REGIONAL— Catching your limit of walleye may become easier beginning in 2026. That’s because the Department of Natural Resources is considering lowering the bag limit on walleye from the current standard of six fish, to four.
It won’t be a change for many of the state’s premier walleye lakes, like Vermilion, where special regulations already limit the daily harvest of the state’s most popular game fish to four. But it would affect many smaller lakes that don’t have special regulations in place and where anglers have had the ability to keep up to six walleye ever since the regulation was put into effect back in the 1950s.
Under state law, the DNR has authority to establish bag limits for game fish through a standard rulemaking process. That process includes public notice of the change along with a public comment period and a public hearing before the agency can make a final determination. That process typically takes more than two years, so anglers shouldn’t expect to see a change in bag limits before 2026.
DNR officials maintain that a number of factors, including overfishing and increasing impacts from aquatic invasive species and climate change, are straining fish populations and make the new regulation necessary.