DNR Announces Winter Walleye Regulations on Upper Red Lake

Ice fishing season will be here before we know it, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has announced the winter fishing regulations for Upper Red Lake.

There will be a three-walleye bag limit with only one walleye longer than 17 inches in possession. Last winter, the bag limit on Upper Red Lake was four fish.

The decrease has nothing to do with the amount of walleye in Red Lake – in fact, the fall fisheries assessment on Red Lake found the walleye population to be at a healthy, sustainable level with a wide range of sizes.

The reason the limit was at four fish last year was because the DNR wanted to reduce the surplus spawning stock to a level that would encourage the survival success rate of younger fish, and to relieve the pressure off of yellow perch, which is the walleye’s primary source of forage.

These new regulations will take effect on Tuesday, Nov. 1.