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Post Info TOPIC: Re: Good or bad? Who's going to fish Mille Lacs when it goes Catch and Release this spring?


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Re: Good or bad? Who's going to fish Mille Lacs when it goes Catch and Release this spring?
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In the past few years, we've all released more than our share of perfectly good walleyes. Almost half of fish harvested are counted as hooking mortality. This is due to the "slot" crap the MN DNR is trying to spoon feed the Minnesota anglers. 

Listen to THIS:

When a walleye is caught in Minnesota, it's either kept and eaten -- or released. Most that are set free live to fight another day.

But some don't.

At Lake Mille Lacs, the number of released walleyes that die is crucial because they are included in the state's allocation under its agreement with eight Chippewa bands. Last year, sport anglers "harvested" 310,000 pounds of walleyes. But an estimated 136,000 of those pounds were fish lost to hooking mortality -- ones that didn't end up in a freezer or frying pan, but nonetheless were counted against the state's allocation.

In past years, that was an unfortunate but mostly inconsequential byproduct of fishing regulations that required anglers to release large numbers of fish that were outs(side) their permitted harvest "slot."

 

So, as a result of these skewed numbers from biologists for the DNR, (whom I have personally talked to about the subject) almost half the fish we catch are put back in the water under threats of heavy fines to die and wash up on some poor guy's beach.

These fish, which are getting increasingly hard to catch to begin with, are counted against our quota.

These numbers, that have forced the MN DNR to consider closing the lake to walleye fishing.make me wonder how many fishermen will continue to fish this once great fishery once they know that they won't be able to feed their family a walleye dinner because of the mismanagement of the lake by the "co-management theory of a 200 year old peice of paper.

I really would like to hear how many guys would still fish the lake.

I wouldn't.

And I live and work here.



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i would not. A sad mess.

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Malmo Bay Bomber

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Howdy Fishnpole and to all Hello Friends of Mille Lacs Lake,

This is such a tragic and sad mess.

Yes, I will still fish the lake on a very limited basis to use my boat~~ as I come so far (1,100 miles from Colorado) to visit my family and our Malmo Bay lake property. I love the lake. I grew up there.

I have called and pleaded with the DNR to allow Mille Lacs lake fishermen to keep 2 fish per day regardless of their length or slot -- but to no avail (to prevent release of injured walleyes that just float onto my lakeshore.)

So fishermen and guides are forced to release injured fish to the benefit of no one, despite great care taken in boating and landing of the fish.

The netting must stop and we need a legal system with some balls to do it.     

This outcome really SUCKS and it is WRONG. MM

 

 



-- Edited by MCallies on Sunday 12th of January 2014 12:18:11 PM

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Malmo Mike Callies


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Amen Mike. I will jack my wheels up on the camper and go elsewhere. We have been looking at several properties on the lake, but I think it's time to look elsewhere .



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A quick tally tells me that I spend about $1,500.00 fishing

Mille Lacs each year. That may not seem a lot of money, but

It goes to the local economy.

A lot of dollars for no fish

The greater Mille Lacs area would be devistated if the lake

is catch and release. Are the tribe and the DNR going to

foot the bill to subsidize the economy?  Doubt it !! confuse

The DNR needs to get thier heads out of thier ....

duffelbags and work to a viaible solution to restore

the lake and maintain the community it supports.



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Has anyone heard anything regarding the roundtable meeting?

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I would still fish for smallies and spend more time fishing muskie.

 

I don't see Mille Lacs going C&R on walleye.  The release mortality is already factored into the current harvest numbers.  I see another toss of the dart at the slot length and limit. 

-J.



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I think the question/topic is mute. The majority of us are already practicing catch and release because few of us are actually catching keepers. Yet, there are thousands of us still having our houses pulled out with this late season ice. I know there are some that will quit fishing the lake but not my family. Spending weekends at Mille Lacs with my family is more tradition than just sport. Fishing Mille Lacs is an experience in itself, regardless of fish caught and cooked. I, also,  believe in the tradition and partnership I have with the resort I stay with.

