DNR survey shows strong walleye, sauger numbers on Lake of the Woods

They may not always bite, but populations of “eater-size” walleyes and saugers in Lake of the Woods look good going into the winter season, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said in reporting results from its annual fall gillnet survey.

That’s good news for anglers planning a winter trip to the big lake.

Crews from the DNR’s area fisheries office in Baudette, Minn., tallied an average of 17.5 walleyes per net during this year’s fall survey, the DNR said. That’s above the historic average of 15.3 walleyes per net, but down from an average of 21.1 walleyes per net in 2023. Walleyes from 9 inches to 11 inches long were abundant, the DNR said, a “possible indication of an upcoming strong year-class” from 2021.

A year-class refers to fish recruited to the population from a particular year’s hatch.

“Keeper-size” walleyes in the 13- to 16-inch range also were above average in abundance, the survey showed, while walleyes in the 19½- to 28-inch protected slot and trophy-size walleyes larger than 28 inches were “just below average” in abundance.

Meanwhile, the Lake of the Woods sauger population remains at a “high level of abundance,” the DNR said, with an average catch of 21.7 saugers per gill net lift during the fall survey. That’s above the historical average of 15.3 saugers per net and the 2023 tally of 17.5 saugers per net.

Saugers from 13 inches to 16 inches – the sought-after “keeper” fish – were above historic averages, the result of strong year-classes in 2017 and 2019, the DNR said. That bodes well for winter fishing prospects, as saugers are the bread-and-butter of Lake of the Woods’ booming ice fishing industry.

The abundance of 13- to 16-inch saugers also mirrors anecdotal angler reports from the summer 2024 season.

“Everything was pretty much right in line with where things have been (in recent surveys),” Matt Skoog, area fisheries supervisor for the DNR in Baudette, told the Grand Forks Herald. “It was a pretty average gillnet year. Walleye numbers were good, sauger numbers were pretty good and size structure looked good.

“Overall, everything looked pretty healthy.”

About the survey

As part of the survey, which traditionally begins the Tuesday after Labor Day and continues for 17 days, Baudette DNR fisheries personnel set 64 nets — 52 near-shore sites in less than 25 feet of water and 12 offshore sites in 33 to 37 feet of water — across Minnesota’s 320,000-acre portion of the lake from the south shore to the Northwest Angle and leave them in the water overnight.

The survey, which is most effective at sampling walleyes in the 8- to 22-inch size range, dates back to 1981, and the 12 offshore sites were added in 2002. The offshore sites traditionally produce larger walleyes.

Sauger abundance in Lake of the Woods has been above the long-term (1981-2024) average since 2006, the DNR said, the result of consistent moderate to strong year-classes with relatively few weak hatches in the mix.

On the downside, the report indicated, the 2020-21 sauger year-classes were average to weak in strength, and the 2022-23 year-classes are predicted to be weak.

“If those predictions hold true, this may result in a lower abundance of future sauger,” the report indicated.

The current management goal for Lake of the Woods calls for maintaining a fall survey catch of more than 14 walleyes and 15 saugers per net on a three-year moving average. Factoring in the 2022 fall survey catch of 12.8 walleyes and 16 saugers per net, the most recent three-year (2022-24) moving average is just over 17.1 walleyes per net and 18.4 saugers per net.

Survey notes

A few days during the 2024 survey were “a little on the warm side,” Skoog says, but overall, the weather cooperated – always a plus when working on big water with a reputation for big waves.

“For the most part, it was a pretty average fall,” he said. “We got our normal few windy days but nothing noteworthy. As far as conditions go, it went pretty smoothly.”

In addition to walleyes and saugers, the survey tallied an increase in the abundance of eater-size yellow perch, Skoog said. The nets aren’t designed to catch northern pike in any numbers, Skoog said, so the DNR relies on spring trap-netting surveys to estimate pike abundance.

Numbers of tullibees – an important forage fish species on Lake of the Woods – were down slightly from last year, he said, likely the result of a recent strong year-class that is beginning to work its way through the population. Tullibees don’t live as long as walleyes, so they cycle through the population quicker, he said.

Whitefish abundance also was up,” Skoog said.

“I don’t know what to make of it, but our whitefish catch was about the highest we’ve seen for a decade,” he said. “I don’t know what that means, but it was kind of cool.”

Considering whitefish aren’t abundant in the fall surveys, any increase seems large, he said.

“Normally, we’re less than one per net, and I think we were right around one per net this year – almost double what we normally get,” Skoog said. “But our catches are so low with them to start with, that it doesn’t take a whole lot more whitefish to really crank up the catch rate.”