In Put Group meeting! - Mille Lacs Lake Fishing (Fishing Reports, Events, Tournament Information and more)

Bobber · Admin / Moderator

In Put Group meeting!

wallyhntr1 · Member

Thanks for posting Bob...

Is this meeting anything like the Senators Roundtable meeting, with our DNRs feet in cement/shoveling complete BS, which allows them to continue their management of the resource for the use of Gill Nets? Of any past meetings- has any management decision been changed/put in place based on input from the input group?

ranger · Member

Is this meeting open to public? If so, where is town hall located? Weather permitting I would like to hear what being proposed. I imagine the decision for the lake has already been made and this is only a formality. I envision a dnr input meeting being about the same as me having a conversation with my grand daughter as she is looking down send/receiving text messages.

wallyhntr1 · Member

LOL Ranger! I feel the pain of your analogy, unfortunately holds true with what went on at the roundtable meeting..

fishnpole · Veteran Member

They listen to what is said by the input group. Then they say, all right, let us tell you what we're going to do....

The input group is by invitation only and run by rules that are structured for INPUT ONLY.

The DNR aren't totally ignorant of the problems with Mille Lacs and their causes. They make decisions based on pressure that can be levied against them. So far, the biggest pressure has been to allow the Indians to come in and take all the spawning walleyes they can carry away, whether counted or not, because they are worried about being in violation of this stupid "treaty" crap.

The input group was designed to pacify the lake inhabitants into thinking that they could really give a crap WHAT they have to say;

Don't hold your breath that ANYONE will stand up to them in their "invitation only" meeting.

They're hand picked dupes.

wallyhntr1 · Member

Potentially good news? They found a way to kill zeebs... Once the zeebs are out of the picture the next excuse will be global warming for what turned the lake inside out/walleye crash... Oh, by the way- don't post anything in LSF, they don't like the attention, I've been silenced by the gestapo... Below is in the strib....

"Since they arrived in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, two species of mussels the size of pistachios have spread to hundreds of lakes and rivers in 34 states and have done vast economic and ecological damage.

These silent invaders, the quagga and zebra mussels, have disrupted ecosystems by devouring phytoplankton, the foundation of the marine food web, and have clogged the water intakes and pipes of cities and towns, power plants, factories and even irrigated golf courses.

Now the mussels may have met their match: Daniel P. Molloy, an emeritus biologist at the New York State Museum in Albany, N.Y. and a self-described “Bronx boy who became fascinated by things living in water.”

Inspired by Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” in high school, Molloy, 66, became a pioneer in the development of environmentally safe control agents to replace broad-spectrum chemical pesticides.

Leading a team at the museum’s Cambridge Field Research Laboratory in upstate New York, he discovered a bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens strain CL145A, that kills the mussels but appears to have little or no effect on other organisms.

As a result, New York state has awarded a license to Marrone Bio Innovations, a company in Davis, Calif., to develop a commercial formulation of the bacterium. The product, Zequanox, has been undergoing tests for several years, with promising results. (Molloy has no financial ties to the company.)

Zequanox killed more than 90 percent of the mussels in a test using tanks of water from Lake Carlos in Minnesota, said James Luoma, a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in La Crosse, Wis. A control group of freshwater mussels was unharmed.

In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that P. fluorescens CL145A presented “little risk to nontarget organisms.” The agency is now evaluating proposed open-water uses for Zequanox.

Natives of Eastern Europe in the genus Dreissena, zebra and quagga mussels began moving up the Volga River toward Western Europe 200 years ago. Highly prolific, they attach themselves to boats or any hard surface with their byssus, or beard.

They can live out of water for two weeks, and their larvae, known as veligers, use currents to colonize new waters. As many as 700,000 mussels can pile up in a square yard.

Both species are thought to have arrived in North America in the ballast of trans-Atlantic cargo ships. By 1991 they appeared in the Hudson River, and within a year there were 500 billion between Troy and West Point, said David L. Strayer, an ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y.

The tiny mussels became a dominant species in the Hudson. Not even counting their shells, their total weight exceeded that of all the fish, plankton and bacteria combined, Strayer said. There were no natural enemies to keep them in check.

None, that is, except scientists like Molloy.

Failure, Molloy said, “is not an option.”"

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Let's see if some of these issues that Joe Fellegy has outlined are addressed.

