The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is expected to propose extending for another year experimental fishing regulations in place on the Namakan Reservoir since 2007.

The additional year of regulations on the lakes that include Kabetogama, Namakan, Sand Point, Crane and Little Vermilion will give DNR staff time to analyze data collected this year and evaluate the results of the regulations, said Kevin Peterson, area fisheries supervisor for the DNR Fisheries office in International Falls.

Interested people are invited to comment on the future of the Namakan Reservoir walleye regulations at 7 p.m. Oct. 27 at the Kabetogama Community Center in Kabetogama.

The Oct. 27 meeting will provide the DNR staff with an opportunity to provide a status report of the fisheries on the lake, share information and answer questions.

Peterson said an additional year of the regulation would allow for a better evaluation of the regulation.

“There is so much natural variability in these things we’re trying measure that the more time we can study a system, the more comfortable we can be with the results and making recommendations,” he said this week.

The five lakes in the Namakan Reservoir are now under an experimental regulation that requires the immediate release of all walleye from 17 to 28 inches. One walleye greater than 28 inches is allowed in a possession limit of four walleye. The possession limit for walleye and sauger combined is six. The current regulations expire on March 1, 2012. These regulations may be modified, extended or dropped.

Each of the lakes have different levels of productivity and physical habitat making it difficult to develop a regulation that benefits all, he said.

“Even though they are connected and you can boat easily between the lakes, the things that drive the fishery in each of the lakes is quite different,” Peterson said. “And that makes it a daunting task for developing a regulation that fits all five of those lakes.”

However, he said, different regulations on each of the lakes would be difficult to enforce because the lines separating the lakes are not clear.

Meanwhile, Peterson encouraged anyone with an interest in the walleye on the lakes to attend the Oct. 27 meeting. He explained that the meeting is a direct response to a request by stakeholders in 2007 for the DNR to return in five years to let them know how the regulations were working and if adjustments were needed.

At that time, he said DNR staff proposed that the regulation be in place for 10 years, which provides more time to see trends and evaluate the regulations.

Meanwhile, Peterson discussed the status of the lakes.

Kabetogama

“As good as it is today, I’m a little concerned about the future,” Peterson said of Kabetogama Lake. “It bears watching closely, which we are doing.”

The fishery has improved on Kabetogama under the current regulation, with harvest increasing from extremely low levels in 2004. Overall harvest in that time was much lower than witnessed in 2010 and 2011, he said.

“Catch rates improved, harvest increased and the size of the fish — we’re seeing more keeper-sized walleye under the protected slot limits,” he said.

A recent statewide study has shown that the abundance of larger fish can be increased, and that anglers catch more larger fish, when walleye measuring between 17 inches and 28 inches are protected.

“Most anglers are pleased with that experience, but it does focus all the harvest on fish under 17 inches,” he said. “If we have weak year classes, like we occasionally get, keeper fish are harder to find and that’s been the case on Kab for a while, but it’s been improving the last couple summers.”

Peterson said he’s concerned about walleye recruitment on Kab. Recruitment is a term that biologists use to describe new fish coming into the population through natural reproduction or stocking. Kab and Rainy Lake walleye production are a result of natural production, he noted.

In the late 1990s, biologists noticed a decline in walleye production on Kab, said Peterson. Generally, he said, walleye production fluctuations are not unusual and can be influenced by many factors, including cold spring weather. But usually, about one of every three years will produce a strong year class. And Peterson said some years will show a strong year class every other year, and two back-to-back strong year classes will produce “fantastic fishing” three years later.

“We are not getting strong year classes on Kab like we saw back in the 1980s,” he said. “That gives me the sense that we need to monitor things closely. Though anglers are pretty satisfied with the fishing they have on Kab, I’m just nervous and would like to see a more solid foundation there of strong year classes more often — then I would be more comfortable.”

Biologists are scratching their heads trying to understand why the strong year classes aren’t occurring more often, he said.

The additional year of the special regulation would allow the DNR to dig deeper into data over the winter, he said. Additional DNR research staff and other managers and biologists working on large lakes in the state will be asked for their input, Peterson said.

That information will be brought back to the public next year when discussions about the regulation are expected.

Namakan, Sandpoint

“As you go east, things get better,” Peterson said of the lakes. “That’s the puzzling thing.”

Kabetogama has been the best walleye producer in the system and by far the most productive of the five lakes because it is not as deep, and that translates into warming quicker, and has a more robust food community and forage base.

“But in spite of that, we’re getting better production on Namakan and Sandpoint than we are in Kab,” he said. “Don’t ask me why, but we are.”

Namakan has seen a dramatic improvement in the age and size structure of walleye compared to the pre-regulation days, he said.

“Sandpoint has one of the highest overall catch rates of walleye in our entire work area and has one of the nicest age and size distributions, also,” he said. “Sandpoint is hitting on all cylinders.”

Several age classes are in the fishery, from 1-year-old walleye to walleye that are more than 20 years old. Peterson noted that the oldest aged fish in the office’s work area was found in Sandpoint at age 22.

“When you see old fish like that in the population, that’s a general sign of a healthy walleye population,” he said. “It’s something that biologists look at to measure the health of the population.”

Crane

DNR staff recently completed a fall assessment on Crane Lake.

“My casual, off-the-cuff observation from taking fish out of the nets is that this looks much better than preregulation days in Crane,” said Peterson.

Crane has a history of good production, high abundance, but small average size. “It was known as the home of the quarter pounder prior to the regulation,” he said.

“We’ve shown time and again around the state that if we protect the larger size fish from harvest, it will improve the size structure of the population,” said Peterson.