Number of fish above 46cm

It would be helpful to see how the number of fish above 46cm has grown since the inception of the 2014 angling regulation.

Most anglers are expecting this number to increase significantly after 5 years and with the level of detail in the test nets it should be a number that can be reported on. It is the holy grail for anglers after all. It is what they gave up taking 14" fish for. It is also a great indication of how health the spawners are.

We aren't allowed to discuss this topic. But it seems most walleye vanish one way or another, between 17 and 18.1 inches lol

It sure seems like it.

Four last year over a seventeen day period.( neither bragging or complaining) More luck than good management. Doesn’t really matter to me what I catch. I just like catching fish although I understand where people are coming from on this topic..

Last year we had 5 fish over 46 cm between 6 guys fishing over 3 days and this year not a single fish over 46 cm for the same number of guys fishing for 3 days as well.

I thought what anglers gave up by not taking 14" fish for the last 5 years...was to help aid in the rebuilding of an entire fishery from the foundation up?
Hopefully, not so anglers could just harvest a few more fish, as fast as possible.

It's not a race...even if it was, it would be a marathon not a sprint. There's a bigger picture event involved here - restore the 'entire' walleye fishery to health and sustainability...first and foremost.

Many conscientious anglers (and camp operators) I've talked to understand the longer term objective. The short term gain of harvesting more fish, as soon as possible, isn't necessarily at the top of the priority list.
Maybe I'm naive, but I believe most anglers aren't expecting 'significantly' increased numbers of 46cm plus fish this year, or even next. Frankly, most anglers don't know what to expect at this point in the recovery.
Being capable of taking and harvesting more fish is just 'one' of several eventual results and consequences expected of the current 10 year recovery efforts. Having a healthy sustainable fishery 10/20/30 years down the road is the focused goal.

The stated objective of the OMNRF's current 10 year fishery management plan was this - allow smaller juvenile fish to reach spawning age/size (and hopefully spawn more then once) before being harvested by anglers...not to get as many fish as possible, to the earliest harvestable size permitted, in the shortest time frame.

Personally, walleye fishing for the purpose of harvesting more fish hasn't been on my radar the last 5 years. Too many other great fishing options available within the Nipissing fishery. We've returned most harvestable walleye, and will continue to do so...our little contribution to the recovery efforts. That was strictly our families choice, everyone's entitled to their own, no public shaming or disagreement intended here...I fully support taking legal fish, if an angler wishes.
Seeing walleye numbers vastly rebound and helping the 'entire' fishery to recover from top to bottom, is our familes reward for now.

Conservation by anglers actually started 20 years ago with limits and size reduced from 6 to 4 to 2 to basically 0
Although I do not like the harvest of mature spawners I understand why it was done.
I also believe that when the 18.1 inch goal is achieved the slot will be reversed again.
Since most now target perch as seen with the shift in ice shack locations its a non issue.
Most are fine with keeping perch for a meal or they wouldn't be there.imo

Angling efforts is 95% directed toward walleye, with the rest going to perch/pike. I'm not seeing these shacks in the perch locations.

If the hunters take down the cormorants, expect perch population to thrive, even moreso than they have by eating fleas.

Angling efforts is 95% directed toward walleye, with the rest going to perch/pike. I'm not seeing these shacks in the perch locations.

If the hunters take down the cormorants, expect perch population to thrive, even moreso than they have by eating fleas.

Although I'm in agreement with the cormorant problem I don't quite get the flea comment unless you believe perch main diet is fleas.I also posted before that shack numbers on the north shore and on the Callander Bay shoreline have grown ten fold the last 6 years or so.I used to fish deep water point but have been off sunset point for perch like many others the last 7-8 yrs.Why travel 30 miles for walleye that I can't keep when I can catch a feed of perch five minutes away.I have not been to the south shore so i cannot comment on the numbers of shacks and can only speculate that numbers have moved.Based on the restrictions I can only assume less fishermen would bother trying to catch fish they cannot keep, me included.A keeper walleye is a bonus but I have only seen one as perch is my target.as usual imo

Recreational limit is essentially zero while bigger fish get harvested in industrial quantities by commercial fishery. So no, I would not expect any growth in the number of keepers anytime soon. Anecdotal evidence supports this conclusion.

Taboo topic btw, can't discuss this

Recreational limit is zero for those who fail to change tactics and target larger fish. What's that they say about the definition of insanity.. doing the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results?

Those fish over 46 are the breeding stock. So the thousands upon thousands of sub 46cm fish get dropped by storks every year?