If your philosophy is to leave the lake because of the DNR regulations, then who is really hurting the local economy? I spend my hard earned money at businesses where I am happy with services provided. Changes in the slot and walleye population haven't changed the quality of the services provided by the local businesses for my family. If anything, I have seen the resorts working harder for their customers. In fact, many resorts around the lake have been expanding, updating, and providing more services in recent years. 

So needless to say, I'll be there this spring and many more to come God willing.



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I dont think the DNR and State of Minnesota will do anything until it turns catastrophic like Upper Red Lake.  Why are we not stocking the hell out of Mille Lacs Lake to support the angling and netting?  Strip some of these Mille Lacs Walleyes raise them to a size that might give them a chance and lets see what happens. 

 



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I've fished Mille Lacs for about 50 years and will do so again this spring.  When I want fish to eat, I'll head for Leach or Winnie.  Also, make 1 or 2 trips to Devils Lake.  While I'm fishing another area, I will keep an eye out for another location for my mobile home.  It's only a 100 miles to Leach & Winnie from Garrison.    Now that I'm retired, I spend the entire open water season in Garrison.  I can live with catch and release fishing but throwing back fish that are going to die goes against the grain.  It's getting harder to find anyone to fish Mille Lacs with a slot that doesn't allow them to keep a fish.  I feel sorry for those trying to make a living in the area and will continue to support local business as long as I'm there.

If we can't keep fish from MilleLacs, anyone support the idea of us being able to buy fish from those that can keep them?  After all  it's only about the money. 

 

 

 



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on the fence with this one

Open water, most likely not, if so once or twice a year

Hard water maybe a couple times a season - It is close to home (within 70 miles) and it is a good place to put the shack down for the weekend, but will not be going every weekend anymore

If it goes C&R, how long will it stay that way, when there are all ready 136000lbs hook mortality rate on a pretty much C&R basis already?

It is sad for the resort owners around the lake, as well as the home/cabin owners

but on the other hand, how many of the resort owners, and the home/cabin owners are helping out?

You think they would be the first, but it seems there are only a handful, with most being on this site

 

 



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Changing regs to C&R only for smallies.

Walleye are next.... They're talking up how popular C&R has become.

http://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/outdoors/fishing/article_f405a630-fea1-11e2-b343-0019bb30f31a.html

Personally, I've always fished to catch and eat!

 

2013-14 Mille Lacs Regulations

(including tributaries to posted boundaries)

Mille Lacs Lake Walleye Slot Limit Change

Walleye

Walleye: Release immediately all walleye less than 18" or greater than 20.0", except one over 28.0" may be harvested. Possession limit is 2, with only one over 28.0".

Northern Pike

Northern Pike: Release immediately all from 33 .0" through 40.0". Possession limit is 3, only 1 over 40.0". No spearing.

Smallmouth Bass

Smallmouth Bass: Release immediately all 17" through 20". Possession limit is 6, with only one over 20.0".

PLEASE NOTE: 09/09/13 - 02/23/14 Smallmouth Bass Statewide Catch and Release regulation in effect on Mille Lacs.

Cisco

Tullibee (Northern Cisco): Possession limit is 10.

Other Species: Follow statewide regulations.

No Culling

Night Closure: No one may fish for any species or possess fishing gear on the lake from 10 p.m. through 6 a.m. starting at 10 p.m. on May 13, 2013, and ending at 12:01 a.m. on June 10, 2013.

If regulations change, they will be posted at public accesses and at www.mndnr.gov/fishing, or call 1-888-646-6367 for current information.

 

 

Can anybody tell me how you can possess 6 fish when the species is C&R ONLY ?

 



-- Edited by fishnpole on Monday 13th of January 2014 09:33:10 PM

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Fishnpole- Watch what you say on LSF, if you post any of the above you'll get the hook- the Barney Fife gestapo have put the stops to anything Indian/Gill Net related, found out they are very quick suspending accts.... Was a good site until they allowed dictation from Natives crying to their sponsors.


