Willow Flowage

Do you scale dem beeg porch?

Musky Ben wrote:  "Stick-em:   Not sure why they'd change the walleye limit, although I didn't read back that far... Daily limits were changed per Gov Walker (Not My favorite move of politics in game/fish management) and have been three ever since...
Musky Ben"

Fin Bender wrote:  "M. Ben, the limit was 5, and still is. However only 3 from one body of water.
It was THE greatest decision. It eliminated the whole declaration process that was horrible. If you remember the tribes declared harvest on each water body...then state anglers had their limit reduced (usually down to between zero and 2 fish).... Then the tribal harvest was reviewed.... Then in some cases the state harvest would be increased on a lake by lake basis.  It was a terrible process."
Fin Bender:

I see the debate hasn't ended regarding daily bag vs. daily lake bag...
As I said in my post, I needed to read further back as I missed the total/whole daily bag limit vs. lake daily limit conversation that happened in posts earlier...  Fin Bender, You are correct regarding the daily limit is 5 and lake daily limit is 3.  Per further review on Page 73 of 2026-2027 the daily bag limit is 3. 

And I do remember the whole process. The tribal harvest was declared, then reviewed and the individual lake’s daily bag limit was then changed to reflect their harvest, usually between zero and three, not zero and two. Agree or disagree with the two sides' harvest timing and numerical take, it was still the best for the walleye in each lake.

Again, I would agree and disagree about it being the greatest decision. It did not end the declaration process, only a part of it, the part of certain lakes being over harvested, then only allowing the daily bag limit to be less than three.  It did nothing for the biology of safe harvest for either side. It allowed all parties to harvest as you please.  It also brought politics into an area where biology needs to be utilized, but then the WDNR becomes complicit. Enough of this and back to fishing…

Musky Ben

Was out yesterday with Mark, targeting Perch. We caught well over 40. 8 of them around 12", but the biggest at 13". 
The Perch are staying down deep in the water and coming on small jigs tipped with pieces of nightcrawler. Unfortunately, the wind picked up and cut our trip short. If you're interested in hitting the water, give me a call or text at 715-897-8308!

On the willow again yesterday fishing walleyes and crappies with Leonard and Roger. Dam we had to work for the walleyes and the wind was not bad. We caught around 30 with only 3 being keepers on jig and minnows. The crappies were tight to the bottom and not really on any kind of wood just in areas more around out in front of where there going in to spawn. Jig and plastic got us only 5 nice ones with a few small ones. We caught 5 small mouth bass 5 Northern’s we kept 3 to clean for their fish fry. Thanks guys was a good time out there. I have the 17th and the 20th through the 26th open text me to get out on the water 715-614-1367

Fished on the willow Flowage today with Ben and Zach. Wow that wind just will not let up was at least 15 mph most of the day. We started with walleyes and caught 4 keepers and about 15 shorts 3 bass and a really nice northern. The afternoon was crappie’s and that was tough for sure they had 6 nice ones and ran into a school of nice perch caught 10 kept 6 around 12”. I have all week open the week of may 20th through the 26th and then 30th 715-614-1367 text me thank you guys I really liked the time you were in the boat.

Fishlovme - Diddo! I tried to explain this exact thing about the perch fishing when Lake Michigan ( Where I fished) changed there limit to 5 fish per day. So many linkers told me I couldnt fish for them any where any more that day. It got so heated I called the DNR and had a warden call me back. He informed me that I could go to any other body of water to fill the rest of my DAILY limit as long as I did not go over any lake limits if there were any. I also have gone to 2 lakes in one day to fill my daily walleye limit as well. I made sure to keep the other walleyes on ice in the back of my truck. I was also told this was ok as long as you kept them separate and not (Quote): to do anything stupid (like put them all back in the boat for pictures at the launch). Before anyone comments on overharvesting, or isnt 3 enough? The answer is NO. I practice catch and release for all fish from panfish to game fish but I am not going to feel guilty or feel I have to explain to anyone for catching a an occasional meal for my family!
As always good luck to all this summer!
    In Good Sports - FishScale 

The easiest way is taking a picture of your fish at the landing before you leave. This gives you a time stamp and a visible location . I personally do it on  occasion when fishing different lakes with different size limits/slot sizes. Another example, go fish Lake Minoqua (when walleye limit was 0). I felt better having a picture of where I caught the walleyes, even though in a cooler in my truck.

Found a trailer motor support on Willow Dam Road yesterday. Let me know if it’s yours. 

Pharm, I can only give my experience on the possession limit based on what happened with me once.  I used to fish a bridge years ago and at very close to midnight I saw a few guys taking their fish to their car and I thought "what the heck, are they doubling their limit here?  No, they were resetting their limit by putting what is now yesterday's catch into their vehicles in a cooler so that they could keep 5 more fish which reset at midnight.  I had no idea they could do this because I assumed when you started fishing your limit was what you caught from when you started fishing until when you ended fishing (assuming 24 hours or less, at least).  So when I called the DNR they told me the fish in the cooler were considered not in their possession, so they weren't breaking any rules by resetting their bag limits at midnight, long as they weren't doing this daily which would be giving them more than twice their possession limit.  So based on my experience there, if you have the fish separate and can prove they came from separate lakes, you would not have your daily possession limit until you have 3 fish from one lake and 2 fish from another lake.  Where this gets tricky is how can you prove that you caught 3 fish on one lake and 2 fish on another lake, heck even if you took the 3 fish home before resetting to catch two more on a ​different lake?  But what I would personally do is keep the 3 fish and the 2 other fish in 2 separate coolers.  That way if you are checked by the DNR at least they're separate.  I don't think it's really any different than having fish in your freezer at that point.

Stickem- you are flat out wrong. Fishluvme- thats the part of the rule that confuses me. What is considered in your possession? In your vehicle? In your freezer at home? Both are technically in your possession in my opinion. Does that mean I have to eat my 3 before catching 2 more? Who knows.