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Posts: 355
Location: Wausau, Wisconsin | Here is my edited rewrite. While I am passionate about improving fisheries it is not in my best interest to butt heads with people I do respect.
1.) I support a 50" size limit on Pelican Lake. I think the purpose of the proposal is to maintain an already awesome fishery.
2.) I am confident that if years down the road that the population would reach a point where the balance of the fishery was off , we would rethink the current management strategy to again, maintain or improve the fishery.
3.) I DO believe that Tom McInnis and the anglers of the WMT care about the qualities of fisheries. The internet is an emotional place and at times ALL of us make poor paths in expressing ourselves.
4.) Tom's concern about fish spending too much time in nets is a valid one. I am glad that major net companies take advice from professionals like Joe Bucher and Pete Maina about how to create "fish friendly" nets.
5.) I think transport and judge boat tournaments effect fisheries by how they are executed far more than which method is used.
6.) I think if transport tournaments are to continue, there should be DNR law regulations on livewell size, operation and transport speed.
7.) I think that stable livewells, biologically treated and well oxygenated can be better for muskies than stagnent 80 degree surface temps.
8.) Perhaps the best of both worlds would be judge boat tournaments where fish remain in a running livewell of proper size until the judge boat arrives.
9.) Tom offers anglers the option to use him as a judge boat. If they do not, that is their choice.
10.) Individual lake management is the only option in maintaining and improving fisheries. It is important to realize that a 50" size limit is not a "cure all" for Wisconsin. Waters like Winnebago, Pelican, Wisconsin River, etc. Stocking is not the "cure all" option for the state either. We must take the slow process of lake by lake evaluation. When its all done, guess what? We need to go back through and see how they are doing and make needed changes.
Edited by 8inchcrank 4/4/2006 10:38 PM
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 net.JPG (35KB - 122 downloads)
suick.JPG (30KB - 106 downloads)
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| While I don't care for the way Tom is attacking this discussion, I do wonder why everyone thinks a size increase is utopia? Under the current rules do you know many people that are puting 45" fish on the wall or want to eat a fish that big? I would be the people that are harvesting fish under 50 don't even know what the size rule is, or care. |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Anglers would know what the size limit is on Pelican, just like they know the Walleye or Bass size limits there. I suggest anyone wanting to know the whole story on Pelican ask the folks who manage that water, it's interesting material. Mike Roberts has most if not all that material, and I'm sure will provide at if requested. I won't respond to Tom as long as he continues to argue emotionally, not factually, and would ask him to watch his tone; his first sentense of his last post was pretty rude. |
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Location: Middleton, WI | These tournaments seem to generate a fair amount of revenue & sponshorship. To minimize potential harm to the fishery, would it be possible to take a couple hundred bucks (if necessary, bump up the ticket price by $1 or $2) to fund judge boats having cell phones and marine band VHF transceivers making these non-transport Pelican Lake tourney's? Might that be a fairly painless win-win solution? |
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Posts: 7115
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | The vote is today, make it if you can! |
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| Hey Tom, you know me, I know you. I will personally organize all judge boats neeeded for your Pelican Lake tournament and it won't cost you a dime.
Call me.
John Stellflue |
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Posts: 32958
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | And Oneida, I'll volunteer, up front. I'm in as a judge boat. So is my son, Keith. |
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Posts: 714
Location: Rhinelander, WI | First off I want to thank everyone who showed up and voted on the Pelican Question.
1816 Yes to 935 No State Wide
83 Yes to 29 No in Oneida County
is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
We all know that on the RIGHT lakes high size limits DO WORK! The DNR biologists agree that Pelican Lake is a proper lake for a high size limit. For proof talk to people who fish The Chip and Little St. they are already seeing improvements, and if you don't believe the WDNR, look to Ontario, where in naturaly reproducing systems they are using high minimums in an attempt to create World Record fisheries.
Again thank you and lets cross our fingers that it makes it through the natural resource board without any hitches, but as a result of the excellent turn out by musky fishermen it has the best possible chance.
Again THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There has been a lot said on this thread in the week and a half I was gone. I will respond to some of it as best I can.
Tom, the question was asked by Clark “what would that do to the 3 transport tournaments held on Pelican?”
