I recently got into a discussion with someone online about the size of fish worth keeping and whether or not it's sustainable. I know this can be a touchy topic for people but I want to hear your thoughts specifically as they pertain to BWCA/Q.

What do you think is the minimum worthwhile size to keep/fillet/cook, and the maximum size you're willing to keep, and why? For bass, walleye, pike, trout, etc... curious to hear your criteria.

I will provide mine later if this thread doesn't get immediately locked for wanting to _respectfully_ discuss a controversial topic.

I don't really keep bass and rarely catch or keep trout in the BW.

So...that leaves walleye and I'm pretty much in the "nice eater" category you see on a lot of TV shows. I like to eat anything from say 14-18" on average, not that I measure each one or decide if it's a quarter inch over/under that. More of a general rule of thumb. If it's a 20"+ walleye it's going back unless it was hooked in the gills or something else where I think it's not going to have a good chance of making it.

All smallies and northerns are catch and release. Only if they were hooked bad would we keep one.
We keep walleyes for a fish fry and go with the 15-18" size. Anything smaller or bigger is catch and release.
We usually go with catch and release for trout too. We may keep one under 18" to bake and give everyone a taste for one of our evening meals

Pretty similar for myself. Will usually keep a walleye from 15" to 19", Pike from 22" to 25" and Lakers under 20". Don't really keep anything else and outside of Lakers I can't remember the last time I kept a full limit.

Gadfly: "Pretty similar for myself. Will usually keep a walleye from 15" to 19", Pike from 22" to 25" and Lakers under 20". Don't really keep anything else and outside of Lakers I can't remember the last time I kept a full limit. "

+1 but I'll add smallie 2-3 pound range. I'm not discriminate if fishing is slow and I'm hungry.

I only fish the BWCA in groups, so I will start out my answer that way. Every person decides if the fish they catch goes on the stringer or not. If its a legal size fish to keep its their choice. Our group has kept big fish, our group has released big fish. Many things are in play if we keep or release a fish. Does the person that keeps the fish or releases it, fish other times in the year, or is this the only fish he keeps all year? A young fisherman or a guy that only fishes one time all year will come into play here. They might keep big fish or small fish. Are we catching many fish that day? Are we catching hardly any fish for 6-8 guys? Some guys we take only fish on our trip. They have kept large Smallmouth Bass. That was their choice. Six to eight guys means 6-8 decisions to be made. Its their choice. Im not going to tell anyone that they can’t or should not keep a fish because of size. We do try to say we only want to keep so many fish a day.

Now I will answer what I personally do. I will not keep a Pike or Smallmouth Bass up there unless we need fish to eat, that means No walleye were caught. No big Pike or Bass are kept in this case.

Walleye slot limit eater size for me are 16-19”. Only bigger fish than that will be kept if they cannot be revived and swim back. Bigger walleye are generally females so I like them to go back.

Walleye and lakers are about the same for me - 12-20ish inches is the eater size

Bass and Northern, I'm never really targeting but will keep them to eat once in a while.

Bass are probably 12-16 or 17 (1-2.5 lbs)

Northern 24-28ish. Generally about 4-6 lbs, smaller is too hard to clean and remove the Y bones.

All of these are ball park. If it's eater sized, I'm not measuring it.

Brook trout from the lakes - they're all eaters. They're stockers that don't reproduce. Brook Trout from the streams - I let them all go unless poorly hooked, in which case i'll keep and eat.

Not only for sustainability, but fish (eater size as people mentioned above) taste better & are more healthy for you.

Yeah the bigger the fish the older it is and usually more heavy metals and stuff might be in it. There's a reason the places that have those issues (more added in the arrowhead lately I think) have consumption guides and limits in place. Certain species and certain sizes you're to avoid or at least eat less frequently.

Well this is about what I expected. I'll chime in with my thoughts-

Younger fish have firmer meat with less accumulated pollutants. I'm all about that! If I could guarantee, when fishing for a meal, that I'd only be catching 16" walleyes, 15" bass, 24" pike, or 20" lakers, or at least knew that I'd catch enough of the ideal eater size that I could blissfully send back every fish that's just a _little_ on the big side, then I'd do so.

The thing is, sometimes you just keep catching big fish, or you have had a slow day and you finally catch something and it's on the big side. Last year on Crooked I think our average walleye was 19 or 20 inches (which was awesome). We wanted to eat fish... so we kept a couple walleyes. It was a nice change of pace actually because usually we can catch some smallies and pike but have a heck of a time locating walleye. On that trip I caught a 27 inch walleye that I of course released, though she took a while to revive. I hope she's still swimming around Sunday Bay somewhere.

