike. Than people got weird and it had to be walleye or something.

I think the regulations have the potential to help, but only if people force themselves to harvest these smaller fish. If you can spend time cleaning crappie, perch, bluegill, and smallish walleye, I don't see why keeping small northerns is a big deal. Just think of them as more of a panfish, they aren't that difficult to clean without bones once you learn and are different but every bit as good as a walleye. People just need to adjust. One things for certain, the state of pike in Minnesota is in need of help, things were much different 30-40 years ago. A fisheries biologist I spoke with said that the state had waited way too long and most pike waters were in some sort of trouble, but the tradition of waiting till they got big before harvesting was hard to break. Overpopulation of hammer handles is a hard thing to fix but cannibalism has always been the best way and it takes a long time to grow the big ones.

i dont care for the new regs at all. there are many lakes in our state with different specific walleye slots i would have liked a more lake by lake type reg , not all lakes will produce quality/trophy type pike no matter what type of catch and release you do. a lake does need a certain make up to produce trophy type pike. as far as the N.E. BW zone , to not be able to keep a 31" pike for supper i dont like , i feel most people do plan to catch and eat fish when on a BW trip and sometimes fishing can get difficult but a smally or pike always seem to corporate to provide a meal. and i dont know too may people that will even want to bring home or eat a 40"+ pike out of the BWCA.
werther it's local or in the Bw i rarely keep pike over #8 but if it's the only fish of the day i might. i do like to eat fish.
in all i just haven't seen pike get over harvest in the BW , maybe i'm wrong but i feel this new reg was not needed for this area.
as far as the taste of pike , i love it , getting the Y-bones out is easy just takes a time or 2 understanding how the bones actually lay in the meat(very sideways) battered fry or a foil job are my favs and here's a funny story, many years ago my old roommate had a friend who said he didnt even want a slimy pike on the end of his line little lone eat pike , well one day he was over well i was cooking up some breaded pike and gave him a tail section , he loved it , i told him "Al" your eating pike , he was very surprised.

I am tentatively in favor of the new regs. A look at any photo board (the new thread with 2017 fish photos is one of them) will show many, many big pike on stringers, up by the firepit in camp, ready to get filleted. Some of those fish might've died anyways, and some of them might've been released after the photo, who knows. But I bet there are a lot of 30''+ pike (eventually) being deposited in the thunderboxes, which is (or was) certainly people's right if they so choose.

I love fishing big northerns. I very much dislike the fact that, if nothing changes, my children will, on the whole, have fewer opportunities to catch big pike than I will (don't get me started on the effect spearing the big lakes like Mille Lacs and Winnie has had on the population of big pike) -- and that I have fewer opportunities than my grandpa did. Some species of fish like bass and muskies have a C&R ethic that might be leading to better, not worse, fishing for future generations. Walleye anglers are catching up, I think, but even in the BWCA, there are some lakes (the ones with easy access) where smaller walleyes and northern are the rule and big fish an uncommon exception. Reading Bob Cary's (and others') writings from the past, it wasn't always that way.

For the vast majority of the state, truly big northern pike are a thing of the past because all the big ones have gone home on stringers and in buckets. And if the remaining "big" ones over 30'' keep getting kept, then it'll only get worse, as has happened everywhere else where keep-and-kill fishing has been the norm.

Whether the new regs will work is an open question. I'm skeptical, but looking at the current state of northern pike fishing in the state, I can't imagine it getting much worse than it currently is (the BWCA is the exception to this, I'd say, but I suspect fishing today, especially for big fish, isn't as good as it used to be). As mgraber says, if people spend four minutes watching a youtube video to learn how to clean them, and then actually keep them, there might be a chance to improve the quality of fish in the state. But I think those who question their efficacy are right, alas.

carmike , actually i dont see 1 pic of a pike on a stringer in any of those pics on that thread. yes some are at camp, in my (BW) pics i have 4 pics of pike over #15
3 from camp and the fourth we paddled up to an open camp for a pic . and 2 had a stringer on them so i could get them in the water ASAP while we got our cameras and all 4 were released. i will add this i'm not a big fan of spearing. i do understand that it may look easier than what it really is but many big pike will check out a bait and not strike like on a tip up. but they will need to know there estimated measurements better this up coming season.