Mille Lacs treaty-management mess: state’s ‘day of reckoning’ is here!
By Joe Fellegy – Outdoor News, Feb. 7, 2014

Just five weeks into 2014, the annual devastating Mille Lacs news cycle is cranked-up and more negatively powerful than ever before. Thank the too-costly workings of “treaty fisheries management” and official inaction to protect state and citizen interests. Expect more horrible impacts on Mille Lacs-connected businesses and people. Understandably, there’s a new level of impatience with state leaders, who show more loyalty to a flawed system than to their own citizens and to a major state natural resource, Mille Lacs.
The shocking 42,900-pound 2014 “safe allowable harvest” (quota) for Mille Lacs walleye anglers, announced by DNR last week, is the lowest-ever through 17 years of treaty management. (Historically, fisheries biologists considered 500,000-pound Mille Lacs walleye harvests normal and acceptable.) Even with fewer walleyes, a mediocre bite, and reduced angling pressure, this low cap could be reached by mid-June, by late July, or whenever. What then?

Add it all up. Fish population quandaries. DNR’s management challenges under a system where “common sense” and the “right way” often can’t apply. The only major gill-net fishery in the country targeting spawning walleyes with miles of 100-foot tribal nets strung over zebra-mussel-covered rocks. Anglers punished with “hooking mortality” assessments for releasing fish, adding to shut-down worries.(Countless fishing waters carry bag limits, size limits, tournament rules, and angler ethics promoting release. Naturally, some released muskies, northerns, bass, crappies, and walleyes die. But, except at Mille Lacs, conservation-minded anglers and fisheries managers focus on the released-fish majorities that survive.

Where in Minnesota, other than at Mille Lacs, does a fishing community face shut-down threats via “hooking mortality” assessments?) Public confidence has plummeted. Many observers worry about the futures of walleye-oriented Mille Lacs resorts and fishing-related businesses. Mille Lacs has traditionally starred as the state’s largest walleye fishery, in terms of angler use and overall walleye catch, and has hosted the state’s largest ice-fishing community. Given the new 42,900-pound walleye quota, can 2014-2015 Mille Lacs ice-fishing even happen? (Hey, kids! winter-lazy smallies won’t fill the gap! Neither will those darn walleye-eating muskies. They’re sluggish in winter, and their numbers are way down.)

Typically, the Mille Lacs news flood begins now, following the annual late-January Treaty Fisheries Technical Committee meeting where Minnesota DNR and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) review data and determine new safe-allowable-harvests. Then come announcements about angling bag limits and size restrictions; reports on the spawning-time tribal gill-net harvests of walleyes and other species; periodic updates on the nearness of both sides to their respective quotas; guesstimates on walleye hooking-mortality tonnage assessed to state anglers; possible in-season reg changes; and speculation about possible “shut-down” of the sport fishery.

This year, the flow of ominous headlines began a month early. DNR put Mille Lacs prominently on its Roundtable agenda last month. A Jan. 21 headline-generating DNR press release hyped its “new plan” for Mille Lacs. You know, that new Blue Ribbon Panel of Outside Experts, plus new state aid in promoting non-walleye Mille Lacs tourism themes. And now comes the present media blast. Tally the newspaper pages and column inches, the radio and TV airtime, plus the internet hyper-chatter. Translated into ad dollars, this barrage—forced by “treaty fisheries management”—pelts the Mille Lacs community with the equivalent of millions in negative advertising. Even hot walleye bites bring scary news about “exceeding the quota.” (Where else is good fishing a crisis?)

And so much more
•   Certain journalists and politicos have ill-served the public by suggesting that court affirmations of basic treaty-rights harvests and tribal co-management somehow AFFIRM tribal managers’ decisions to allow gill-net use, and AFFIRM all aspects of the “treaty management” system. No treaty or court ordered gill nets in Mille Lacs, or set in stone the specific approaches employed by state and tribal managers, or freed managers from the scrutiny and hard questions (smart and stupid) that policymakers should face.
•   Contrary to Minnesota DNR’s past claims, state government hands aren’t tied. Neither are their mouths taped shut. No court or treaty rendered Minnesota government impotent. And the big Mille Lacs treaty case needn’t be reopened for the state to use its legal and political clout to push for needed change. Consider the enormous costs of the Mille Lacs fiasco—the negative impacts on fish, on Mille Lacs-connected economies, on state resource managers, on a community’s social fabric, on the lake’s image, and even on citizen well-being. If state leaders remain callously indifferent then maybe endangered Mille Lacs-related businesses, and suffering others, should be exempted from state taxes.
•   State politicians and media wrongly free taxpayer-funded tribal governments and management bureaucracies, like GLIFWC, from accountability. No hard questions about their policies, priorities, funding sources, political influence, and their misguided “racism” charges against those who discuss, debate, or question their actions. Tribal-government campaign contributions to state legislators, including those on Senate and House natural resource committees? Muscular tribal lobbying efforts?
•   Mille Lacs is victimized by gone-mad public policy and intolerable impacts on business, resource management, and people. There’s near-universal agreement that the walleye gill-netting and related “treaty management” must go. Will state government move to defend state and citizen interests?

