 For a city on the bay, the news of relaxed walleye regulations for Leech Lake has stirred up both excitement and good old conversation. Last week the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said that Leech Lake has met or exceeded all walleye management objectives. We have a surplus of fish right now of those sizes because of a couple of your classes that hit maturity last year and you are going to be hitting the slot limit as early as this fall. We're going to end up staying in that slot limit for a long time and we don't need that many of them. The current regulation on Leech Lake requires the immediate release of all walleye 20-26 inches long with the possession of four fish, one of which can be longer than 26 inches. The new proposal would relax those rules, however regulations could return in the near future. What we do know is mortality is constant and we could have fish drawn to the slot limit and not exit the slot limit off the top end and thus never become available. It's really just about tuning the regulation to the circumstances that we have right now. For the City of Walker, their tourism industry thrives on the lake and its fishing conditions. At the Leech Lake Chamber of Commerce, the ward of relaxed walleye regulations is welcome news. Tourism is our number one thing, so without our tourists and coming to visit our lake and go out and fish and play on our beaches and do their water sports, we are definitely in trouble. We need them and we need them to keep coming, so our lake is our number one thing. The hope is that if the proposed change is granted, the word would spread and boost the popularity of an already popular lake. Making these changes with our fish would be wonderful for our fishermen and it'll just bring more of them, fishermen and fisherwomen to our town. But the proposed change is not a done deal. Informational meetings will be held and public input will be gathered to help make a smart choice. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.