Fair point about the stringers....and even if any of the guys are keeping them, they're within their right to do so. I also don't have any data re: a decrease in numbers of big fish up there, so it's speculative on my part. I hope people aren't keeping big pike like that, but I realize my wishes don't create any obligations in others, and circumstances sometimes make keeping a big fish the right thing to do.

Over the last ten years, I have spent untold hours chasing big pike on Mille Lacs, and it took about two years to decimate an incredible population of huge fish that hadn't been speared, until recently, for 32 years. There are still some big fish in there, but the numbers are down so low now I know guides that no longer fish them. Our numbers of 40''+ fish are down more than 80% the last two years from our ten-year average. And the "two under 30 before 1 over 30" rule is flouted so obnoxiously I'll ruin my computer with angry spittle if I think about it too much.

i hope there not keeping big pike too. regardless of where. i know a spear guy and regardless of the size it's under the spear , :( not much of a fight there.

I don't really have a problem with spearing...I just wish the DNR would've left the "big" lakes (that have the size and forage to actually grow the true monsters) free of it. The big pike fishing on Mille Lacs, prior to re-opening spearing after the 30-year hiatus, was so good you wouldn't believe me if I told you, in both summer and winter. But not anymore, alas. (It's still Ok compared to almost all other lakes in Minnesota, but that doesn't appear likely to last long.)

I grew up being required to eat pike and choke on the bones. Because of this I hate all fish. But my dad still loves pike. He is not OK with these regs. I catch and release

carmike: "I don't really have a problem with spearing...I just wish the DNR would've left the "big" lakes (that have the size and forage to actually grow the true monsters) free of it. The big pike fishing on Mille Lacs, prior to re-opening spearing after the 30-year hiatus, was so good you wouldn't believe me if I told you, in both summer and winter. But not anymore, alas. (It's still Ok compared to almost all other lakes in Minnesota, but that doesn't appear likely to last long.)


"

so you don't have a problem with spearing as long as it isn't on the lake you mainly fish !
i'm not totally ripping on spearing guys like i said before there is an art to spearing but there is no CPR in spearing.

I think my dislike of the activity's effect on populations of large northern pike (even though it can be a lot of fun) is irrelevant for whether others should be able to do it, so yes, I'm OK with spearing in general. And in a state with thousands of lakes where spearing is legal, I'd like to see some of the only remaining lakes (ML, Leech, Cass, Red, Winnie, to name a few) with fishable populations of truly big northerns protected from that activity.

carmike: "I think my dislike of the activity's effect on populations of large northern pike (even though it can be a lot of fun) is irrelevant for whether others should be able to do it, so yes, I'm OK with spearing in general. And in a state with thousands of lakes where spearing is legal, I'd like to see some of the only remaining lakes (ML, Leech, Cass, Red, Winnie, to name a few) with fishable populations of truly big northerns protected from that activity. "
+1 Me too.

NOP

I don't fish for pike, so rarely keep them, but once in a great while I'll keep a 4# fish.

I like to cut the filets into small 1" chunks, boil in salt water until it floats, and then serve with butter, as an appetizer. Poor mans lobster. It's really good.



Regarding conservation methods. I'm not sure they always know what they are doing. I'll give two examples:

A while back, I think it was on leech, there was some sort of bird population on an island, that was having trouble surviving, with the predators constantly eating their eggs. So the DNR trapped all the predators off the island, and that particular species flurished again.

So did the cormorants.

Soon the Cormorant population exploded. Cormorants eat a ton of fish fry. The walleye population soon crashed. Was it related to the Cormorants, who knows, its only speculation.

