Fisheries Report from DNR Fish Manager Jason Breeggemann.

During the Manitowoc County Fish & Game Annual Meeting on January 30th there was a list of guest speakers. One of those speakers was Jason Breeggemann, our DNR State Fisheries Manager and he gave all of us a super report on our county lakes. Below are his notes and remember to come to the Spring Conservation Hearings on April 14th starting at 6 pm at Lakeshore Tech College, Cleveland, WI. to hear more information for our state and county.

• Completed Comprehensive Fish Survey of Pigeon Lake in spring of 2024:

o Fyke netting survey targeting northern pike, walleye and panfish right at ice out o Electrofishing survey later in spring targeting bass and panfish o Results:

▪      Fishery is similar to what it was the last time it was surveyed in 2014

• Improvements in panfish size structure following the implementation of the special panfish regulation in 2016
• Met with Pigeon Lake Association and discussed some regulation tweaks for northern pike and largemouth bass o Majority of bass and pike that anglers catch are sublegal so they would like to explore regulation options to allow harvest of smaller pike and bass

o Work with lake association on potential regulation changes in next regulation cycle

▪    Working on finishing report which should be available later this year Statewide Panfish Regulations Research:

• Nearing end of statewide panfish regulations research project
  • 10 year project that started when approximately 100 lakes in the state received one of 3 more restrictive panfish regulations in 2016 to see if reduced bag limits could improve the quality of panfish fisheries.
    • 25/10
    • 15/5
    • 15/5 in May and June and 25 aggregate the rest of the year
  • Lakes with these special regulations are set to have these regulations sunset in 2026
  • If we don’t propose a new regulation for these lakes, the panfish regulation will revert back to the statewide default regulation of a 25 aggregate bag limit
  • 15/5 regulation consistently shown to be the best at improving size structure and quality of panfish populations
  • Other two regulations may have worked on some lakes but had much more variability in their effectiveness at improving panfish size structure
  • Rather than add the 15/5 to our toolbox, the policy team decided to take the 5 bag limit and add it to our current two regulations of a 10 aggregate bag limit and 25 aggregate bag limit to have 4 regulations to chose from:
    • 25 aggregate bag limit
    • 10 aggregate bag limit
    • 25 aggregate bag limit but no more than 5 of any one species
    • 10 aggregate bag limit but no more than 5 of any one species
  • Had discussions with lake groups associated with all 5 of the lakes with special panfish regulations to decide on preferred regulations moving forward based on data and angler preferences:
    • Long Lake: 25 aggregate but no more than 5 bluegill
    • English Lake: 10 aggregate but no more than 5 bluegill
    • Pigeon Lake: 10 aggregate bag limit
    • Bullhead Lake: 10 aggregate bag limit
    • Harpt Lake: 10 aggregate bag limit but no more than 5 yellow perch Added Cedar Lake: 10 aggregate bag limit but no more than 5 bluegill ▪      All panfish regulation proposals will be on spring hearings in April.
    • Other regulations that will be on spring hearings:
  • Annual spring hearings will occur in person on April 14, 2025 at 6:00 PM
    • Online starts at same time and continues through April 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM
    • Rule change year so attendees are providing input on potential regulation changes
    • Regulations that receive favorable support at this years’ spring hearing will go into effect in spring of 2026
  • Silver Lake northern pike:
    • Current regulation is 32 inch minimum length limit and bag limit of 1
    • Regulation has been in place since restoration program in 2002 or 2003
    • Comprehensive fish survey in spring 2023 and caught high numbers of northern pike with few legal size fish
    • No longer need this restrictive of a regulation
    • Could be hurting the northern pike fishery by protecting too many small northern pike
    • Proposal is to go to the statewide default southern zone regulation of a 26 inch minimum length limit and bag limit of 2
  • Cedar Lake northern pike:
    • Comprehensive fish survey in spring of 2022 and caught 16.9 northern pike per net night.
    • Incredibly high catch rate that ranks out in the 95^th percentile for lakes in WI
    • Current regulation is 26 inch minimum length limit and bag limit of 2
    • Protecting high numbers of smaller, slow growing northern pike while encouraging harvest of the fastest growing pike in the population
    • Proposal is to go to a 25 – 35 inch protected slot limit with bag limit of 2
    • Allow for harvest of overabundant, small slow growing northern pike while protecting the fastest growing pike that grow into the slot limit
    • Reduce density of smaller northern pike, improve growth rates of the population overall by reducing competition for food and habitat resources
    • Spring 2025 plans:
  • Comprehensive fish surveys on Bullhead Lake and Long Lake
    • Fyke netting and spring electrofishing surveys
    • Continue to have permanent tech vacancy in my office so how spring plays out with regards to weather and other work may impact my team’s ability to do both of these surveys
  • Two Rivers High School continues to do their Trout in the Classroom project:
    • Trout raised through this project get stocked in the West Twin River
  • Walleye Stocking:
    • Historically, WDNR has stocked in odd years
    • Will continue for Wilke Lake, Silver Lake, English Lake, Pigeon Lake, Long Lake, Harpt

Lake, Bullhead Lake

▪    All stocked with large fingerlings in fall of 2023 o 187 large fingerling walleyes for Hartlaub Lake in fall of 2024 o4,713 small fingerling walleyes for Cedar Lake in summer of 2024