Roundtable discussion on Mille Lacs fishing with Senator Jungbauer - Mille Lacs Lake Fishing (Fishing Reports, Events, Tournament Information and more)

tat2jonnie · Senior Member

Roundtable discussion on Mille Lacs fishing with Senator Jungbauer

Bobber · Admin / Moderator

I know Steve Fellegy is heading down for the meeting!

tat2jonnie · Senior Member

Yeah, Steve is, and some of the other Lake States guys. They took netting off the table, but stocking and other DNR management issues are on the agenda already.
HAPPY 20" DAY!!!!

Glen Ertl · Gray Goose Captain

Yeah, by all means...lets not focus on one of the biggest things affecting the lake.....

Bobber · Admin / Moderator

Yes, I thought the same..........stocking? lets pull the covers over the real issue

tat2jonnie · Senior Member

The senator changed his tune after the first e-mail went out.
First e-mail:

Agenda:

Opening Comments
·        Senator Michael Jungbauer

Discussion
·        Best management practices for netting and spearing on Minnesota’s lakes

Questions and Answers

Second e-mail:

I send two emails but was not clear. The second email is correct (attached below) I specifically removed netting and spearing from the agenda because we don't want to focus on just that topic. We want information from you as what the agenda should be. That's why I left it vague. I hope this clears everything up.

This is a very contentious issue to discuss so we want the meeting to be as productive as possible. These types of meeting don't happen very often if ever, as you are aware.

Any speculations as to what happened between the first and the second?

Moe · Member

confused. so it is or is not on the agenda?

tat2jonnie · Senior Member

I don't think our representatives there,(the Fellagy brothers, etc.) will miss the opportunity to bring the topic to the table. The DNR, the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission and the Native American community and of course the senator will in all probability try to dismiss the topic and try instead to focus on issues like stocking and relaxing the slot size. evileye

wallyhntr1 · Member

Was no talk of stocking & no talk of relaxing slot sizes.

I found this very disturbing- The natives were represented very well at this meeting, all we had were a couple guys from the DNR.

Another disturbing fact was the lack of people attending this meeting. Steve Fellegy was one, a guy from PERM, a guy who I believe lives on the lake and myself.

Out of all the people living on & around that lake who are directly affected, all the people signing petitions, all the people who complain on the internet, FOUR of us attend this meeting??? Even the Senator commented on the lack of involvement.

Glen Ertl · Gray Goose Captain

Not to minimize the issue, but with all the posturing on this subject, around election time, some people just get tired of nothing happening. The DNR/GLIFC won't even enforce the netting rules/fines on the books today, why would they tighten them tomorrow ??? Nothing can be done at the state level anyway, it is a Federal issue. Now I am not saying raising voices and attending meetings shouldn't happen, but when it is a mute point, what good comes of it, other than hotter heads ????

wallyhntr1 · Member

GLIF said they found & prosecuted the guy who dumped all those remains on private property. They down played it though by saying the guy who dumped had permission to dump but did so on the wrong property.

tat2jonnie · Senior Member

Unfortunately,
I had to work, Mike. I thought their choice of meeting time (and location) was really bad for those of us that couldn't take time off to run all the way down to Ramsey. That in itself showed no respect for those of us that need to make a living. They were on the clock and I don't know how many of the natives have jobs, so there's no wonder there wasn't more white anglers there to represent us.
I'm glad they are taking the dumping of fishguts on private, non-native land seriously. For those of you that didn't see the mess we're talking about, here it is.
So, what else did they talk about for 3 hours if it wasn't netting, stocking or slot limit?
And who gave them permission to do this to their land?

eelpout1 · Member

I also have a real job I must show up to, or...well.. hmm

It is clear why nothing can get established or resolved, when the people incharge can not even hold a discussion with out making a circus of the said discusion, it is sad all of the real problems are deflected Because one person deams that the said subject not in the best intrest of all....at least thats what I see. I need to pay closer attention to these meeting/discussions, and try to plan a day off to attend one. thanks to all that went and represented the bulk of the fisher men and women.

eelpout1 · Member

GLIF said they found & prosecuted the guy who dumped all those remains on private property. They down played it though by saying the guy who dumped had permission to dump but did so on the wrong property.

are you kidding me???? confuse

(bad posting day for me LOL)

-- Edited by eelpout1 on Thursday 15th of July 2010 09:37:58 AM

-- Edited by eelpout1 on Thursday 15th of July 2010 09:38:53 AM

-- Edited by eelpout1 on Thursday 15th of July 2010 09:39:36 AM

Glen Ertl · Gray Goose Captain

GLIF said they found & prosecuted the guy who dumped all those remains on private property. They down played it though by saying the guy who dumped had permission to dump but did so on the wrong property.