2nd example:

All of this is from shaky memory, so bare with me:

I was sitting at a doctors office waiting to be called. I noticed an article about the largest 100 pike ever caught, in the world.

Curious I flipped to the article. The majority of the largest pike on the list, were all caught from the same lake in Europe, during a couple week stretch. Apparently this lake had a huge population of trout. The oils from the trout fattened up the big pike. But for a long time they did not let people keep the big pike. However at some point, the conservation people decided that the trout population was suffering because of these huge pike. So they opened up a two week season and let people harvest them. So the list was full of these huge pike caught from this one lake.

And once the big pike were gone.... the little pike took over. So yeah, while the big pike were eating trout, as Mgraber mentioned, they were also cannibalizing the hammer handles. With the reduction in giant pike, all of the sub 5# pike had a chance to flurish, and it soon decimated the trout population. Their conservation efforts had backfired.

I personally like having slot limits on Pike. Upper Red lake went through the Walleye crash. When they shut down the walleye fishing, and no one was fishing the lake until the crappie explosion, the pike had a chance to grow real big. In the early 2000's when we would open water fish for crappies, my brother would cast non-stop for big pike. He had many days where he would catch 5 or 6 pike over 36" in a single day. His biggest was 43". There are not many places in Minnesota you can have that kind of pike action.

But over time, as people fished for the crappies, and then the walleyes, people here and there would keep one of those big 36-42" pike. I don't necessarily blame them, for many it was a once in a life time fish. But when you have 1000's of people fishing the lake every weekend, including thru the winter, it doesn't take long, with people keep one big pike here and there, to nearly wipe out the big pike.

It's still a good pike fishery, but it's nothing compared to 15 years ago. In recent years, they had a protected slot from 26" to 40", so I think that helped some.

I've been going to the same lake in the boundary waters for 40 years. It's not a big lake, doesn't get much pressure, but it doesn't take much to upset the ecosystem either. Thru the 90's there were a number of big groups that stayed on the lake, and in my opinion decimated the walleye and big pike population.

That lake was never a huge pike producing lake. 4 of us, would rarely catch more than 4 -6 pike in total, in a 5 day fishing trip. But here and there we would catch something in the 10-14# range.

No one in my group, has caught a pike over 5# in that lake in 15 years. All of the big fish seem to be gone. I used to get snapped off 2 or 3 times every trip, from some big fish on the end of my line. That hasn't happened in the last 15 years either.

And while we used to catch perhaps just 4-6 pike in 5 days, now we catch 50-60....and they are all hammer handles. 1.5 - 2# is the norm. They all seem like cookie cutters,and they are not growing. Somewhere about 5 or 6 years ago, there was an explosion of little pike. They haven't gotten noticeably bigger. I don't know if campers cull the bigger ones out of the lake at this point, or if they are stunting their own growth. I know we don't catch many fish in that lake under 1#. There aren't many walleyes at all any more, and most of those are in the 18-22" range. There doesn't seem to be any in that 10-14" range. I think the plethora of hammer handle pike are cleaning them out.

Privately we have discussed what to do with the situation. We're not in the habit of keepin 1.5# pike to eat, but we do feel they are stunting the fish population in the lake. We're not going to catch them and kill them,or catch them, and release them into another lake, as both would be illegal. So we kinda just let nature take it's coarse, but it's discouraging.

It used to be a really fun fishery, and the last 17 years, its been a fraction of itself...unless you like hammer handles.

i think the lack of bigger pike on mille lacs , has more to do with the netting, haven't witness it personally but i've heard the netted pike just go to waste :( also with the first nation up in quetico , they just toss the pike on shore :( like i said in my first comment i wish it was more a lake by lake slot. JS.

"Oily and soapy" ?!?!?!

It's times like this when I particularly realize that my wife is THE BEST.

Last pike I had was on Brule...I filleted them and skinned them, and she made them...pistachio-and-orange encrusted, I have no idea how or what exactly she did.

Best fish of my life, and I have had it ALL, all around the world.