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Mille Lacs: DNR sets bold plan

New, perhaps radical changes in management of Lake Mille Lacs walleyes and perhaps other of the lake’s game fish are planned, recently appointed DNR fisheries chief Don Pereira told stakeholders Friday at the agency’s round table in Bloomington.

“The goal is to improve the Mille Lacs walleye fishery as expediently as possible with as little negative impact to the community as possible,’’ Pereira said.

Helping the DNR will be national experts who will review fish surveys and other data to help understand why so many Mille Lacs walleyes fail to mature.

Mille Lacs appears to have a sufficient number of spawning female walleyes, DNR researcher Melissa Drake said. And the lake appears to have plentiful spawning habitat.

Perhaps the lake’s increasing water clarity is helping predators such as northern pike and smallmouth bass become more efficient consumers of small walleyes, Drake said.

Pereira conceded that past DNR Mille Lacs bag limits and slot-size restrictions might have contributed to the problem.

Neither Pereira nor Drake mentioned whether netting of spawning fish in spring by Chippewa bands affects Mille Lacs walleyes.

New regulations intended to increase anglers’ harvest of Mille Lacs northern pike and smallmouth bass might be in the offing, Pereira said, along with restrictions on the harvest of young walleyes.



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More lipstick colors our Aitkin DNR are putting on this pig- I wont be kissin it.



1- Ban Gill Nets

2- Gill Nets

3- Gill Netting during the spawn

4- Gill Nets displacing the natural specie PPA

5- Slots added to allow Gill Nets

6- Wingnutz are managing the lake for the use of Gill Nets

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wink

For the record, I have no relation to the Barney Fife character that was mentioned earlier.



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Doug, Big D,

Thanks very much for this report on the so-called DNR roundtable meeting:

- the DNR fisheries chief Don Pereira speaking to stakeholders Friday at the agency’s round table in Bloomington;

- Neither Pereira nor Drake mentioned whether netting of spawning fish in spring by Chippewa bands affects Mille Lacs walleyes.

To forego commenting or taking a stance against the gill netting of the spawning fish is unbelievable at such a DNR meeting. Shame.

It sounds like more lip service and no protection of the lake to me. I am just a life long property and lakeshore owner who has a bad attitude. The DNR needs to do its job and have one set of rules for everyone.

MM

PS. Yes, for the record our 'Fife' is a good guy and good fisherman. No relation to 'Barney Fife's' of LSF.



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Sorry Fife, meant nothing towards you.

A person can only take so much BS, ticks me off to know I'm forced to pay their wages while they feed us complete BS.
Would love nothing more than to tie our Aitkin WINGNUTZ balls to a treestump & push em over backwards!

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ranger wrote:

I've fished Mille Lacs for about 50 years and will do so again this spring.  When I want fish to eat, I'll head for Leach or Winnie.  Also, make 1 or 2 trips to Devils Lake.  While I'm fishing another area, I will keep an eye out for another location for my mobile home.  It's only a 100 miles to Leach & Winnie from Garrison.    Now that I'm retired, I spend the entire open water season in Garrison.  I can live with catch and release fishing but throwing back fish that are going to die goes against the grain.  It's getting harder to find anyone to fish Mille Lacs with a slot that doesn't allow them to keep a fish.  I feel sorry for those trying to make a living in the area and will continue to support local business as long as I'm there.

If we can't keep fish from MilleLacs, anyone support the idea of us being able to buy fish from those that can keep them?  After all  it's only about the money. 

 

 

 


 Ranger, we have tried to buy the band's allotment in the past. They have refused to negotiate claiming they and they alone have the RIGHT to net the lake during the spawning season. They claim that the reason the walleye population is so low is due to angling pressure from the sport fisherman.