Most times I don't want to deal with filleting, cooking, and cleaning up, so fish go back, but usually we'll do a 1-2 fish meals on a trip (more when I'm with just "the guys"). We'll skip the fish meal if all we are catching are really nice fish, though. We bring enough food that we never need to eat fish, but I like to when we can, because I only eat fish maybe a half dozen times a year.

In order of preference:
14-20" Lake Trout
24"+ Northern (check regs, zones and border lakes vary)
15-18" Walleye
13-15" Walleye
18-20" Walleye
14-24" Northern
12-18" Bass, do we really have to eat fish today?

Ideally a good trip would have one meal each of my top 3.

(First, an aside: Those of you who have caught, prepared, served and eaten a mixed bag of pike, bass, and walleye know that difference among the species is minimal. If someone says they don't like bass or pike, it becomes a secret and almost nobody can tell the difference except for the supertasters. Smallish fish from cold water tastes good.)
We don't measure, we just sort of say keeper or not. The criteria tend to change based upon supply and demand.
Thanks for being honest those of you who said you will keep a 14" walleye. In my mind, that's a pretty universal canoe country keeper.

Well said. From cold water bwca lakes, it’s very hard to tell the difference between fish species, especially if prepared by shore lunch/ oil.

I have tricked a many folks in thinking they’ve been eating walleyes when I’ve prepared bass, perch, crappie, etc.

lundojam: "(First, an aside: Those of you who have caught, prepared, served and eaten a mixed bag of pike, bass, and walleye know that difference among the species is minimal..."

My cousin eats all his fish with Frank's Hot Sauce. I imagine his fish all taste the same. I'm what you'd call a "Super-taster"... love catching, cleaning, cooking and tasting. Bass, no.

I refuse to believe that anyone can tell the difference of BWCA fish in a blind taste test assuming everything is prepared the same.

Anything over 20" on walleye goes back. Smallmouth are good and so plentiful, I'll keep a couple on a trip. Generally we only have 2 fish fries on a 14 day trip, so 4-6 fish of walleyes and smallmouth. The problem with smallmouth in Quetico is catching one small enough for our conservation license. A good problem to have, imo?! I've kept a few white suckers in the BW and they were excellent!

RatherbeDuffing: "I refuse to believe that anyone can tell the difference of BWCA fish in a blind taste test assuming everything is prepared the same. "

With the exception of Trout I tend to agree. I myself would admit that even in central Minnesota lakes I probably couldn't tell the difference between a walleye or pike.

Walleye and Lake Trout, 14-19 ideally. I don't mind going into the low 20s if smaller fish aren't plentiful on any given day.

Pike are pretty limited by the Northeast Zone regs. I'd keep anything from 20-29 if we were planning a fish fry, I think they taste as good if not better than walleye. Smaller than 20 are a hassle to clean and 30-40 are protected.

I don't keep bass, but I'm probably in the group that couldn't taste the difference if prepared identically to walleye. If I was fishing in a big group that wanted to cook a feast I wouldn't think twice about keeping SMB.


An interesting discussion -- I wonder what has the greater impact on a fishery, keeping a limit of 15" fish or one or two 25" fish? I don't eat enough fish to really worry about contaminants in older fish.

lundojam: "(First, an aside: Those of you who have caught, prepared, served and eaten a mixed bag of pike, bass, and walleye know that difference among the species is minimal. If someone says they don't like bass or pike, it becomes a secret and almost nobody can tell the difference except for the supertasters. Smallish fish from cold water tastes good.)
We don't measure, we just sort of say keeper or not. The criteria tend to change based upon supply and demand.
Thanks for being honest those of you who said you will keep a 14" walleye. In my mind, that's a pretty universal canoe country keeper."

+1 lundo ... maybe it's because I'm always starving on fishing/camping trips but I think I'd fail miserably with a blind taste test of the four.

On a week-long trip we'll have two dinners and one breakfast of fresh fish. We let the big fish go and generally look for walleye in the 16-18" range, give or take. Have kept other fish too when it's on the menu but, again, we let the big ones go.

