I don’t exactly like this

Look at this chunky 16″ eye, it is a perfect eater . But on my home waters “Hillsdale Lake” the minimum length is 18″ and I must return it to the water. You see we have a dam with rip rap on the face of it that is about 1 mile long and the majority of the walleye in the reservoir spawn on the dam. This makes it easer for the state biologists to harvest the eggs and Hillsdale is where they get most of the eggs for the state. The biologists then take the eggs and semen and produce the fry. Then stock them back into Hillsdale and replenish other lakes and reservoirs throughout the state. We have a lot of lakes in the state that has a viable walleye population but since it is easier to harvest the eggs here they play with the population in Hillsdale and make our minimum length limit 18″

If I would have caught him on the other side of the dam I would be eating it right now

Yeah man that does suck but you really only have 3 options, fish somewhere else (the other side of the dam), catch bigger fish, or don’t fish… Not fishing always the last choice no matter what but a choice non the less, anyway it’s only one fish. Don’t get me wrong I hope you will chose to keep on keepin on and go get get em. Good Luck

Look at it this way, they are fun to catch regardless of having to let them go right? Plus, what they are doing with the population on one lake is making all the other lakes, where you can eat the fish out of, that much better, right? RIGHT! Having to let them go isn’t a bad thing.