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

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 !!

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.

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.

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. 

 

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

 

 

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.

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

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.

ranger wrote:

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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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 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

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.