Walleye Fish Stocking
One of the Big Cedar Property Owners Association is to support safe recreation on the lake. The POA has for some time contributed to the Thursday Night Fishing Club stocking program. They have been stocking walleye every other year. Each year that the club does stocking, the POA contributes $1000. This year the club stocking program expense was about $18,000.
The fishing club works with the DNR and obtains the necessary permits for stocking. For several years the fishing club stocked young small fish (fry) but the results failed to meet expectations. The fishing club has determined they get much better results by stocking 5 to 6-inch walleye. These fish are about 9 months old. In a year or two, the fish should be 20 to 22-inches and a nice catch. The fishing club gets the fish from a company in Newburg. The fish are obtained from a fish hatchery in Minnesota. The DNR must approve the specific strain of walleye that can be put in any lake.
This year, on October 28, about 6100 walleye were put in Big Cedar at the Gonring Rd public launch. On November 1, another 2000 walleye were put in at the yacht club launch.
One of the pictures below shows the young walleye being netted from the storage tank, about to be put in the lake. The other picture shows the crew doing the stocking at the public launch.
Scott Rolfs is a POA Director that works with the fishing club and the DNR on behalf of the POA. Matt Herther is a member of the Thursday Night Fishing Club and leads the stocking effort for the club.
SHORT-TERM RENTALS
Thanks to the many POA members who responded to our survey.
The Town of West Bend is considering revisions to its short-term housing rental program. The Town of Polk and the Town of West Bend have very similar short-term rental ordinances. Current rules require the homeowner to obtain a short-term rental permit from the town. The town does not allow home rentals of less than 7 days. The short-term rental is for periods of at least 7 days but less than 30 days. State statutes allow for some local ordinances for short-term rentals but the state statutes cover all long-term rentals regulations.
The Town of West Bend wanted to get some public input for consideration before revising the ordinance. The POA was asked if we would use our email list, and conduct a very short high-level survey. We are extremely happy that the town was interested in collecting the views of the residents and agreed to do a survey. We think it is a very positive reflection on the town board to reach out to get public perspective. Our survey was designed very simply and short to maximize participation. We sent the survey request to 500 POA members and got 151 responses. We believe a 30% response was quite good.
The Big Cedar POA is not taking a position on this issue. We provided the results data to both the Town of West Bend and the Town of Polk. Many (69%) favored regulation if there are short-term rentals. There was also a meaningful number of residents (31%) who were not in favor. It is a town issue more than a lake issue. The POA was happy to collect data, but we don not have an opinion on regulations for short-term rentals.
WISCONSIN LAKES
Wisconsin Lakes, formerly known as the Wisconsin Association of Lakes, is a statewide non-profit organization working exclusively to protect and enhance the quality of Wisconsin’s 15,000 lakes. For more than 20 years, Wisconsin Lakes has worked toward statewide solutions for the challenges faced by our abundant natural water resources while supporting strong local protection efforts. They represent citizens and lake groups who care about Wisconsin’s lakes as a shared resource, and who appreciate the value lakes bring to our quality of life, tourist economy, and property tax base. Wisconsin Lakes seeks to protect the natural wonder of our lakes, and preserve our collective right to boat, fish, hunt, ice skate, swim, and enjoy the scenic beauty of our shared public waters.
The Big Cedar POA does not have a corporate membership with Wisconsin Lakes, but many of our members have individual memberships. We are making an effort to learn more about the Wisconsin Lakes organization by being more involved in their seminars and conferences. We have representatives attending zoom seminar sessions and a couple of directors plan to attend the annual conference in Stevens Point in April. We think there may be value for the POA to understand and be part of a state-wide approach to rules for PRD authority and responsibility as well as DNR regulations and enforcement.
Anyone who is interested in learning more about the Wisconsin Lakes organization may want to visit their website https://wisconsinlakes.org/