Pewaukee Size Limits

Here is the discussion board regarding peoples opinions on Pewaukee size limits and stocking.

Educator if you park your car there yep.

if you walk on from the new launch on the west side, do you need to pay? Thanks so much.

I also fish this lake a ton and can tell you Vegas is 100% on the mark with the lake's health.  I quit fishing it from roughly 2007 until 2017 because the panfish were scary-thin and you could find a gill over 6" to save your life.  Same for perch.  Bass were so-so.

My only concern is people over fishing.  Example: had a guy bragging to me last summer when I was launching on a Saturday in May, "Yeah, just took a 3 man limit of gills off the beds in 2 hours.  Going back to the same spots tomorrow."

That's the crap that will kill a lake in just a couple years.

I can't comment about Muskego.

But I can on Pewaukee.  The DNR shocks the lake and surveys the lake enough to know how many eyes are in there and what the lake can sustain.

DNR also introduced more pike into the lake a few years ago.  And then stopped that practice because they determined that the stocking wasn't working...meaning they weren't finding enough pike in the lake.  

We anglers were catching plenty, though.  So the point on the DNR and "gospel" is one that I can understand.

If you really fished Pewaukee hard for all of those years...and now...you'd know that the gills are just fine.  No worries there.

I don't care about any size limit on eyes.  I do know that if you drop it, harvested walleyes will not be sexually mature.  So if there is any natural reproduction (and I feel that if there is, it is quite low), that defeats the purpose.  And if you want a lake with a lot of 14 inch eyes, a 15 inch size limit is a great way to accomplish it.

I'll let others post about the harvesting of walleyes.  I know there are some strong feelings about there about illegal harvest, though I personally have not seen that done.  Except on here once with a picture.

Little Luck....

There are quite a few of us who live on the lake and fish it often.  And have been doing so for over 15 years.  

We've seen what the lake has gone through.  Especially considering the panfish.

Years ago, the bluegills were stunted.  Then walleyes were put into the system in numbers.

I don't know if you know much about walleyes, but they are excellent predators in a lake.  They are eating machines.  Those critters have kept the gill population in check and now gills are much, much larger.  And I'm not even talking about the sunnies, which are enormous.  I'm just talking about the average size of the gills.

So do we rely on the DNR for information?  Well, it is a great resource to start at.  They know more about species and lake management than you or I do, for sure.  

Then you take that information and apply it to what you know about the lake when you fish it a ton.

And none of that means much of anything concerning the size limit.  Just the overall health of the lake since the walleyes were raised and stocked by Walleyes For Tomorrow.  What those volunteers have done for the lake is simply amazing.

Muskies Inc makes sure that there are plenty of muskies in the lake, but the lake has always had muskies.  While they are at the top of the food chain, they didn't eat enough small gills to do anything to that population.  Those eyes, though...man, they are efficient eating machines.

What are you expecting of this lake??

It is the healthiest it has ever been. EVER.

If you guys are expecting them to drop the limit to 15 with 5 daily, the wallets will be gone in less than 2 years.

I see guys complaining about catching 17 walleyes in a night of ice fishing and c…..

What do you think this little lake can do?? I know plenty of people that would love to catch that many fish in a night.

If you want bigger fish to take and ea, get away from the smaller fish. It’s that easy. Little fish dominate the population because EVERY SINGLE fish over 18 is kept.

I  the only guy I know that releases every single walleye I catch on pewaukee.

Tellin me I am holier than thou…..

I fish the lake a ton. I don’t do typical things that I see almost every single gig out there do.

Move, move, move until you catch a legal. Then fish that area hard. Bigger fish, hang out together. These bigger fish also had a good chance of being caught previously. So they do t hang in those areas anymore. 

It’s really an easy lake to learn and catch quality fish, if you aren’t lazy.

Since Pewee has been stocked with walleyes, we've seen the panfish thrive.  Bigger gills and crappies.  And fishing for eyes in the soft water is really fun.

There's more to stocking a lake than simply providing a meal for someone.  

Walleyes have been simply a great thing for the lake.

To just edit my previous post I meant to say stocking fish that don't reproduce  and then putting a size limit or slot on that species is non sensical to me. It's basically a put and take fishery.

Gus Max 2--I read your .02 worth and now I'll give you my .02. I've never understood the concept of stocking fish in a lake that has no reproduction of that species of fish. To me it is a waste of money and time. 90% of fisherman are not trophy hunters and could care less about putting a fish on the wall. Sure they like to catch a big fish but most would like a meal of walleye once in awhile. And down south here in Wisconsin that is a hard thing to do. A 15,16, or 17 inch walleye are perfect eating size. I can understand a slot or size limit for bass, say, which actually spawn in our lakes but even saying that is somewhat suspect of me. Most of our lakes are full of bass and keeping some of those smaller fish (in my opinion) would probably be good for the lake. If you're telling me that handlining a big walleye on a tipup is something akin to catching them on a rod and reel or better yet, a flyrod, well OK Joe Perry. Just keep your "holier than thou" attitude to yourself.

The walleye size limit is perfect.

Why would you want every single walleye caught be kept??

If they drop the limits to 15, guys will be complaining that all you catch are 11-14 inch fish.

There are PLENTY of 18 inch fish in the lake.

Our group doesn’t catch all that many legals until we changed out tactics. They are there. 

First walleye for me out of the lake was 22”.

Just my $.02.

Hello again I am reading fishing reports of the walleye catch so far this year and mine is the same quit a few 15 inch and 1 17 inch so here I go again needing your help to push the DNR to install a slot size on Pee, if you look back to page 5 you will see the DNR response to my questioning them on the 18 inch min. which again in my opinion makes no sense on a put and take lake like pee be safe out there !!! Rangerpaul