It was answered as best as we could, my response came right from responses given to us by WDNR personnel when we asked them the same question.
This 50” proposal has nothing to do with tournaments, it has to do with making a good fishery, better! I am sorry you felt our answers where a “joke!!!”.
And I am sorry but it is your choice to stay or move to a different lake if this changes happens. But sound biological regulation changes should not be made or not made based on how many or what tourneys are using a body of water. The rule change was placed on the ballot by the Oneida County Fisheries Biologist, not Norm and myself, he saw the potential for problems on Pelican we showed him that there was local support for change and that locals would support doing something to help make Pelican Lake a better musky fishery, we even presented different options including a slot limit, which he was NOT in favor of. After seeing the lake association support, he made the decision not us to place the issue on the rule change ballot. This truly is a case of the WDNR working with us and for us to keep a popular lake healthy.
Regarding you tournaments success on Pelican Lake nobody is doubting it, or saying that the lake is in trouble, right this instant, but here are some facts.
Over 20,000 fingerling, an average of 1,549 per year, from 1985 through 1998 where stocked into Pelican to sustain the population.
In 1998 the stocking was suspended.
The musky fishermen are still seeing the effect of that high level of stocking. That is why your tournies on Pelican have such a high average size. There has been NO stocking since 1998 and people who fish pelican on a regular basis have also noticed an increase in average size with very limited under sized fish. That is what got us talking to the WDNR in the first place. Also (I am going from memory here as this info is at work), but in the last three fall shockings they have only found baby musky in one year. This is what was giving the DNR cause for concern. Is there ENOUGH natural reproduction out there to maintain the fishery in it’s current state, everything was pointing to probably not.
When I heard that there wasn’t going to be a population study done on musky until 2011 I got really worried. If there is a problem it won’t even begin to get solved until after that, Norm and I got organized and we showed the WDNR that the people on Pelican lake didn’t want to wait to find out “if” and preferred to be proactive and take steps now that would better the fishery.
What are the down sides to a 50” limit on Pelican Lake? Worst case the population density gets two high and the WDNR has to lower the limit to increase harvest or maybe institute a slot to increase harvest and maintain trophy status. Wouldn’t that be less painful than 14 years of poor recruitment resulting in an almost none existent population of musky by the year 2011. The 50” limit is also no guarantee, they still may need to supplement with stocking in the future, but we should be far better off over the next 5 years with a high limit than maintaining the status quo.
Regarding the safety issue of a transport vs. judge boat, I just don’t see it the way you do. As I believe Steve W. poinited out what do you do if you have a 20+ mph wind blowing from the north into your only registration station. How is that any better than judge boats
Remember right from the Headwaters Basin Warden Team Supervisor “A muskie immediately released at boatside and not transported (except to facilitate a safe release, or to avoid imminent danger) is treated much the same as a fish that is photographed and released: minimum length limits do not apply and it is not counted in the angler’s daily bag limit.”
The key is (except to facilitate a safe release, or to avoid imminent danger) if the boat or the fish is in any danger you can move to some place safe.
Judge boat tourneys are run every year on waters far more dangers than Pelican you did it on the Madison Chain for the WMT, are you still doing it there? The waves you get from a passing 20 to 30 foot cruiser on Manona and Wabesa are just as bad if not worse than the waves that get kicked up on Pelican by the wind, and in my limited time fishing those lakes compared to Pelican the wind has done a far better job of kicking my but than on Pelican they are big bodies of water.
Tom there is no reason for you to pull “maybe” your most popular qualifier just because of a size limit increase, if you do you are proving the Anti-Tourney crowd correct. I laughed at Pete Maina and Dick Pearson when on, I believe Musky Central, they said (I am paraphrasing) that one of the biggest problems coming up with the increase of musky tourneys would be there opposition to musky size regulations. I thought no way, but man have I been proven wrong in the last few years.
I am truly sorry, that if this rule change goes into affect it will cause some grief for a couple of tournaments that run successful events on Pelican, one I enjoy fishing every year, but solutions can be derived to the problems that will come up, and in the long run the lake will be far better off, for everyone to enjoy and maybe more people will have the opertunity to catch that fish of a life time.
Again thank you everyone for voting!!!!!!!!
Nail A Pig!
Mike
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