DNR drops 17-inch minimum size requirement for walleye on Seagull, Saganaga, and Gull Lakes

Anglers targeting walleye on Saganaga, Gull, and Seagull Lakes will now be allowed to possess a walleye under 17 inches.

For the past 10 years, an experimental walleye regulation has been in place to protect smaller walleye and increase walleye populations in the three lakes.

The regulation, put in place in 2015, included a possession limit of three walleye, a minimum size restriction of 17 inches, and one walleye allowed over 20 inches.

Since imposing the 17-inch minimum requirement to try and boost recruitment and walleye populations, the 10-year experimental regulation hasn’t had a significant impact.

“We didn’t see the jump up in recruitment,” said EJ Isaac, the Grand Marais area fisheries supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “We didn’t see the population take off.”

Before changing the experimental regulation, the Minnesota DNR collected public comment and held an open house at Seagull Lake Community Center in September 2024.

Isaac said the Grand Marais fisheries office received a decent amount of public input and feedback on the matter. “There was pretty strong support for continued management and wanting to see if we can get walleye numbers and recruitment to increase.”

He said that while there was support for dropping the minimum 17-inch size requirement, “a lot of people were still in favor of keeping that three-fish bag limit contrary to the statewide bag of six.”

Given the public input and the fact that the experimental regulations have not impacted the walleye recruitment or populations, Isaac said, “We wanted to change those regulations to something that was a lot more palatable for anglers.”

One of the challenges for anglers throughout the past decade is the tight window to catch and keep a walleye between 17 and 20 inches. Isaac said, “We didn’t see the need to keep that 17-inch minimum.”

The new regulation took effect on March 1, 2025.

WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins spoke with EJ Isaac, the Grand Marais area fisheries supervisor with the Minnesota DNR, about the change to walleye size restrictions, summer 2025 surveys and management activities, and more. The audio from the interview is below.

Kalli Hawkins May 4, 2025