(KNSI) – The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is leaving the walleye regulations unchanged on Upper Red Lake.
When the season opens Saturday, May 9th, anglers will again be allowed to keep five walleye, but only one of them can be longer than 17 inches.
Some people heading north to the big lake have grumbled about the lack of big-fish opportunities. Andy Thompson, the DNR’s area fisheries supervisor out of Bemidji, says he’s heard it before, but believes the regulation is for the best.
He says there is a delicate balance that biologists have spent years trying to understand. Too few spawners, and fry numbers drop. Too many, and young fish compete so fiercely for food that many don’t survive the summer. Thompson says Upper Red Lake is sitting right in that balance.
The fishery collapsed once before, back in the late 1990s, and the recovery took years of patience and sacrifice from everyone.
For the 2026 open-water season on another popular lake, Mille Lacs, anglers can keep three walleye between 17 and 20 inches, with one allowed to be over 20 inches.
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