Oh..... is that all that happened.... yawn

How dumb do they think we are ???? confuse

Don't answer that.....

wallyhntr1 · Member

Totally understand the fact people have to work.

I'm new to being educated on this subject, am thankful Steve & the guy from PERM were there, would have been like a deer in headlights.

The natives were represented by the leader of GLIF, a biologist, an enforcement officer, an attorney whos last name is Buffalo, they also had people in the audience.
We were represented by two DNR guys, Jungbauer pretty much listened.

This meeting actually lasted almost 3.5 hrs, I was disappointed. There were a bunch of numbers talked about- net sizes, numbers of netted male/female walleyes, numbers of northerns & bass netted, times of the year the natives net, how the natives are monitoring all activity, how they are prosecuting natives who break tribal laws, blah blah blah.

Monitoring my azz, I'm sure many of you living on the lake watch the corruption going on & there isnt a CO any where in the area, I heard more about the corruption while at this meeting yesterday & hearing it makes my skin crawl. Monitoring all the boat loads of fish coming off the lake? That's a load of BS according to the people who live on the lake next to the landings.

AND, if hearing all that BS wasn't enough to make my skin crawl, it damn sure did when our DNR spoke of the spawning biomass being critical to the survival of the lake & saying the lake has a good biomass right now.   I may not be the sharpest knife but we have rules/regulations in place to protect that spawning biomass the DNR spoke of & the way I see it is the natives are the ones taking from that biomass & is how, in my opinion, a Red Lake scenario could happen. If this biomass does start taking a turn for the worse, who will be the ones telling the natives they can't net anymore if our state DNR has no say in it? do we think the natives will stop on their own? guess they would stop when the nets come up empty.

After this meeting yesterday I came away thinking our DNR is kissing the natives asses along with this GLIF operation feeding us BS. There were no members of the media at this meeting & I strongly believe this kind of stuff HAS GOT TO BE put smack dab in the publics eyes, way too much of this ' behind closed doors ' crap.

tat2jonnie · Senior Member

Just got another e-mail from Senator Jungbauer's assistant Peder Mewis concerning yesterday's meeting. Here it is:
Peder Mewis to me
show details 12:59 PM (17 minutes ago)

Hi Jon, Yes, will be providing information about the meeting. I felt it was productive. We touched on just about every issue, however we do have many questions that need to be answered. There is also some video and audio that we will be putting together as well. Turnout was low and that is the risk when you schedule meetings during the day (and partly due to the weather I have to believe).

Thanks,

Peder Mewis
Legislative Assistant
Senator Mike Jungbauer
121 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
Office: (651) 296-4847 Fax: (651) 296-4239
peder.mewis@senate.mn

gt · Member

I went and brought up my favorite issue concerning the lopsided, somewhat vague, 50/50 allocation split.

I did learn from the bands lawyers that they view the allocation issue strictly as a government-to-government agreement. The state population, number of state anglers, and anglers that fish Mille Lacs versus the total number of band members has nothing to do with allocation in their view.

I would like to thank Senator Jungbauer for holding a meeting like this. Most politicians wouldn't touch an issue like this with a ten-foot pole.

hooked · Member

wallyhntr1 wrote:

Was no talk of stocking & no talk of relaxing slot sizes.

I found this very disturbing- The natives were represented very well at this meeting, all we had were a couple guys from the DNR.

Another disturbing fact was the lack of people attending this meeting. Steve Fellegy was one, a guy from PERM, a guy who I believe lives on the lake and myself.

Out of all the people living on & around that lake who are directly affected, all the people signing petitions, all the people who complain on the internet, FOUR of us attend this meeting??? Even the Senator commented on the lack of involvement.

First I will say I am against tribal netting.

Stocking? Relaxing the slot?

Why would you want to stock Mille Lacs? The lake has the best natural reproduction of almost any lake in the state.