It would not hurt in most of the waters to keep a few more northern pike and smallmouth under will say 16 inches. Have a meal of lake trout, but then substitute what I said above.

thegildedgopher: "

An interesting discussion -- I wonder what has the greater impact on a fishery, keeping a limit of 15" fish or one or two 25" fish? I don't eat enough fish to really worry about contaminants in older fish."

Probably depends on the lake but generally speaking taking the 25 inch fish would be more harmful. That fish would be a super producer of eggs and fryfor multiple generations to come, it survived all those years so it is doing something right and passing along those genes will help future fish generations. Wile those 15 inchers are probably more males (not really needed) or probably don’t reproduce yet or not much. You can get philosophical and wonder what if those 15 inch fish survive to be fish producers but maybe they never survive to reproduce…a bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush. That’s why Minnesota changed their regs many years ago so you can only harvest 1 walleye over 20 inches (the Q is 1 over 19 inches) In an effort to try to keep the breeders from being harvested.

Probably cutting hairs…not sure either would be that bad if that’s all one took though.

T

Fish are food, not friends.

I like to eat fish every day, so the first few fish I catch go on the stringer unless they are under 14" or so. If I catch more fish, I will keep walleye and release the others. If I catch a big walleye over 20", I will release unless it's the first and only fish I catch. We generally figure one fish per person for a good fish fry.

timatkn: "

thegildedgopher: "


An interesting discussion -- I wonder what has the greater impact on a fishery, keeping a limit of 15" fish or one or two 25" fish? I don't eat enough fish to really worry about contaminants in older fish."

Probably depends on the lake but generally speaking taking the 25 inch fish would be more harmful. That fish would be a super producer of eggs and fryfor multiple generations to come, it survived all those years so it is doing something right and passing along those genes will help future fish generations. Wile those 15 inchers are probably more males (not really needed) or probably don’t reproduce yet or not much. You can get philosophical and wonder what if those 15 inch fish survive to be fish producers but maybe they never survive to reproduce…a bird in hand is worth 2 in the bush. That’s why Minnesota changed their regs many years ago so you can only harvest 1 walleye over 20 inches (the Q is 1 over 19 inches) In an effort to try to keep the breeders from being harvested.

Probably cutting hairs…not sure either would be that bad if that’s all one took though.


T"

That makes sense. Part of me does wonder, though, whether the 25" fish is potentially nearing the end of its productive years (or its years, period), whereas the 15" fish potentially has several years of spawn left?

And what makes any random 15" walleye more likely to be a male than a female? Unless it's actively in the spawn and spewing milt, can the average angler tell? It's not like rainbow trout where you can identify the sex by the color and markings.

On the thought of not being able to identify the fish you are eating I would agree. . .if you are breading and frying the fish.

I typically do not bread my fish. I will blacken the fillets, grill them or bake them. One year we caught a pike and simply gutted the fish, rinsed the cavity out and sprayed the cavity with lemon butter. Then grilled the fish directly over the fire on the grates. We ate the meat out of the burned fish with forks. . .some of the best pike we have eaten.

Same with the other fish. Baking or blackening the fillets will allow you to actually taste the fish. In my experience, most people like fish batter. . .not really fish.

I go with 6-8 guys, most who only fish on this trip. Job #1 is to secure the traditional fish fry, after that you can make a judgement call.

I’ve been fortunate enough to let a few low to mid 20s walleyes go but we have eaten them as well.

Couldn’t agree more on the idea that deep fried bass and walleye are indistinguishable.

I grew up noshing on bass at my grandparent's in northern Wisconsin, and love 'em. It's crazy how many people have never tried bass, and don't think they'd be a good eating fish. They make for an outstanding fish fry. Pike is surprisingly delicious, Walleye is delicious. Trout is delicious. Crappy, Bluegills, Perch...it's all good. And to be honest, my favorite of all the fish is gills.

I love fish. :)

My keeper size -- All based on local regulations first.
Bass: 14-16" preferred.
Walleye: 14-16" preferred.
Pike: 20-24" preferred.
Lake Trout: 14-18" preferred.

Everything else is released. If I'm desperate for a fish dinner, I'll take an inch or two extra either way if possible. I never go for a bag limit. And the vast majority of the time, it's catch and release for the entire day.

I won't keep a female full of eggs regardless of size. I won't keep trophy fish either. ...can't say I've ever caught a trophy anyway, so that's a non-issue up to this point. LOL

I like to eat pike and walleye. If I'm alone, i prefer a walleye around 14" or a small pike. If I'm with someone, a walleye of 18" or 19" is perfect or a pike around 23". As I've shared in other threads, I don't put fish on a stringer. Dragging them behind the canoe is a bother and where I fish, the fish are so plentiful that there's no need. Generally, the fish I eat is the one I catch when I return to the campsite for lunch and troll. It usually takes less than five minutes to catch that fish.

