Some “hard feelings” come with Minnesota DNR changes to record fish program

St. Paul — The Minnesota DNR unveiled its revamped state record fish program, and the changes include relegating pre-1980 records to a new “noncertified” category.

That includes the longstanding state record 17-pound, 8-ounce walleye that Hermantown’s Leroy Chiovitte caught on the Seagull River on the Sunday of fishing opener, May 13, 1979.

That fish and 10 others will move to non-certified historical records, so current anglers now have the opportunity to catch and establish new “certified” state records for those 11 species.

As of last Friday, March 1, the DNR now is recognizing three categories of record fish: historical weight records, catch-and-release documented by photos, and certified weight documented by keeping a fish and weighing it on a state-certified scale.

Shannon Fisher, DNR Fisheries population monitoring and regulations manager, acknowledged that the changes – which the agency has been developing for the better part of two years – will cause some heartburn among supporters of historical records.

Ample debate on how to honor older records occurred as the DNR analyzed its record fish program, Fisher said. Ultimately, the team tasked with the project couldn’t ignore the fact that prior to 1980, the agency did not require fish to be weighed on certified scales.

The new program allows the agency to recognize certified weight and measurements, which the DNR began requiring in 1980, without discrediting existing records, he said.

“We understand the potential for hard feelings because some longstanding records will be recognized as non-certified, but we also didn’t want to dismiss those fish,” Fisher said. “We want to maintain those stories.”

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A public comment period during the record-program review process drew fewer than 30 comments that ranged from positive to neutral plus about four negative comments from the Duluth area, Fisher said.

“We’re not discrediting previous records, but we don’t have a lot of information available on some of those older ones,” Fisher said. “We’re just saying that we’re recognizing a new category, and we want to call out new opportunities for people to gain a record fish.”

Chiovitte died in November 2019 at the age of 83. The Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center off the Gunflint Trail showcases his walleye at its facility today. (The museum is closed for the season until May 25.)

Bonnie Schudy, campus director, told Outdoor News that the museum will continue to display the Chiovitte fish, which was caught less than a mile from the facility. Staff had just heard about the record fish program changes and hadn’t evaluated how to proceed.

When a new state certified record comes along, she said, staff likely would consider adding signage explaining the non-certified designation, she said.

“I think for a lot of the diehard fisher people in Minnesota, this is still going to be the state record,” she said.

Chiovitte’s daughter, Jody Alberts, who lives in South Minneapolis, said she’s disappointed that the DNR is moving her dad’s well-known and, she believes, well-documented walleye to a non-certified category.

As described over eight pages in Joe Fellegy’s 1982 book, “Classic Minnesota Fishing Stories,” Chiovitte weighed the fish at End of the Trail Lodge, and three DNR folks contributed to the verification process.

Conservation Officer Keith Edman went to the lodge for the weigh-in, DNR Fisheries biologist Tracy Close of the French River Fisheries headquarters examined the fish in Duluth, and Grand Marais Area Fisheries Manager Jim Storland checked out the scale used to officially weigh the fish, though he never saw the walleye. Fellegy’s book contains interviews with all three men.

For his part, Fellegy wrote in a January 2023 Outdoor News column that he supports the DNR modernizing the record-fish program, especially the C&R record details, and also the certified weight aspect of the regular keep-and-kill record requirement. He supports the requirement that to qualify for a state record, the fish must be weighed on a state-certified scale. That requirement did not exist prior to 1980 when Minnesota did not have a formal state record-fish program.

Alberts believes that moving the 1979 walleye to the non-certification category is unfair to the memory of her dad, a man she describes as a stickler for the rules. He took the then-necessary steps to meet the record fish qualifications in 1979, and the walleye has been part of Minnesota angling lore for nearly 45 years.

“We’re surprised by this,” Alberts said. “Dad went through a lot of steps to verify that fish.”

Fisher said that bottom line, there is nothing in DNR records documenting that the fish was weighed on a certified scale. The only real and fair dividing line the DNR could implement in the new records process was 1980 when the agency instituted the certified weight requirement.

Certified record protocol

A total of 59 Minnesota fish species – from “bass, largemouth” to “whitefish, Menominee, (Round)” – are eligible for certified records. Many of those records have been set since 1980 and were weighed on certified scales and therefore still stand today. As mentioned, certified weight records are now open for 11 species (included in the 59): black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, channel catfish, common carp, flathead catfish, lake trout, northern pike, smallmouth bass, walleye, and yellow perch.

For each species, the DNR says anglers must meet a minimum weight to apply for a record, which will prevent an avalanche of applications for common weights.

Anglers also may apply for a certified weight record for yellow bass, added to the category because the species has increased in presence and popularity, particularly in south-central Minnesota.

Catch-and-release records

In addition to the certified and non-certified categories, the DNR also has expanded its catch-and-release records program effective March 1. Prior to that date, the agency had C&R records in place for four species: northern pike, flathead catfish, lake sturgeon, and muskellunge.

Species added to the catch-and-release category are blue sucker, bigmouth buffalo, bowfin, brook trout, brown trout, channel catfish, freshwater drum, lake trout, largemouth bass, longnose gar, rainbow trout, sauger, shortnose gar, shovelnose sturgeon, smallmouth bass, smallmouth buffalo, tiger muskellunge, and walleye.

The DNR is expanding the C&R category in response to the increasing popularity of catch-and-release fishing and to raise the profile of native rough fish. There also will be a minimum fish length requirement for new submissions.

“Angler stories and photos of the huge fish caught from Minnesota’s lakes, rivers, and streams generate major excitement,” said Mandy Erickson, fisheries program consultant. “We also hope the buzz around some of these records brings more attention to native rough fish, which… are important to aquatic ecosystems.”

The DNR and its predecessor agencies have managed the record fish program in various forms for nearly 100 years. For complete records and rules on the revamped program, visit the DNR’s record fish webpage.

Listen to an interview with Erickson this Saturday, March 9, when it publishes at outdoornews.com, or get it by searching Minnesota Outdoor News Radio from wherever you get your podcasts.