They say this is THEIR lake and we are the intruders that are ruining THEIR walleye fishing (netting). Our DNR goes along with it because they are too afraid of the power that the Chippewa Nation wields at the GLIFWC/DNR meetings, with attorneys attending, signed treaty in hand.

Each tribal member gets about 2.2 lbs. of fish from their yearly rape of the lake. (Providing they don't sell any to get back home to Wisconsin.

If you'ld like to purchase Minnesota walleyes legally from them, here is the place to go........... http://www.redlakewalleye.com/

This is from Outdoor News:

Aitkin, Minn. Commercial sale of walleyes from Lake Mille Lacs likely will be part of the tribal harvest equation this spring, report managers from Minnesota DNR Fisheries and Enforcement.

During a recent enforcement meeting between officers from the state, bands and Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, tribal officers explained that they will be issuing permits for commercial harvest for some Wisconsin tribal netters. A total of eight Ojibwe bands, including six from Wisconsin, have tribal fishing rights in the 1837 Ceded Territory.

The advent of commercial harvest isn't entirely unexpected. The bands, said DNR Fisheries Research Supervisor Jack Wingate, always have had the right to sell fish under the court decisions in the 1837 Treaty case. Last year, during negotiations between the state and bands, the Wisconsin bands expressed some interest in reimbursing their gas and other travel expenses to the big lake via the sale of fish.

The Mille Lacs Band and Fond du Lacs Band, both of Minnesota, have said they will not be participating in the commercial harvest, Wingate said.

Rita Frenzel, Mille Lacs area Enforcement supervisor, attended the Enforcement meeting. She said commercially-harvested fish would be creeled and tagged "in the round" with special commercial tags. Both Wingate and Frenzel said they were unaware what percentage of Wisconsin tribal harvest on Mille Lacs would go toward commercial harvest.

"They gave us the impression that it likely wouldn't be that much, but that's up to the bands," Frenzel said.

Gerald White, chief warden for Ashland, Wis.-based GLIFWC also said he couldn't comment on the scope of the commercial harvest, noting "It's up to individual bands to make that decision."

The bands have declared a total walleye harvest of 100,000 pounds on Mille Lacs in 2003, as well as 11,498 pounds of northern pike. Most of the Wisconsin bands have declared a smaller percentage of the overall Mille Lacs tribal harvest compared to the Minnesota bands. The walleye declarations per band breaks down as follows: Mille Lacs, 34,999 pounds; Fond du Lac and St. Croix 14,643 pounds each; Bad River, Lac du Flambeau, Lac Courte Oreilles, Mole Lake, and Red Cliff, 7,143 pounds each.

The total safe allowable harvest for Lake Mille Lacs in 2003 is 550,000 pounds. Accounting for the 100,000-pound tribal declaration and 7,500-pound state "overage adjustment" from state overharvest in 2002, state anglers may harvest 442,500 pounds of walleyes on Mille Lacs in 2003.

State anglers must follow a 17- to 28-inch protected slot for walleyes, which means fish between 17 and 28 inches cannot be kept. Anglers will be allowed to keep one trophy fish longer than 28 inches, and the limit remains at four.

Other lake declarations

On other lakes in the 1837 Ceded Territory, the bands have declared the following walleye harvest in pounds for 2003:

Chisago County: Goose Lake, 240 pounds; Green Lake, 879 pounds; Rush Lake (east), 644 pounds; Rush Lake (west), 586 pounds. Isanti County: Green Lake, 320 pounds. Mille Lacs County: Shakopee Lake, 25 pounds. Morrison County: Sullivan Lake, 442 pounds. Pine County: Rock Lake, 28 pounds.

In addition, a number of lakes have declarations in numbers of fish. They are as follows:

Aitkin County: South Big Pine Lake, 74 fish. Chisago County: Chisago Lake, 175 fish; Crow Wing County: Borden Lake, 200 fish; Camp Lake, 96 fish; Platte Lake, 355 fish; South Long Lake, 263 fish; Whitefish Lake, 139 fish. Isanti County: North Stanchfield Lake, 29 fish; South Stanchfield Lake, 40 fish. Kanabec County: Ann Lake, 127 fish; Eleven Lake, 58 fish; Mille Lacs County: Ogechie Lake, 82 fish; Pine County: North Big Pine Lake, 77 fish; Pokegama Lake, 100 fish; Razor Lake, 20 fish.

