With the weather we had this weekend, I wanted to be out on the lake fishing!!!
The 2024 fishing season will be here before you know it and the DNR is making major changes this season. According to Bring Me The News, The Minnesota DNR is adding 18 new species to state catch-and-release record books. The DNR said it's expanding its catch-and-release records keeping in response to the "increasing popularity of catch-and-release fishing and to raise the profile of native rough fish." The DNR says there will be a minimum fish length requirement for new submissions, which it says "will prevent an abundance of record applications for commonly caught sizes."
Previously, catch-and-release records were only kept for northerns, muskies, lake sturgeons and flathead catfish. Now it will be accepting submissions for the following 18 species – including the walleye:
- Blue sucker
- Bigmouth buffalo
- Bowfin
- Brook trout
- Brown trout
- Channel catfish
- Freshwater drum
- Lake trout
- Largemouth bass
- Longnose gar
- Rainbow trout
- Sauger
- Shortnose gar
- Shovelnose sturgeon
- Smallmouth bass
- Smallmouth buffalo
- Tiger muskellunge
- Walleye