Comments are being accepted through Thursday, March 5, on a statewide rule to enact this limit. The rule would become effective for the 2027 fishing season.

Climactic conditions, invasive species introductions and a sharp increase in fish-finding technology use have changed walleye fishing in Minnesota since the current regulation was put in place in 1956.

These changes prompted the Minnesota DNR to propose a reduction in the statewide walleye daily and possession limit from six to four fish combined, with only one walleye longer than 20 inches allowed in possession.

The reduction would not affect existing regulations for border waters that Minnesota shares with neighboring states and provinces or existing special or experimental regulations on inland waters.

Consideration of this walleye limit reduction is a management response to help preserve Minnesota’s great walleye fishing. If enacted during a 2026 rulemaking process, the change would go into effect March 1, 2027.

Public input shows support:

• From 2021 to 2023, more than 4,000 on-the-water interviews with anglers about their catches showed that 67 percent supported a reduction in the walleye bag limit, 18 percent opposed it, and 15 percent were neutral.

• The DNR’s most-recent statewide angler survey in 2023 consisted of a random selection of fishing license buyers and found that 48 percent of respondents favored the change, 23 percent were opposed, and the remaining respondents had no opinion.

• An online survey by the DNR in the summer of 2025 found that a change to a daily and possession limit of four had the highest approval at 61 percent, while the existing limit of six had the lowest level of approval at 31 percent.