that is correct. somehow i think that people will not realize this until the resources are gone.

I throw all fish back. If you ask me, they all taste fishy. The only ones that come home with me are the ones that don't make it. No live bait for me thank you very much.

What I don't care for is the idea that once the Walleyes get to 19.5" some people think they have to get them all before they reach 20" because then you can only keep one!

Keep it. That's why it's a "trophy".

Biologically speaking it doesnt hurt any lake to take a walleye over about 28" out of it. They have done their thing by then and eggs out of say a 30" fish are for the most part not viable. That is why you will see a top on end lake slot end at 26" or 28". Fish over that length on that lake are past prime. Now i'm not saying keep every 27" walleye because they have done their thing biologically. Obviously your 27" one day could be someones 29" fish in a couple years. I caught a 30 3/4" fish out of Madison in 1994 and its on my wall and i look at it every day. If i was ever fortunate enough to get an honest 31" i would probably do the same, but lets face it, they don't come around to often and there is a good chance i'll never have to make that decision. I dont have a problem with people keeping a trophy for the wall. And yeah you'll find the person once in a while who puts a bunch on the wall but not very often.

Very little in some instances.

Some of the lakes never held walleye historically.

For those that did, the best things that can be done are landscape/watershed level changes to maintain and improve water quality. The biggest thing is protection of spawning habitat. When everyone and their neighbor chooses to rip out shoreline vegetation, rip rap the banks, and stick mondo-huge docks out, they destroy the most important habitat in the lake. Now you're reading that and thinking "but walleyes don't need aquatic vegetation to spawn like perch, pike, bass, or sunfish, they are pelagic broadcast egg layers." That is true, but think about all the runoff that comes into that lake from that property. Nutrients change the water chemistry and water clarity. Silt dumps into the water, covering the little gravel bar walleyes spawn over. Vegetation where larval and juvenile fish hang out for protection is removed daily by a weed roller, eliminating more habitat. Protection of water edges are very important for all fish, as are changes further up in the watershed.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Scott.

Just curious, what's the size of the one on your avatar?

That's from Dogtooth; it doesn't count. Ha!

sorry i was on vacation, it was 28 1/2" and yeah it was dogtooth.