For the past 10 years some experimental fishing regulations have been in place on Sugar Lake.
A public meeting will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 20, at Corinna Township Hall to discuss whether or not those regulations should be extended indefinitely.
Joe Stewig, a fisheries manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who works out of the Sauk Rapids office, said that the regulations have effectively protected black crappie in the lake, and there is also evidence that the regulations have benefitted northern pike as well.
Black crappie
Stewig said that Sugar, historically a good crappie lake, was experiencing a dramatic decrease in the number of crappie harvested before a rule that reduced the bag limit from 10 fish to five was enacted.
"Sugar gets a lot of fishing pressure, especially on the late ice in late March or early April. That’s when they’re feeding and getting ready for spawning condition. So there was a lot of concern from lake people who lived on the lake as well as other crappie anglers asking if there was a way to protect these fish," said Stewig. "It seemed like it was shooting fish in a barrel at times. At certain times this species, crappies, is pretty easy to catch."
The goal of the reduced limit was to distribute the number of crappie caught over a longer period of time. Surveys since 2007 have shown an increase in average crappie size.
"We’re seeing a high percentage of fish over 10-12 inches, which was an increase post-regulation as opposed to pre-regulation. So that regulation I’d like to move forward and make permanent," said Stewig.
He said that in talking with the lake association’s fisheries committee, most of the members appeared to be in favor of continuing the five-fish limit.
Northern pike
Stewig said there has been a large population of northern pike in Sugar Lake dating back at least to the 1970s, and that can lead to a number of problems.
One issue is that anglers begin to only harvest medium to large fish in the 24- to 30-inch range. Since pike reproduce rapidly, the void is then filled with smaller pike. With large numbers and high competition for food, these pike tend to stay smaller, and can begin to interfere with DNR stocking of walleye since the pike both compete with walleye for perch prey, and also feed on walleye.
There is also a trickle down effect on other species, with the size of fish like bluegill compromised by the imbalance.
Under the current regulations northern pike from 24 to 36 inches must be immediately released, with one northern pike over 36 inches allowed in a possession limit of three.
While the average size of northern pike has decreased by half an inch since the regulations were enacted, the percentage of northern pike larger than 24 and 30 inches has increased, and northern pike up to 39 inches have been observed in spring surveys.
Stewig said the goal was to encourage harvesting of smaller pike since there is an abundance of them, and at the same time improve the number of medium to large fish in the lake.
"We’re seeing pretty good numbers of fish over 24 inches," said Stewig. "Prior to the regulation about 9 percent of fish population was over 24 inches, whereas in 2016 over 18 percent was over 24 inches. And 8 percent of the catch was over 30 inches, which is pretty decent. There are definitely a lot of nice fish."
Stewig said there was less concensus from the lake association’s fisheries committee on whether or not to continue the northern pike regulation, with members closer to 50-50 on both sides.
Rare regulations
Stewig said that in his area of oversight, which includes Wright, Stearns and Sherburne counties, only a handful of lakes currently have experimental regulations on them.
In Wright County, only Sugar, Mink-Somers and Crawford Lake near Buffalo have the crappie limit of five regulation.
Lake Sylvia and Mink-Somers also have the restriction on harvesting 24- to 36-inch northern pike.
Mink Somers also has a few additional regulations, including a 17-inch minimum size limit on walleye and a 12- to 20-inch protected slot on largemouth bass.
By state law, only 100 lakes in Minnesota can have the special northern pike regulations at any given time.
■ Written comments will be accepted through Thursday, Nov. 3, for those who are not able to attend the meeting. For more information, or to submit comments, contact Stewig at 1035 South Benton Drive, Sauk Rapids, MN 56379, 320-223-7867 or joe.stewig@state.mn.us.