Despite the declarations, statewide walleye regulations will remain in place on all of the above lakes (excluding Mille Lacs) except for Green and Goose in Chisago County where a 17-inch minimum size limit will remain in place, according to the DNR.

For several years running, the bands have declared their intentions to harvest fish on most of the above lakes, but only rarely have actually harvested fish from any of them.

Rick Bruesewitz, DNR Fisheries 1837 Treaty specialist, said some limited tribal harvest by Mille Lacs Band members already has begun on the big lake. A few band members had been placing nets through cracks and holes in the ice, Bruesewitz said. Harvest will accelerate rapidly as ice-out occurs.



-- Edited by fishnpole on Wednesday 15th of January 2014 05:41:15 AM

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MISMANAGEMENT



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Underlying factor of the mismanagement- unequal rights. Joe Fellegy relates this to/speaks of as a 'monster'... Over the past several years of learning I'm understanding a small fraction of what his meaning of monster, means. Unfortunately this monster grows the more a person digs, unfortunately the more I dig- the smaller I feel we are against this monster as our Federal Government is the heartbeat of this monster.

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Since the DNR in multiple articles, interviews and reports has repeatedly stated netting is not the problem.  Well, ok then.  Open up the lake to everyone for netting.  Let us get our fish the same way the tribes do.  See how long that lasts.



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Jon Jordan wrote:

Since the DNR in multiple articles, interviews and reports has repeatedly stated netting is not the problem.  Well, ok then.  Open up the lake to everyone for netting.  Let us get our fish the same way the tribes do.  See how long that lasts.


 This is what they were saying LAST year:

I think the only thing that has changed is that some money changed hands.

DNR To Bands: Mille Lacs Has Problem

State fisheries managers say that "tribal exploitation rates" of Mille Lacs male walleyes could warrant fish harvest management changes.

Changes -- perhaps big ones -- are coming to the way Mille Lacs walleyes are managed by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), overseer of the lake for eight Chippewa bands.

In a letter e-mailed Friday to GLIFWC, the DNR said a shortage of male walleyes in Mille Lacs is worrisome, and "continued harvest management under the [current management system] may not be possible."

Sport anglers fishing with hook and line don't appear to be the problem, the DNR said. But "tribal fishery exploitation rates on [male walleyes in age classes 4-6] have increased ...resulting in the overall increase in exploitation rates on males."

Mesh sizes used by Chippewa who net Mille Lacs generally target the lake's smaller, mostly male, walleyes.

The DNR told the bands it had several Mille Lacs fishery concerns, and "that the concerns all center on conservation and affect the management of fish populations in Mille Lacs."

Mention of "conservation" was intentional, because in the court order directing the DNR to manage Mille Lacs with the bands, only certain criteria -- resource conservation being primary -- are cause for one party to seek management changes absent the other.

The bands are expected to respond to the DNR's letter before the two parties meet in July. If the bands disagree with the DNR, the agency likely will seek a mediator to resolve the conflict, as directed in the court order.

Again this summer, Mille Lacs anglers have had difficulty finding walleyes less than 17 inches long -- the size they are allowed to keep, with the exception of one over 28 inches. These smaller fish are mostly males, and the DNR says their absence might pose problems for all Mille Lacs walleyes.

"We know we have elevated mortality in young walleyes, and we're trying to figure out why," DNR fisheries research and policy manager Don Pereira said Friday. "It's fair to say we're in new territory."

The DNR also told the bands all sources of northern pike mortality during their netting must be accounted for, including release mortality. The DNR's correspondence to the bands is available at startribune.com/outdoors.



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