BTW, next in line in no particular order were Yelloweye Rockfish off the coast of BC, filet de perche on lake Geneva, and fresh cod off the east coast in a white sauce.

BWCA pike. The absolute best.


IMO IMO IMO IMO

Don't know what the new regs are. I do catch and release only so restrictions on keeping don't directly affect me. Have never understood the appeal of going to one of the few remaining wilderness areas left and taking. Leave no trace should exist, at least somewhere. Plenty of other places from which to take.

The best Pike lakes tend to have the strictest regulations with the highest slot limit so I'm all for that. I have eaten all types of fish in the same meal together and the Pike was the only one I did not like at all. The other guys were raving and I had to wash the taste out of my mouth. I don't understand Pike eaters at all. There was an old Grandma at a place I went to in Ontario who would yell at me for releasing the 14-18 Pike I caught. She loved the big filets. I tried it. I had an unending supply of Jumbo Perch and small walleyes so I just couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat that Pike. Nasty. Down in the cities where I'm from the biggest hit on the Pike population came from the Muskie stocking programs. That was the biggest mistake the MN DNR has ever made. You use to be able to catch 20 lb Pike in lakes all over the metro. Now they're gone and they've been replaced with Tiger Muskies that are alot harder to catch IMO.

I do leave no trace,



Of every fish I fry....

HOOK AND COOK

jeroldharter: "Don't know what the new regs are. I do catch and release only so restrictions on keeping don't directly affect me. Have never understood the appeal of going to one of the few remaining wilderness areas left and taking. Leave no trace should exist, at least somewhere. Plenty of other places from which to take."

I'd have a hard time releasing an eater walleye or jumbo perch. Eating walleye in the Boundary Waters is one of the best parts of the experience. I can't understand why anyone would eat a Pike though, and while smallmouth taste ok I don't like seeing them on a stringer. It's taboo to keep bass where I'm from. It's not as detrimental as keeping a large slow growing fish though, like a Lake Trout. Small Lakers are pretty tasty though.

manmountain8: "

jeroldharter: "Don't know what the new regs are. I do catch and release only so restrictions on keeping don't directly affect me. Have never understood the appeal of going to one of the few remaining wilderness areas left and taking. Leave no trace should exist, at least somewhere. Plenty of other places from which to take."

I'd have a hard time releasing an eater walleye or jumbo perch. Eating walleye in the Boundary Waters is one of the best parts of the experience. I can't understand why anyone would eat a Pike though, and while smallmouth taste ok I don't like seeing them on a stringer. It's taboo to keep bass where I'm from. It's not as detrimental as keeping a large slow growing fish though, like a Lake Trout. Small Lakers are pretty tasty though."

Justin i see your from bloomington , is your comment on pike real or being sarcastic ? if real , i'll invite you over to waconia for some battered fried boneless pike and maybe a foil job on the grill , you will think differently my friend ;) sorry none in the freezer at the moment :(
curious what lake were these pike caught out of that everyone liked but you didnt ? some metro lakes that have housing around them can get some bad fertilizer run off which makes for nasty tasting fish of any species .

manmountain8: "The best Pike lakes tend to have the strictest regulations with the highest slot limit so I'm all for that. I have eaten all types of fish in the same meal together and the Pike was the only one I did not like at all. The other guys were raving and I had to wash the taste out of my mouth. I don't understand Pike eaters at all. There was an old Grandma at a place I went to in Ontario who would yell at me for releasing the 14-18 Pike I caught. She loved the big filets. I tried it. I had an unending supply of Jumbo Perch and small walleyes so I just couldn't understand why anyone would want to eat that Pike. Nasty. Down in the cities where I'm from the biggest hit on the Pike population came from the Muskie stocking programs. That was the biggest mistake the MN DNR has ever made. You use to be able to catch 20 lb Pike in lakes all over the metro. Now they're gone and they've been replaced with Tiger Muskies that are alot harder to catch IMO. "

totally disagree on the muskie stocking and smaller pike because of it , if anything these lakes that do have a bigger population of smaller pike need some stocked musky to help keep the lake in check , dont get me wrong i'm not saying that is the answer. my local lake Waconia , DNR has been stocking it with musky since 1984 , which i believe is the first year they also stocked mille lacs. and larger pike are thriven. too many are still harvested (on waconia)when they hit that #8-#14 range . but i'm not here or there LOL to tell any one what they can or cannot keep. :)

I like catching big Pike, and eating the smaller ones. This just might start a trophy or a nice picture for you. I’m for the new regulations.

