2020 Walleye Slot Size?, NO CHANGE FROM 2019

I’m not saying you won’t run into some big fish in these areas. I see big girls caught by guests with operators, and in these high structure areas every winter.
Do you want to catch a lot of fish? Or do you want to catch big fish? Sometimes you can’t have them both. I would gladly sacrifice numbers for size. Sometimes in order to do that you have to put a little more time and effort to get rewarded.

Guys like fishermackay, Cranman and others are guys that ice big walleyes every winter. These guys aren’t fishing easy access points and high traffic areas. They put the time and effort to get into other areas of this massive lake and get rewarded year after year.

The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Yet year after year, you guys set your huts up on the same spots, catching the same size fish and complain that you can’t keep anything to eat.

Change it up!!

Bingo glfpro. Well put.
The larger walleye change location...in order to find the size and type of forage they need and now prefer...to meet their increasing biological requirements as their size increases.
Many of us that live on the lake, and heavily fish the lake, have seen and mentioned this for some time.
My family fishes heavily all summer, opener to close...we started keeping pretty detailed summer records the past 3 years now...just for our own personal interest.
Catch numbers have drastically increased...as glfpro indicates. But the % of bigger fish we've caught has also started increasing.
If our crews want numbers...we go to locations where we've caught numbers. If we want to try for a few bigger fish or the occasional meal...we often go to different spots (many of which I won't and don't fish in winter because it requires too much effort)...and we may size up or change the bait as well.
Our percentage of 46cm+ summer fish has gone from about 3% in 2017, to 5+% in 2018 to just under 7% in 2019. All based all very similar angling effort and time spent targeting larger fish. That's just our observations...but I've spoken to other area fishermen seeing similar trends.
I realize when you're only talking 500-600 or so walleye a summer that's a very small sample size...and nearly impossible to draw any conclusions. But it's sufficient evidence for us to feel comfortable that the current regulations and management plan is working and having a positive impact.
Stay the course, IMO

And if you were to put the effort in during the ice fishing season, I’m confident you would see similar trends.

geez glfpro if everyone takes your advice the ministry is going to have to change the slot size because there will be more bigger fish caught. One of your posts a couple years ago taught us to change our tactics on location and we started to catch bigger walleye. You have given some great tips on this forum. Thanks glfpro you are making us better anglers.

I still would like to be able to harvest smaller walleye. It still seems to me that it would be better to not harvest fish over the 46 cm minimum. I think the Ministry is counting on the sportfishermen not being able to catch walleye over this minimum. If very small numbers of walleye are caught over 46 cm then the population would not be at risk. What other fish managers would encourage to removal of the breeding stock.

The fishery was in a very critical state a number of years ago, and based on the data they had, the saw there was an urgent need to protect the juvenile walleye in the lake as they were being harvest at such a high rate and not being able to reach spawn. When they put the hammer down and implemented the 46cm minimum it was the fastest was possible to recover the walleye population naturally. It has worked!

I would think for 2021 you will see some modifications to the regulations as this is the last year of their 5 year plan. I have no idea what they will do, I would like to see them still protect the juvenile fish so they can reach spawn but there has to be a concession made.

I would like to see something like 2 fish - 46cm one over, one under. None over 55cm none under 38cm

Well said

I'd be very happy with that reg change glfpro

There's those posts every year about how great it is this year and the big fish etc. You get up there and NOONE is getting those fish. Talk to other bungalows, it's all the same story - plenty of small fish, none in the legal size.

If you haven't gotten a keeper in years - you are not the minority. Vast majority of operator customers have the same experience.

We come up for 4 days with high hopes and usually by day 3 I get on the ATV and go driving around talking to other bungalows and the story is the same everywhere. We finally gave up this year. If perch and pike is all we can get, might as well go to Simcoe.

So if you take a look at page 63 in the recent report (link to report below) you will see that the 2 fish, one over and one under 46cm was explored. It is one of the more riskier angling options to consider.

https://files.ontario.ca/mnrf-rod-lake-nipi...-2019-11-13.pdf

Did you even read anything I said?

If you have the gear, and the ATV, go venture around. Just because you come up for 4 days (call it 3 full days of fishing) in a bungalow doesn’t mean you’re going to catch that trophy you’re after. Think about it. You’re sitting on the same spot for 72 hours fishing the same water. Sure you might get lucky and have that one fish swim under you that makes your trip, but the chances of that are very low.

Cover water, move around and put in some effort. Being lazy on the ice usually won’t reward you. Don’t bash the fishery if you aren’t willing to get outside your comfort zone and try new things. I know many guys myself included that ice big walleye every winter because we’re not afraid to try new water and move around.

I’ve seen the way guys fish in bungalows, most times the only thing they’re catching is a buzz and some zzz’s.

So how has the winter fishing changed? Here are some of the winter creep survey results over the years.....

In the good old days (1980s to the late 2000s) anglers took on average 6 hours to catch a Walleye and the average size harvested was 365mm (14.4 inches)

Anglers complained how bad the ice fishing was from 2009 to 2011,....and they were right. It took on average 15 hours to catch a Walleye and the average size harvested was 350mm (13.8 inches).

After that there were some changes, first a creel limit reduction from 4 to 2 fish and then the change from a 400-to-600mm protected slot size to the current 460mm minimum size limit.

Fast forward to the last couple of years (winter 2018 and 2019). Anglers catch rates have improved, average of 3 hours to catch a Walleye and the average size harvested is 480mm (18.9 inches)

Of course the total number of Walleye harvested has gone down but that along with other management actions has allowed to population to increase.....So I would look forward to another good winter ice fishing season in 2020.

I agree. 2020 should be a great season with some quality fish being caught.

Now correct me if I’m wrong FishBio, but from what I read, they are proposing the most viable option to keep things on the current course is to implement a harves slot of 450mm-500mm with a 2 fish limit (17.7”-19.6”).

If I’m correct in interpreting that, they are going to clamp the restrictions even more by giving you a two inch windo to harvest a walleye, thus making Nipissing a predominantly catch and release fishery for walleye.

That’s an interesting one. I hope I completely misunderstood The report lol

Ya, I did all that. Including fishing spots recommended by locals. Number of fish increases but size is the same, just under the slot.

Nice of you to assume I'm lazy and and drinking all the time, heh!

Also please don't call a minimum legal sized walleye a trophy - that's pretty fricken far from being a trophy


Most people reading this forum are staying in bungalows and that's what interests them so I'm just relaying my experience and experience of hundreds of people I've talked to in bungalows. And my conclusion is in all likelihood you are not going to catch any legal sized walleye.

I didn’t assume anything. I didn’t say all guests. But if you don’t think you’re going to catch a legal walleye, that’s fine. I’ve lost count of the legal fish I’ve put topside on this lake the last few years. 2018 myself and one other guy caught and released 6 legal fish on Opening day.
Last year, too many legal fish to keep track of. They’re out there, but you have to work for them.

And before YOU assume anything, most of my legal fish get released to be caught again. I will not keep anything over 22” if I can avoid it.

Instead of relying on someone to tell you to go to a spot, put the onus on yourself and go find those spots. There’s a great app call Navionics that you can use to find very good areas around the bungalows you fish.

Out of curiosity, can I ask which outfitter you use? It will help me understand The area of the lake you are in.

The current size distribution of Walleye in Lake Nipissing indicates that somewhere between 20% to 30% of all Walleye 300mm (12 inches) and greater are in the 400-to-450mm or 450-to-500mm size classes. So if the rule was changed, anglers would have more Walleye available to harvest.