They just did relax the slot to as wide as it should ever be 20". Who needs to keep a bigger eye. The big ones are purely for fun.

I have fished the lake for well over 10 years and there have been some really good years and a couple bad years but that is how things cylcle. This year has been a quite good year but not the best bite of the last 10 years. It is easy to get a limit of keepers. All the fish are fat and healthy. Probably the healthiest I have seen them. Plenty are biting.
Where exactly is the emergency.

tat2jonnie · Senior Member

Yes, Jim. We have a good slot right now. Anyone who has fished the lake long enough will agree with you that the lake's fish all have their cycles and the walleye population is on the rise, with a healthy breed of fish. No reason to stock or raise the slot any higher than it is right now.
One of the reasons that it is back on the rise is that 3 years ago all the spawning was done by ice out. It makes a big difference in the walleye population when the fish aren't netted before they can reproduce. Then, last year, the indians lost alot of nets to the ice.
Those that were able to attend the meeting on the angler's behalf, Gary, Steve, Mike and Joe (?) and the hundreds that have voiced their concerns are only trying to keep Mille Lacs Lake the greatest premier walleye fishery in the world.
We need these watchdogs to make sure the lake is not ruined by mismanagement of any kind like Leech Lake in the 70's and more recently Red Lake.
That's why we need to stop tribal netting during the spawning season when the walleyes are the most vulnerable.
Maybe we can teach them how to fish

Glen Ertl · Gray Goose Captain

From a fishermans point of view..things this year are good. The couple of bad years you speak of, are what the concern is. History has shown, the tribe gets their quota almost every year, they take until they want no more some years and still stay under their allotment. Rarely does the angling season take even half their allotment, and yet we have bad years ??? We need to realize, bad years for us (fisherman) is having to eat steak or hotdogs and maybe not fish Mille Lacs, but rather other lakes. Bad years for business' around the lake can equal closing their doors !!! There used to be alot more resorts around the lake, mom and pop resorts flourished.... sadly, the lake and tourists cannot support the numbers anymore. We can't blame all of it on the lakes sustainablility, but a large portion can be squarely set there. There needs to be some kind of accountability. I am not against the tribes spearing their ceremonial walleyes, while it is preferential treatment in this day and age, I can let it go. I should not have to pay for sins/wrongs that were committed 3 generations ago.... assimilate is what is suppose to happen. Also the bigger issue, most have, is the "tribes" that come from hundreds of miles away.... from Wisconsin !!! Especially the blond haired members, the practice is being exploited. Sad but true.

wallyhntr1 · Member

hooked wrote:

wallyhntr1 wrote:

Was no talk of stocking & no talk of relaxing slot sizes.

I found this very disturbing- The natives were represented very well at this meeting, all we had were a couple guys from the DNR.

Another disturbing fact was the lack of people attending this meeting. Steve Fellegy was one, a guy from PERM, a guy who I believe lives on the lake and myself.

Out of all the people living on & around that lake who are directly affected, all the people signing petitions, all the people who complain on the internet, FOUR of us attend this meeting??? Even the Senator commented on the lack of involvement.

First I will say I am against tribal netting.

Stocking? Relaxing the slot?

Why would you want to stock Mille Lacs? The lake has the best natural reproduction of almost any lake in the state.

They just did relax the slot to as wide as it should ever be 20". Who needs to keep a bigger eye. The big ones are purely for fun.

I have fished the lake for well over 10 years and there have been some really good years and a couple bad years but that is how things cylcle. This year has been a quite good year but not the best bite of the last 10 years. It is easy to get a limit of keepers. All the fish are fat and healthy. Probably the healthiest I have seen them. Plenty are biting.
Where exactly is the emergency.

That sounds eerily familiar with what we heard in our meeting yesterday.

I would bet my bottom dollar you would change your stance if this biomass the DNR spoke of were to start going downhill, which may already be. They didnt show a chart or speak of the last 10 years averages in numbers of this biomass, the DNR only mentioned this years biomass number, think it was something just short of 2 million.. That DNR guy couldnt have made it more clear- the biomass is critical for that lake to stay a natural reproducing lake.

I may be wrong- I believe the meaning of biomass is the majority of capable spawning fish. If I understand that being the meaning, who is it taking the major majority of these biomass fish?

Yea, a 5lb walleye we catch & release may die, a 5lb walleye going in a net is dead.