Shock I agree pretty much with your statement:

Mille lacs was first stocked with Muskie in 1969 with the Shoepack strain from Voyageur Park area. They don't grow very big and didn't take hold in Mille lacs. Yes, 1984 was the first successful stocking of Mille lacs and with the Wisconsin strain than again in 1988 with the Wisconsin strain. Some of those fish lived 20 years and grew to enormous size. 1991 the DNR started using the Mississippi-Leech strain Muskie for stocking.

Stocking muskie in Mille lacs had probably zero effect on size of northern pike. In the mid 90's the DNR did extensive northern pike population check. Very common was northern pike in the 24-26 pound range and one fish at 30 pounds. What made these fish get big was number one was a great forage food base and very very fast growth rate compared to much of Minnesota. Also fishing pressure was moderate and harvest was fairly light on bigger pike.
Muskie do eat northern pike,but more than anything would control over population of small fish. Overall northern pike because of more numbers than Muskie in Mille lacs eat more of there own than Muskie tho.

Looking at Waconia it looks like the population is fairly low and I think limiting factor on real big pike is they are harvesting them off by anglers. Few Twin Cities lakes have big pike because of over fishing. I also see forage food base(perch) population took a dip in recent years.
You look at lakes with Muskie the populations are usually or almost always very low.

Number one or will say top three causes of small pike in no particular order.

1. Lack of abundance of a good forage food base

2. Over abundance of small pike.

3. Over harvest of pike greater than 24 inches for a starters will say.


Many studies have shown northern pike numbers drop for each year class about 50% with moderate to heavy angling pressure and natural death on lakes .

so you go from 100(age 1)-50-25-12-6-3. So after 5 years with fishing pressure is on many lakes we are cropping them down pretty good.
I do think in recent years voluntary catch and release has brought the size up some on its own in recent years and am seeing a few more bigger ones.

Pinetree: "Shock I agree pretty much with your statement:


Mille lacs was first stocked with Muskie in 1969 with the Shoepack strain from Voyageur Park area. They don't grow very big and didn't take hold in Mille lacs. Yes, 1984 was the first successful stocking of Mille lacs and with the Wisconsin strain than again in 1988 with the Wisconsin strain. Some of those fish lived 20 years and grew to enormous size. 1991 the DNR started using the Mississippi-Leech strain Muskie for stocking.


Stocking muskie in Mille lacs had probably zero effect on size of northern pike. In the mid 90's the DNR did extensive northern pike population check. Very common was northern pike in the 24-26 pound range and one fish at 30 pounds. What made these fish get big was number one was a great forage food base and very very fast growth rate compared to much of Minnesota. Also fishing pressure was moderate and harvest was fairly light on bigger pike.
Muskie do eat northern pike,but more than anything would control over population of small fish. Overall northern pike because of more numbers than Muskie in Mille lacs eat more of there own than Muskie tho.


