> Gerrard rainbow trout are a strain of fish that are unique to the Clark Fork River drainage…because of their massive size, they’re treated as a separate trout species for record-keeping purposes.

> “Algae serves as the base of the food chain for small fish and is among the reasons why Lake Erie, which only holds 2% of the Great Lakes water volume, cradles roughly 50% of the fish.”

> …proposed reducing the perch limit from 50 perch per day with no possession limit [!!] to 25 perch daily and in possession.

> …proposing to reduce the walleye bag limit from 10 walleye daily (1 > 25″) to 5 fish daily (1 > 25″). Possession limit would remain 2x the daily limit.

> The balls were locked under a layer of clear ice, so the surface of the river was frozen smooth. They were approximately 10″ around…the smaller ones were like the size of an orange and a cantaloupe.

> Under this proposed rule, commercial fishers could elect to bottom trawl in this area as an alternative to using nets to fill their preexisting lake whitefish quotas.

12. Wanna catch some poachers?

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Tommy Kemos: Winter river walleye jigging tips.

> The Rock River is a draining river, so the flow is primarily dictated by runoff. In most rivers, the fish almost set up a ‘mock run’ as they move up and set-up for the winter. These fish come in from Lake Koshkonong. The Wolf River sees fish move in from Winnebago. You can find this scenario in many systems all over the Midwest.

> If there’s a dam on the system, many times that will concentrate the fish because it blocks the migration.

> …as the water levels rise and fall over the course of the winter, they’ll move into and out of current as water levels change. But there are also other factors….

> MN’s Lake of the Woods sees a change in winter patterns during the shiner spawn. In other systems it could be a frog migration. Another change is a water event like a lot of rain or melting snow. The walleye will react to all these things in different ways.

> Right now, we’re fishing after a ton of rain entered into the system. …these flooded banks with a lot of brush on them is a good start. The key is having deeper water next to them the fish can slide into when needed.

> As water temps drop…walleyes prefer more of a steady, natural glide versus an erratic action. Let them pin it to the bottom and eat it.

> The tough part when dragging jigs is that with flooding comes debris like sticks and other things for jigs to snag on. Most standard jigs will tip over as soon as they hit the bottom which can lead to a snag. The problem here is that you really need to be on the bottom to get bit.

> For fishing these flooded areas — which can be good all winter because water fluctuates so much — [these prototype Strike King walleye jigs with a crater/concave head] really will help increase your bites and decrease your snags for this pattern.