Walleye only taste like the seasoning you put on them, so I release all of those. If I want something to eat that actually tastes like a fish, I will keep a couple northern in the 2 to 4 pound range. The larger/older northern have spent too much time absorbing mercury and other contaminants from the lower food chain for me to feel good eating them.
If the fishing was poor and I was only able to pick up some smallies, I'll eat a few of those not caring what size they are.

Apparently my group is the only one that bakes, blackens or smokes the fish without breading. I don't even bring breading anymore.

ockycamper: "Apparently my group is the only one that bakes, blackens or smokes the fish without breading. I don't even bring breading anymore."

I'd be ok with it! I like wrapping fillets in foil, with some butter, onions, and lemon slices or lemon juice and baking them in the coals. It works best with lake trout. Problem is, I seem to be the only one who likes the fish that way. Everyone else wants their fish fried.

MichiganMan: "

ockycamper: "Apparently my group is the only one that bakes, blackens or smokes the fish without breading. I don't even bring breading anymore."

I'd be ok with it! I like wrapping fillets in foil, with some butter, onions, and lemon slices or lemon juice and baking them in the coals. It works best with lake trout. Problem is, I seem to be the only one who likes the fish that way. Everyone else wants their fish fried."

We do the same, although with just butter and a little seasoning. Works just fine for pike and walleye as well, cuts down on a lot of weight (oil and cast iron pan mostly), is a lot easier to clean up, doesn't leave all our clothes smelling like a vat of used oil and is a whole lot healthier. There is no way I would go back to frying fish in the wilderness and we now often cook our fish at home this same way!

I have spent a lot of my life living on coastlines of oceans. Our family also goes to the gulf 3 times a year. No one orders their grouper or mahi breaded.

I bring the same seasonings I use for fishing on the gulf to BWCA. The guys really like fish fillets blackened and fried in a pan with just a little olive oil.

I've found a 2 lb. fish is enough for two with other food involved. So I generally keep about a two lb. fish or 2 smaller one. I generally don't keep larger fish because there is more then enough to eat and it gets wasted.
I did a blind taste test with smalleys, eyes, and slimers with breading and no one passed the test! Not one person could tell what they were eating.

I think smallmouth bass are sweet tasting and very good. Walleye is bland and depends on what you roll them in. Yes NOP is very good around the 2.5-pound range.
Like a lot of fish, the bigger fish have bigger flakes and sometimes a stronger taste.

ockycamper: "Apparently my group is the only one that bakes, blackens or smokes the fish without breading. I don't even bring breading anymore."

Any time the opportunity arises (BWCA or driftless) my buddies and I make blackened stocked trout filets and top instant fried noodles with them. We also make tacos with grilled walleye at home, which could be doable in the bush with some omissions and substitutions.

ockycamper: "Apparently my group is the only one that bakes, blackens or smokes the fish without breading. I don't even bring breading anymore."

As much as I love a good fish fry, you should try Matthew Posa's campfire fish dinner

. ...It's pretty fantastic. I've made this at home several times. The one thing I don't do is add gobs of butter... I start with regular olive oil (not EVOO)...

Does he not bring any spoons? I can't believe he actually stirs his food with his hands.

ockycamper: "Does he not bring any spoons? I can't believe he actually stirs his food with his hands."

He has a titanium spork for eating. Has a small spatula for stirring and flipping in the pan. No tongs...

if your in the BW and fish is part of the daily menu , almost any size will taste good out of those clean waters with maybe an exception to a 80 year old lake trout.
i've had to take some bigger fish out of my local (Waconia) and they taste fantastic.
fish out of the minnesota river or lotus lake in chanhassen whole different story NASTY !

ockycamper: "I bring the same seasonings I use for fishing on the gulf to BWCA. The guys really like fish fillets blackened and fried in a pan with just a little olive oil."

Care to share what that seasoning is? I'm always looking for a good seasoning.

Chef Paul Prudhomme: Blackened Redfish Magic, Seafood Magic. Ole Thompson Fish & Seafood Seasoning.

The guys really like the fish seasoned with this stuff and just cooked in a little olive oil or baked on the fire.

Those that have never had fish cooked without breading don't know what they are missing