# Quality of commecial Walleye in ND



## floortrader (Feb 5, 2009)

! would imagine the walleye for sale are farm raised. How do they compare with wild fish. Going to Devils Lake for 8 days and if the walleye are good I will probily live on them.


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## averyghg (Oct 16, 2006)

If i were you id buy a fishing license and throw a line on off any highway thats close to the water. seriously


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## hammerhead (Dec 22, 2004)

Never heard of farm raised walleye. Most of the fish for sale are wild fish netted by the tribes in Minn.


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## floortrader (Feb 5, 2009)

that was one of the questions thanks now i know how they get them to sell.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

hammerhead said:


> Never heard of farm raised walleye. Most of the fish for sale are wild fish netted by the tribes in Minn.


They better not be anymore!


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## mnwatrfwl (Sep 16, 2005)

They can and are.

Red Lake, Leech Lake, Vermillion, Mille Lacs, etc.

Not popular but not a damn thing we can do about either.


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## Lil Sand Bay (Feb 2, 2005)

Actually commercial walleye available are thawed IQF (individual quick frozen) fillets from Canada, who heavily subsidizes that effort. The Wisc. and Minn tribes do not have a walleye commercial industry, outside of the occasional sale to the local VFW or Legion locally down the road, and Red lLkes commerecial industry is still trying to recover from the collapse.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Lil Sand Bay said:


> Actually commercial walleye available are thawed IQF (individual quick frozen) fillets from Canada, who heavily subsidizes that effort. The Wisc. and Minn tribes do not have a walleye commercial industry, outside of the occasional sale to the local VFW or Legion locally down the road, and Red lLkes commerecial industry is still trying to recover from the collapse.


Thanks.

I guess I wouldn't be surprised if It's happening, but they don't have a commercial license so they aren't supposed to. Thus "they better not be." Bad enough they net them while they are spawning :******:


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Lil Sand Bay said:


> Actually commercial walleye available are thawed IQF (individual quick frozen) fillets from Canada, who heavily subsidizes that effort. The Wisc. and Minn tribes do not have a walleye commercial industry, outside of the occasional sale to the local VFW or Legion locally down the road, and Red lLkes commerecial industry is still trying to recover from the collapse.


I think when you see walleye in restaurants it's typically always advertised as Canadian fish. So I would have to agree.


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## Gooseguy10 (Oct 10, 2006)

Red Lake will end up netting the lake out again just like last time. At least we will be able to go back up there and catch those big crappies again.


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## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Gooseguy10 said:


> Red Lake will end up netting the lake out again just like last time. At least we will be able to go back up there and catch those big crappies again.


I haven't been following the situation at Red, but are they really that freakin stupid? Did the band pay for the restocking costs or did MN?

My uncle owns a resort on mille lacs, he is pretty against us ordering walle ordering walleye at a restaurant. Who knows, a lot of restaurants pass off gander as walleye on their menu, so it wouldn't surprise me if MN lake walleyes make it to some places. I'd like to think it isn't happening.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

floortrader said:


> ! would imagine the walleye for sale are farm raised. How do they compare with wild fish. Going to Devils Lake for 8 days and if the walleye are good I will probily live on them.


I don't think Devils Lake walleye taste that great compared to walleye in other North Dakota waters. I think the meat is a little more yellow, and I would guess it's diet. When cleaning I notice they feed heavily on a little shrimp looking critter called an Amphipod, specifically _Gammarus lacustris_, and _Hyalella azteca_. The color and taste is passed on to the meat. I also think it's dietary energetics involving these little macroinvertebrates that causes short walleye to be fat and longer fish to be thinner in Devils Lake. Large fish need a minnow base to maintain good weight, and expending energy feeding on small critters isn't good from an energy budget perspective.


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## drjongy (Oct 13, 2003)

I guess I've never noticed any taste difference in fresh Devils Lake walleye, but I mostly keep 15-17 inchers for eating. The meat is certianly darker compared with fish we catch in the winter out of Lake of the Woods. I would say that Devils Lake fish do not keep as well in the freezer compared with LOW...even when vacuum sealed.


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