The new regulations take effect April 1. However the general land game fishing season, including for walleye, does not open in most waters until May 4.
A creel full of 61 new fishing regulations will greet anglers for the 2024-25 Wisconsin license year.
Chief among them is the daily bag limit of three walleye in inland waters.
Wisconsin regulations since 1949 generally allow anglers to keep five walleyes a day.
But managing walleyes, commonly cited as the state’s most popular sport fish, has long been a challenging issue for the DNR.
In many Wisconsin waters native fish have suffered from declines in natural recruitment and high levels of exploitation. The trends have helped drive regulatory changes in an attempt to protect the species.
In 2015, a three-fish daily bag limit was established for walleye in the Ceded Territory (about the northern one-third of the state). The rule is designed to provide certainty for sport fishermen in the area where tribal spearing occurs and, depending on the tribal harvest, many lakes experience fluctuating bag limits each year to try to keep within “total value of walleye is safe.” harvest” zone.
In 2020, a daily bag limit of three walleye was instituted in the Winnebago System (including the Wolf River and lakes Winnebago, Butte des Morts, Poygan and Winneconne).
And before this year, eight counties in the Ceded Territory had a three-walleye daily bag limit.
Although anglers expressed a range of views on the need for bag limit reductions, public opinion surveys and other outreach related to an update of Wisconsin’s Walleye Management Plan found with significant public concern about increased angling pressure and walleye harvest in regions where bag limits remain at five per day, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
The DNR described the bag limit reduction as a “proactive approach to managing angling pressure on walleyes while simplifying statewide regulations.”
The three-walleye daily bag limit will cover the state’s inland waters; Outside waters, including Green Bay, Lake Michigan, Lake Superior and the Mississippi River, are not affected and remain at five fish.
In another trend related to high angler harvests, two prominent Wisconsin waters will see new, lower daily bag limits for panfish.
The lakes – Mendota in Dane County and Blackhawk in Iowa County – will have a daily bag limit of 10 panfish total (bluegill, sunfish, crappie and yellow perch). The general statewide regulation remains 25 panfish total and the season is open year-round.
Among other regulatory changes in 2024, musky anglers will see a new minimum length limit of 50 inches in Waukesha County waters. The regulation will cover Fowler, Lac LaBelle, Oconomowoc, Okauchee and Pewaukee lakes as well as the Oconomowoc River from Lac LaBelle upstream to North Lake.
In another southeast Wisconsin regulation, this year a fish refuge was established on a stretch of the Fox River in Waukesha. The rule is designed to protect spawning fish and prohibits fishing from March 1 to May 1 on the Fox from Madison Street in Waukesha upstream to Barstow Dam.
A fish sanctuary was also created in St. Croix River from the State Highway 8 bridge upstream to St. Croix Falls Dam. Fishing is not allowed in the refuge from March 1 to June 15.
The balance of the new regulations for 2024-25 are specific to individual waters and most feature only changes to the length or slot limit for a single species.
The new regulations take effect April 1. However the general land game fishing season, including for walleye, does not open in most waters until May 4.
For full details, see the 2024-25 Wisconsin fishing regulations pamphlet. Copies of the booklet can be downloaded at dnr.wi.gov or picked up at license sales outlets.
Wildlife stamp contests open
The DNR is accepting artwork entries for the state’s annual wild turkey, ring-necked pheasant and waterfowl stamp design contest. The winning designs will appear in the 2025 stamp collection.
Each year, Wisconsin artists compete for a chance to have their artwork commemorated in a historic way on state wildlife stamps.
Sales of the seals bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars annually for species management across the state, including habitat management, restoration, education and research projects, according to the DNR. Hunters are required to purchase stamps to harvest these game birds.
Stamp design entries must be received or postmarked by August 1. Judging will take place August 24 at the Waterfowl Hunters Expo in Oshkosh.
The winners of the 2023 contests were Jim Tostrud of Kenosha for wild turkey, Robert Wilkens of New Holstein for ring-necked pheasant and Ryan Rickaby of Suamico for waterfowl.
Stamp contest applicants should review the contest rules to ensure the eligibility of their entries. Artwork must meet technical requirements to be properly processed and prepared for judging and display.
Rules, entry information and reproduction rights agreements are available on the DNR’s Wildlife Stamp Funding and Stamp Design Contest webpage.