We do a bungalow trip every year. We enjoy everything about it. The coffee at sunup.. sleeping in a little hut out on the ice while it blows/snows/rains outside. The comraderie.. it's like a mini version of deer camp. We [/I]do not[I] do it with the expectation of catching legal walleye. If that was our goal we would fish differently. We would be mobile, probably wouldn't fish 6ft apart, and we most certainly would not drop 2.5-3" shiners into hoards of 14-17" walleye that will readily eat up bait of that size all day long. If you are after a handful of 18"+ fish but they are surrounded by all kinds of hungry sub 18" fish, fishing with bait that will readily catch the sub 18" fish isn't exactly an efficient way of targeting them. Nor is it smart.
Couple that with the fact that booking a weekend with an operator to fish for said "keepers" is akin to playing the lottery. You are not picking your spot, nor are you fishing virgin holes, and the weather (often the most determining factor) is a complete crapshoot.

I fish the lake a lot. Grew up on it. I fish spring/summer. And I catch 18"+ fish somewhat frequently. Our success doing the bunglow trips? 1 legal fish since the slot change. But we realize that fishing success doing 1 bungalow trip a year isn't exactly a good litmus test for what state the fishery is in (nor should it be).

Ya well, the question that's on most peoples mind who visit this forum is: is there a decent chance of catching legal walleye with operators on Nipissing? The answer is no. That's exactly what you just wrote.

Sure you can have fun with your buddies in a bungalow, just like anywhere else you go with buddies.

Let's face it, the draw on Nipissing is it's walleye fishery. Without it, renting a shed with bunks for 3 days for a $1000 isn't exactly quite as appealing. People gave it years of benefit of a doubt hoping those fish would eventually grow to the legal size. They are either the slowest growing fish on the planet or they get removed in some other way. People are obviously starting to catch on...

I didn't say you couldn't catch keepers with an operator. It happens every weekend. What I was alluding to is that style of fishing is a poor way of targeting legal fish. Lots of guys come on here and post something to the effect of "we caught 100 walleye and not one keeper!" Nobody posts how they fished with 6" minnows all weekend and only caught a few but they were decent fish, because nobody tries.

"People are obviously strarting to catch on"
I think it's the other way around. People are failing to "get it". The most vocal are among the "one weekend a year" crowd. And they can't fish for walleye in the kewarthas in winter anymore. I wonder what happened there?

Kewarthas don't have a commercial fishery, you are comparing apples and oranges.

I find myself agreeing with the majority of what Northhunter has said in this post.
Personally, I've grown weary of the negative posturing, complaining and repetitive whining about the lack of harvestable Nipissing walleye over the last 5 years. IMO it's becoming tedious.
And no offence to any of the great camp operators and guides on the lake...many I know, have known and regularly talk to...and...I'm probably going to be crucified for what I'm about to say...
But, if your sole goal is to come north, in the winter and catch a very few keeper walleyes, 3 short hours from the most populous urban centre in the country...a Nipissing trip likely isn't for you.
Sorry, but it just isn't...not now, under the current regulations, this far along in its walleye recovery effort.
So, let the personal insults and curses rain down.
Your chances of catching and keeping fish is probably better heading into Quebec, up to Lake of Woods or Bay of Quinte etc.. Save your money, go elsewhere.
I'd make a horrible promoter for the lake...not exactly the best advertisement for coming to fish...but maybe an honest assessment.
I've fished all the other places...but chose to buy and eventually retire on Nipissing many years ago...the breadth of 'all' the fishing options available being one of the many reasons. I'm not 'keeper' walleye fixated.
There's a long term recovery process ongoing on Nipissing and it's not going to be completed in 5 short years...not even close.
Many of the good, experienced local anglers...the Northhunters, Cranmans, Fishchasers (I apologize to all the other great local fishermen my feeble brain has omitted) have no problem regularly finding harvestable fish. Unfortunately, the chances of doing it right now, possibly the next couple of years, strictly during the winter, out of a stationary commercial icehut, only a couple weekends a year...isn't great. You'll possibly catch a lot of fish if the conditions are right...but the likelyhood of catching even a few keepable walleye is likely low. It happens...but not with any regularity.
What I find is many of the experienced local anglers on the lake don't report and post every decent 20+" walleye they catch. It would be pointless self promotion.
But if you use the right tactics, proper sized bait throughout the entire span of the fishing season...you'll catch plenty of harvestable sized walleye out of Nipissing.
If you are entirely focused on catching keeper fish (in the winter only) and not interested in the whole fishing experience or any of the other amazing angling options available...probably best to leave any fish for those of us that fully appreciate the fishery for what it does currently offer.