| Don,
i think that using any approach as "the" answer is somewhat myopic. i believe we do well to move towards lake-specific strategies rather than state-wide limits, and that we be open to a variety of approaches.
i've read the arguments for slots before, and i can understand the application of them to lakes with stunted growth, high density populations. thin the competition so remaining fish have room to grow. then protect those fish that manage to reach a certain size.
however, for low density populations with good NR, what's the need? a high minimum limit seems like the most sensible approach for those lakes, and the science is telling us that low density populations produce the biggest fish when they are able to live a long time. |
Posts: 714
Location: Rhinelander, WI | Another very interesting article, on a much broader genetic simulation. If you are not interested in the technical info, scroll down to the Discussion part of the article and you will get the main points for the article, the discussion is right before the tables and figures.
Man if I was as obsessed about walleyes as I am about muskies, this stuff would interest me even more, but considering all our fish have been managed by minimum size limits for the last 100 +/- years you have to wonder. What really is the reason for the many lakes with stunted panfish populations, is it a response to over harvest and these size-selection differentials, how much has the last 100 years of fishing pressure on Wisconsin lakes contributed to this with panfish, walleye and Musky.
What I get from this article is that two things that really increase susceptibility to this selection differential. They are short spawning time which I would say both walleye and musky have and compressed fishing seasons. I would venture to say neither have a compressed fishing season, unless you factor in the spring spearing. That is a pretty compressed season and large numbers of fish are removed during that time. It adds another very scary variable to these equations for Walley and Musky.
I believe this is just more proof that very high minimums and slots should be serious management strategies considered by the DNR.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FDG/is_2_103/ai_n148395...
Nail A Pig!
Mike
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