Keeping Female Walleyes

[H82bogey]

I need to preface this with the following:"I don't want this to turn into a discussion on slot limits."

I am curious on what the peanut gallery has for an opinion on this. The discussion came up in our boat last week. A boat next to us caught a pretty good sized female that according to the angler was 22". Me and my fishing partner believed that fish should be released to do her thing, but unfortunately it went into this persons live well.

So this has me curious. What is everyone's thoughts on keeping a female in the spring or anytime? Do you set a size limit? For example, keep anything under 20" and release everything over? Release all females? Keep everything under 25", etc?

Personally in the spring I don't like to keep any fish over 20".

I have heard that bigger fish don't taste as good, and maybe my taste buds don't work right, because I can't tell the flavor difference between a 25" and a 14" walleye. They all taste the same to me.

 

[Duckslayer100]

How are you supposed to eat the roe if you throw them back? Makes no sense to me.

 

[guywhofishes]

How are you supposed to eat the roe if you throw them back? Makes no sense to me.

maybe game and fish should have a spawn squeezin season - catch, squeeze, release?

 

[DirtyMike]

I always live by the rule of 20 but if she's the last fish for a limit, she might go into the box. I don't get too worked up about what people keep. If you're with in the law, go for it. Everything else is just preference. Only a democrat would get mad if you don't adapt to their opinions.

 

[SerchforPerch]

HAHA! from the pics I've been seeing lately you can set up a roe collection site at every cleaning station...

Woman and children are fair game!

 

[GSM]

I don't understand how you could possibly think this won't turn into a "discussion on slot limits"?

 

[deleted_account]

last Saturday cleaning fish with guy i found it interesting that most fish (unfortunately) were female even though you couldnt have guessed it looking at the body profile of the fish. They were all fairly lean and mean looking, very few with the big saggy prego bellies. I honestly thought we had a bunch of real nice males until cleaning commenced.

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that said i keep what i want, when i want, and dont feel bad about it. Keeping a 20" fish in august versus April will make zero difference. Dirtymike and i caught a bunch of pigs (70 ish) on devils lake early summer last year and didnt keep one fish because we were lazy and already had fish in the freezer. I like having flexibility.

 

[Captain Ahab]

So you are into torturing fish?

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UE6GrJr6oVg

 

[Kurtr]

well you should never keep a female as they are going to always have eggs the next year......................

 

[Pinecone]

Legendary North Dakota, or just East Dakota:;:sorry

 

[tikkalover]

;:;popcorn ;:;boozer

 

[ndfinfan]

Rarely keep a fish over 20...any time of the year. That being said, I have zero problem with peeps keeping the 5 fish daily limit of walleye regardless of gender or time of year.

 

[tikkalover]

Maybe you and the guide in the fishing reports should get together for the greater good of the fishery. That way he can sell his waypoints and stay employed and you will always have fish to catch. :;:stirthepot

 

[3Roosters]

The fish I keep or not keep is my personal choice, just as it is with every other fisherperson. Who am I to judge why a person kept this one or not? I think if we fisherperson's would mind our own livewell and not someone's else's, it would make the fishing a lot more enjoyable for all. Seems to be too much arm chair quarterbacking at cleaning stations these days.

 

[wildeyes]

I keep when i need fish, I release when i don't. I keep fish 20" or less. I feel guilty when i clean a big fish But hey i have issues.

 

[scrotcaster]

No body seems to get upset when i keep a limit of female northerns.. ? lol

 

[eyexer]

like mentioned above what difference does it make if you take that fish in the fall or in the spring. If it was a true concern the season would be closed in the spring.

 

[gone_fishing]

well you should never keep a female as they are going to always have eggs the next year......................

On top of that, only some lakes have any successful natural walleye reproduction. Most smaller bodies of water rely on stocking to maintain the population. The larger systems that have some natural reproduction (Missouri, DL) aren't really affected much by fisherman (at least in the long term). I would imagine mortality rates from fishing are even less in the spring then they are in the summer simply from less people fishing.

I'm a proponent of catch and release and don't often keep walleyes over 20". I just don't see some anglers keeping un-spawned females in the spring really having any measurable affect on the future population.

 

[Walleye_Chaser]

What if the walleye identifies itself as male? How dare you!

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But seriously, I like the 20" rule and that's what I follow...unless it's been a really slow day maybe I'll keep 1 over that for dinner

 

[Auggie]

Is she's over 20 she goes back. Unless she's bleeding.