Waiting for ice to support you? You can support walleye fishing

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is promoting fishermen to purchase Walleye Habitat Stamps. Proceeds from the sale of stamps are used to buy walleye from private producers. The fish are then stocked in lakes that don’t have naturally reproducing populations.

Ice thick enough for fishing may be on the wish lists of many anglers heading into the holiday season, but there is another present anglers can give themselves that makes fishing better all around the state – a walleye stamp.

“Walleye stamps can be purchased any time of the year, even if you already have a fishing license,” said Neil Vanderbosch, fisheries program consultant for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “We use the funds from stamp sales to support walleye stocking.”

A walleye stamp validation costs $5 and can be purchased wherever Minnesota fishing licenses are sold. For 75 cents more, the DNR will mail the stamp as a collector’s item. A walleye stamp is not required to fish for or keep walleye.

The DNR uses walleye stamp proceeds to buy walleye from private producers, which are stocked in lakes that don’t have naturally reproducing walleye populations. Stocking lets anglers catch walleye in a more geographically wide range of the state. Because of stocking, walleye can be found in around 1,300 Minnesota lakes spread throughout the state. However, most walleye are caught in large rivers or about 260 large walleye lakes where they naturally reproduce. More information on the walleye stamp is available at www.mndnr.gov/ stamps under “Walleye Habitat Stamp.”