It wasn’t long ago when I was an eager to learn student of the fishing world.  Let’s dial the time machine back to the mid to late 1980’s.  It was easy to gather fishing information through countless Saturday morning fishing shows, books, magazines, VHS videos, radio shows etc etc.  And the fishing was good.  The fishing pressure was good too—meaning, angler hours on the water in my opinion was minimal compared to now.  The use of technology (sonar, navigation) was minimal as well.  And frankly, top quality anglers who could put many a fish in the boat at any given moment were also hard to find.  Even with old outdated liberal fishing limits, no slots, no special regulations and existence of possession limits, the fish populations seemed to be kept in check and doing just fine—and the fishing was good!  Wow, how easily I can reflect on the “easy days” of walleye fishing on some of Minnesota’s top walleye producing waters—that was then.  Times are a changin’ and in order to help maintain quality fishing for generations to come, we all need to make some adjustments—especially when it comes down to harvest, catch and release, and management.  

As a fishing guide I’ve been through three phases (so far) throughout my 34 year career (only 16 years and 1 phase left?).  The first phase began when I was just getting started back in 1989 ( I was roughly 18 yrs. old) and in order to build a guide business back then it was about numbers of fish caught and the stories my clients (walking talking advertisers) would tell to their friends in hopes to steering them my way.  Word of mouth, written articles, free seminars, agreements with resort owners, and pictures of a ton of fish caught was the business model.  There was no Internet, cell phones, or you tube videos.  So to say the least, that phase lasted the longest.  And yes, I look back at those days and know now that it was a great plan to grow my business but probably not the best for certain lakes or the fish.   Now one has to remember, that many of these clients only went on one fishing trip per year—so in theory the damage was minimal.  This being compared to the groups that fish 22 weekends a year and indulge too much by taking limits of whatever each time creates a much different outcome in relation to fish populations. Even at that, as I evolved as an angler and paying attention to the science I began to enter the second phase of my career—management. 

The management phase of my guiding career began out of necessity as my business grew into a 7 day a week operation.  This time frame would have been around the mid to late 1990’s.  What I started to realize was that if I didn’t manage the harvest levels (fish kept) on “my spots” I would literally fish them out.  It might take a week or two, but it could be done—all by myself.  It didn’t matter if it was walleyes, crappies, or bluegills—the effects were the same.  Bass and pike were excluded back then due to the fact that nobody wanted to keep either one.  Side note….today people love to keep a few pike due to fact that they are some of the best table fare that swims (see how things have changed!)   These were spots I had found that literally there was no competition from other anglers—because as I mentioned in my opening paragraph the amount of quality angling pressure was minimal 20-25 years ago.  Of course I had hundreds of spots spread throughout dozens and dozens of lakes, but the bottom line was, in order to make my job easier on myself, I had to manage the fish populations on a variety of spots—especially throughout the summer months when many species are heavily schooled and can be home bodies to some extent.  Even though I am not a fisheries biologist, I can simply tell you that one person can manage isolated catchable fish populations single handedly.  The basic idea was to visit more numerous spots less often and only harvest a couple of “keepers” off each spot at any given moment.  That way, I could slowly “milk” the spots of fish in some cases an entire season verses for only 2 weeks.  Another couple of benefits of rotating multiple spots and only fishing each one for a very short amount of time was that I never really “spooked” the fish off of the areas—so they hung around longer.  Another helpful side effect was that other anglers (through observation) could never pattern me or the areas I fished.  This also equates to helping manage the fish population(s) on any given spot or lake.  In other words, we all know what happens when a hot bite hits social media—it gets destroyed by over fishing.    I still use my simple spot management techniques today but it has also helped to create a third phase.  

The third phase that I have been into for quite some time is related the second phase to some degree.  It also involves management of the numbers of fish I/we harvest in the boat.  I have decided on my own personal limits for each species.  In my opinion the DNR is 20 years behind the times.  It’s clear that thanks to sonar technology break through(s) (livescope/GPS/Spot-lock), social media abuse (instant info on a hot bite), outdated fish limits, effects of invasive species, tournament abuse (to many on the same lake increasing lake exposure) etc. etc. that the quality of fishing for most species on numerous bodies of water is declining.  The decline is everywhere—it’s not just limited to the metro areas, it has spread much further north than it ever was before. Being that I fish all of the popular tourist/fishing destinations throughout the state I can safely say without a shadow of a doubt that it’s a statewide decline in quality fishing.  Like I said before, I’m not a fisheries biologist but the information and observations that I gather is quality real time data (just like my other guide friends) that really shouldn’t be ignored.  Test nets data can be extremely misleading—good or bad.  But an avid anglers intel through actual observation and experience is always valuable.  So I figured one day long ago that if the DNR isn’t going to adapt fast enough, I will.  

So long story short, there are a bunch of us guides out there who have more or less made a pact that we are not going to follow the state set limits, we will set our own (which are far less than the state legal limits) along with some slot limits—especially on highly pressured bodies of water or regions.  A few limit examples would be 5 crappies, 10 bluegills, 4 walleyes, or 10 perch—no possession limits of any kind. And guess what?  The clients love the concept no matter what state they are from—which basically blows out of the water the theory/concerns that if the state lowers limits or increases slots that the tourist will stop coming….has anybody ever asked them?  Where are they going to go---that’s right, nowhere.  Simply False.  Do I lose some trips because of my personal rules?  Yes,  but it’s due to the fact that I purposely do not take the party fishing who starts the conversation by asking how many limits they can take home—sorry I’m not that guy anymore.  I’m guessing phase four is around the corner?

I’m not real sure what phase four will entail—if there is one? I hope that there will be a phase four because to me that means I’m still learning and adapting which can only help my success and the success of others!  Lotsa Fish! Lotsa Fun! Captain Josh Haemeister , Minnesota Fishing Guide Service www.minnesotaguideservce.com 320-291-0708