Some of these lakes are in the BWCA. Looks like several will no longer be managed for trout.

Link

Thanks for the update Arctic. Some of the lake trout lakes listed,are now self sustaining,and will be managed as a lake trout lake,but just will not be stocked. I don't know if this list has not been finalized yet?

Now if we could use this model to delete or reduce programs in the country that didnt work or had poor returns just think how much money we could save there. Ive fished just about every lake listed here and their assesment is spot on, it really seems like theyve given this some thought. p.s. Thanks for the update Arctic .

I agree some of these lakes the fish were stocked and just not surviving for various reasons-water quality,other fish present etc.. They also implemented some of the cuts because of cutbacks and no new funding.

I wonder what does this really mean???

I referenced this link awhile back on the fishing Ahsub lake thread. It says they are deleting Ahsub. But, someone called the Tower DNR fishery management and they claim you still need a trout stamp to legally fish it. So has it really been deleted????

That is what I am not sure of,is it is what is proposed to happen?

I've also fished about 75% of these lakes and almost agree with all of the DNR's ideas.

One thing I'd like to see is the a study on how big a trout needs to be ta be too big for a loon to eat. From my estimation would say loons eat at least 80% of the stocked trout. Just wondering if stocking much less adult fish is more cost effective then stocking 3000ish fingerlings as an example.

Watched a loon once on a trout lake and it ate five trout about 8 inches long in 10 minutes. So my general uneducated guess ends up looking like: 2 loons per lake X 2 meals per day X 5 fish per meal X 150 days a year = 3000 trout per year. Of course it's all just a guess on the #'s but just would like the dnr to spend our money feeding us not the loons.

quote Chilly: "I've also fished about 75% of these lakes and almost agree with all of the DNR's ideas.


One thing I'd like to see is the a study on how big a trout needs to be ta be too big for a loon to eat. From my estimation would say loons eat at least 80% of the stocked trout. Just wondering if stocking much less adult fish is more cost effective then stocking 3000ish fingerlings as an example.


Watched a loon once on a trout lake and it ate five trout about 8 inches long in 10 minutes. So my general uneducated guess ends up looking like: 2 loons per lake X 2 meals per day X 5 fish per meal X 150 days a year = 3000 trout per year. Of course it's all just a guess on the #'s but just would like the dnr to spend our money feeding us not the loons. "

Very good observation Chilly and good point. I wonder as well how many trout the cormorants eat .

Don't forget the bigger Trout, Otters, Mink...

It's a tough world out there for an 8" fish.

If fishermen aren't yanking them out of the lake,loons eating them,unwanted species like bass,northern pike getting into these lakes and eating them. Yellow perch competition for food(they reclaimed a few lakes this past year because of too many perch)-yes it is a very tough world out there.What has also happened on some of those lakes the hot summers this last decade has made some of the shallower stream trout lakes not suitable for trout for part of the year.

On the loon subject the DNR in the 1960's tried to put a assumed dwarf tullibee into a stream trout lake as a buffer between the loons and the trout. Hoping the loons would eat the tullibee. It never really worked and also the dwarf tullibee grew to normal size when it came from a lake where food was limited to a good supply of food. Also the tullibee competed for food. A lot happens underwater we do not think of.

Maybe the DNR should open a loon season to hunters... Heard they taste a lot like bald eagle...

Probably taste a lot like Merganser which we do have a season on and they taste terrible. The trout just have to learn to swim faster. Some of those hatchery trout have no idea what a predator is when first put into a lake.
You look at lakes there is survival in you can see that us two legged predators are pretty efficient in harvesting the trout. Once they reach about 8 inches they are being harvested.

quote WilyMinnow: "Maybe the DNR should open a loon season to hunters... Heard they taste a lot like bald eagle..."

lol

Maybe the DNR should open a loon season to hunters... Heard they taste a lot like bald eagle...



Funny story.... A friend of mine would joke about this all of the time and one day his child (approx 8 years old) was in class and they had a guest speaker from the DNR. The DNR warden asked what the students knew about bald eagles. My friends son raised his hand and said "they taste a lot like loon" my friend recieved a call from the teacher asking if this was true. hahaha

Its amazing if you have ever seen like a dead owl or other bird predator. They look big with all there feathers,but rally they are well all muscle and skin and bone. They usually don't weight that much.
Had to help cut a tree down that a bald eagle was tangled up in with string on his feet. We got the tree sawed down and let the bird go. He or she was one happy dude. Their claws are something else along with one vise gripping beak. My friend had nice thick leather gloves.