Looking at Waconia it looks like the population is fairly low and I think limiting factor on real big pike is they are harvesting them off by anglers. Few Twin Cities lakes have big pike because of over fishing. I also see forage food base(perch) population took a dip in recent years.
You look at lakes with Muskie the populations are usually or almost always very low."

first of all how do i cut down the length of the quote ? i've seen others use just a portion.
PT looking at the netting report from lakefinder one would think what you stated about waconia but it is better than the reports indicate from the DNR. just a ton of forage in that lake. i became friends with this guy where it's only us 2 in this area during winter and he released 6+ pike #8+ this last winter , he's strictly a walleye guy. not trophy's but quality fish. the last 2 winters my group has released a #17-#14-#13-#12 and many nice pike get weighed in at intowne marina during the winter(i dont need that attention anymore ;) ), and i've touched on this in a thread i did awhile back , fish love milfoil and your application is limited once that milfoil goes full bloom(thus making winter better). and it maybe 1 of 2 reason why netting reports have not been good the other being most of the netting reports for waconia has been done in the dog days of august , not the best time for a fish survey IMO. lake waconia truly is a mini mille lacs .
lake waconia is one for those type lakes that i would like to see a specific slot not a general blanket covering a bunch of lakes,which they do have for walleyes 16" minimum which a lot of lakes should adopt IMO again ;) there a few lakes in the state that already have specific slots for pike , dont know why the DNR would put a general slot over a 5,000+ lake area (central zone)

Shock it does look like they grow fast in Waconia.

If I'm out with my family, we generally tend to fish during the day. This often means that pike are on the menu in the hammer handle range.

The reason I don't like slots...I always catch slot fish!

There is another reason... If people are planning on keeping fish for dinner, the fish in the margins, the 22.5 to 25.5 inch fish are gonna go through some sort of measuring process that is not conducive to C&R.

Another reason... Bleeding fish. The last Pike I kept on the Mississippi was around 25 inches. He hit a topwater, I don't know how he did it, but he threw the lure but his own gut. So he was all spun up in line ruining his slime and he had a wound into his body cavity. This is a dead fish. So I kept him.

The year before, I caught a walleye that tore the heck out of his left Gill and was bleeding everywhere. I measured him... In the slot. Well, good luck fishy, I am not getting caught with you. I don't care if you are doomed and wasted.

For the boundary Waters, I think a regulation like... You can keep one fish over 26 inches or 2 under 26 inches.

That is plenty of fish for dinner and gives you a chance to keep a bleeding fish.

Totally in favor of the slot for Pike and other fish. They have to try something. Too many lakes any Pike over 25” gets taken home perpetuating hammer handles, not good for any of the fish in that fishery.

I get why people get frustrated but I have also seen the first hand affects of slot limits improving the size fish on the lakes I frequent. I can remember when on Kabby catching a 22” walleye would make you the talk of camp, now you can catch that and bigger all day long. I like to eat fish, but catching them is way more fun.

T

timatkn: "Totally in favor of the slot for Pike and other fish. They have to try something. Too many lakes any Pike over 25” gets taken home perpetuating hammer handles, not good for any of the fish in that fishery.


I get why people get frustrated but I have also seen the first hand affects of slot limits improving the size fish on the lakes I frequent. I can remember when on Kabby catching a 22” walleye would make you the talk of camp, now you can catch that and bigger all day long. I like to eat fish, but catching them is way more fun.


T


"

Agree 100%. They have to try something. Yes I would like the 22-26 inch to be a littlr different. But nobody would agree 100% of the choices.

I didn’t read foxfireniner’s post previously...you make a good point about having to release a damaged fish in the slot that most likely will die...it is frustrating and will keep happening, but unfortunately the DNR has to have a cut off somewhere. They already tried having a provision where a damaged slot fish could be kept and where ever they trialed it the meat hogs took advantage and damaged fish on purpose so you will never see see that again. It has to be black and white. Either it is in the slot or not.

As someone who has been checked many times, if a fish is close throw it back. Sometimes wishful thinking biases your measure :) I know my brother sometimes measures a “keeper” walleye and I measure it at 1/8 inch over the slot. Nose needs to be at the right spot and squeeze the tail and make sure the fish isn’t curling up at all. I’ve seen haphazard measuring cost a lot of money...a group from Iowa tried to bitch to us about getting fined $250 for being a 1/4 inch over the slot...didn’t feel sorry for them at all, especially because we had just warned them they were not measuring right :)

T

Those 23-26” northern ate, imho, the ideal eating size.