Fished a little lake near DL with Dad again this weekend. Boated a few 'eyes spanning the range from 14" to >25" Didn't have a ruler other than a 14" dowl to measure with! The gal (I think it was a gal) below was caught on a rainbow chub and Chart Gumball Jig ~26 FOW. Water temp on the lake was 55 deg top-to-bottom checked out over 32 FOW. Funny thing - the fish that we kept this weekend (14-19"ers) were all males whereas last weekend they were all females - Any thoughts? Not really sure how to interpret that observation and'll probably chock it up to conincidence. Fish were active in the early A.M. till round 10:00 and somewhat in between thunderstorms but once the larger storm cell entered the area the fish suddenly went a.w.o.l. Even while doing some high speed 2 stroke Recon around "the usual" fall structure it was hard to even put down a lone arc on the LCR? With all the lightning in that area we chose to get off the lake, catch a Za'Corner, and headed for home round 2:00 P.M.

Here's a shot of one of the fish from Sat. I'm pretty sure that's dad's personal best but not really sure on the length other than > 25" ;o) She's back in the lake waiting for one of ya to catch her next year along with a couple others!

Looks to me like you had a great day on the lake.Even though that picture makes me cold.LOL. I noticed the female/male thing you speak of about a week ago my self. I caught 3 males 2 weeks ago and now this last week I was informed by my friend who took the keepers we caught this last week, that out of 4,3 of them were female and 1 male. All fish that we kept were in the 16 to 18 inch range. not sure why? maybe there like deer and the males school up with other males and the females school with other females? either way a nice 17-19inch male/female walleye taste great this time of year. Good to hear you had a good weekend.

That big girl is well over 25! Beauty!! What type of temp gauge do you use?

Nice fish. Im curious who you all tell the sex of walleyes. You cant check for the hotdog or the bun. Any information would be beneficial to this fisherman. I let everything over 18 go and consider most of those female but sexing the fish would be nice.

I Fished Big C on Saturday from 9 t 7. Picked us 7 eyes ranging from 14 to 20 inches (all males also). Lindys with chubs in 24-14 ft water on sand weed edge. Also picked up lots of snot rockets and handful of smallies off of mid lake reefs. Rain and thunder did not seem to matter to fish for me. They were scattered and intermittant bites all day. Had to feed them line on the big chubs otherwise you got nothing on the hookset. Temps were pretty much 55 all over the lake. Hope to hit it again on Sunday.

For temp I had the Aquaview with the temp readout on it.

To see if the fish is male or female to me is really only possible if you bring'em home and fillet them. Females have eggs on'em already and the males obviously don't. I think it's possible to tell without filleting them as well aka. females have a more pronounced hump leading up to their dorsal fin, however I think Deadhead can probably chime in on this with a little more exactitude.

It was a nice day to be out really, when we hit the water the lake was still and the air was crisp with the fresh smell of fall in the north woods! Truly is god's country!

Since the beets will probably not be coming out of the ground by Sat. we'll probably hit big C, Sallie, or Pelican this weekend? Anyone else heading out on Sat?

Was planning on hitting Mille Lacs Friday night and Saturday but the bite is aweful from what I'm hearing due to the abundance of forage in the lake and late season warm water temperatures. So, may just hit Big C myself. Fishing these local lakes is just as fun.

Ya I have the SV with temp/directional arrow.

Determining the sex of a walleye in the field can be difficult. There is not a 100% accurate method to determine sex without causing fish mortality. In the field, sex is typically determined by the presence of eggs or milt in the spring. There may also be slight differences in coloration, differences in genital openings, or differences in head shape. Size of the fish is also a good indicator as many of the larger fish (over 20") are females. Hope that helps.

I realize most of the fish over 20 inches are females thats why I dont let people in my boat keep them, unless they are big enough for the wall. I value the walleye fishery that we have in this area, and keeping those females have an effect on this. I also understand that natural reproduction areas in most lakes are limited, hence stocking. I fish Sallie a lot and like to see the DNR get at those fish in the spring. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=-3&id=1528090645
Im trying to post photos can someone help me?

To post a pic you have to upload them to a picture hosting site like photobucket and then link it when you post. If that doesn't make any sense you can send it to me and I can post it for you. huntnfishmn at yahoo

If anyone gets out Saturday or Sunday, please post an update and H2O temp. I will be up Tuesday for a quick 24 hours.

I'm guessing ~ 50 deg by Sat with awesome fishing!

around here, much of the lakes are viable for natural reproduction. The main reason for stocking around here is due to fishing pressure, and uneducated citizens that believe that more stocking equals more caught fish. That is not always the case, since a lake can only support a finite amount of biomass. Adding fish to a lake that has a healthy balanced fish population actually has adverse effects and can degrade the quality of the fishery.

Contrary to many people's beliefs, I agree that we have a fantastic fishery in this area. Returning those big females to the lake to keep spawning keeps those good genetics in the population and helps maintain the healthy stock of fish we are blessed here in the lakes area.

I learned when I was young with a fish tank that you can only have so many fish in that small of an area before they start to croak. I also think this is one of the reasons for a lot of area lakes having tons of the hammer handle northerns that we love so much.

On a side note, I think a lot of these lakes would be better off if we all kept a few of the little northerns each time we went out. They sure are good pickeled. Deadhead, what are your thoughts on the hammer handles that so many lakes are full of?