7outof10 · Member

that is some very promising news with the zebra mussels but that is probably still two to five years down the pipeline before anything can happen

my next question is what is it going to take for the states to do something about the DNR's mismanagement of the lake someone in the DNR need to stand up and say I'm sick and tired of this and not gonna take it anymore

fishnpole · Veteran Member

7outof10 wrote:
that is some very promising news with the zebra mussels but that is probably still two to five years down the pipeline before anything can happen

my next question is what is it going to take for the states to do something about the DNR's mismanagement of the lake someone in the DNR need to stand up and say I'm sick and tired of this and not gonna take it anymore

This is going to be part of the meeting to be sure. Invasives are going to be part of any solution that the DNR thinks it is going to be coming up with. They have called in some of the most prestigious big water fishery biologists in the northern hemisphere to come up with answers to what is wrong with Mille Lacs and the appearance of invasives like the zebra mussel are playing a role.

Another interactive ingredient in the fishery's gumbo mix is the predominence of predator fish. Smallmouth bass prefer clear water in colder lakes, and are found in areas with gravel or rock bottoms near moderate vegetation. They are efficient predators, and eat whatever live prey is available to them. Their diet usually consists of insects, fish, and crayfish, but they will occasionally eat smaller walleyes.Smallmouth bass are known to eat yellow perch, gizzard shad, crayfish, and even zebra mussels. Muskies and northerns are florishing and eat ALOT of walleyes. Due to the slots and nets, larger walleyes are also florishing and are known cannibals that eat their young, also.

This will no doubt be the theme of the meeting.

There will be no change to the slots.

There will be no stop to the netting.

Mille Lacs will be another Red Lake in two years.

MARK MY WORDS.

Whatever happened to the group's resolution from last year's meeting?

"Mille Lacs Fishery Input Group Resolution

We, the Mille Lacs Fishery Input Group, formally request that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources draw on Minnesota’s legal and political resources, and use its authority as primary manager of Minnesota’s natural resources (including the Mille Lacs fishery,) to respond to the massive gillnetting of Mille Lacs walleyes and pike, the only such spawning-time gill-net fishery in the United States.

‘Business as usual’ is unacceptable.

Examples of compelling reasons and serious concerns:

Major Conservation Issues
• Enormous selective gill-net harvests of male walleyes
• Discriminatory impacts on walleye subgroups that home to the same spawning areas
• Massive by-catch and kill of northern pike by walleye gill-netters

Lack of Transparency
• Minnesota DNR Fisheries managers and Enforcement personnel know little about who’s doing what, where, and when during weeks of intense spring gillnetting around Mille Lacs.
• Mille Lacs-related treaty fisheries co-management by Minnesota DNR, eight tribal DNRs, and the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) escapes public information and media scrutiny.
• Minnesota DNR leadership’s viewpoints and policy plans regarding tribal-related resource-management issues at Mille Lacs are unknown.

High Costs
• Big dollar costs to taxpayers for treaty fisheries management (state and tribal agencies) and related costs.
• Dollar costs and public-relations costs to the fishing community because of Mille Lacs’ image as a gill-netted lake, and because “Mille Lacs is always an issue.”
• Public anger and distrust because of unequal harvest rights, and because gill-netting of spawning walleyes confronts the conservation values of most citizens and resource managers.

Disproportionate Allocation of Mille Lacs Fish
• Under treaty fisheries management, the state-tribal allocations of Mille Lacs fish are weighted heavily against the state.
• Present state-tribal 50-50 splits of Mille Lacs pike and perch allocations bring fears about possible future 50-50 walleye allocations and their impacts on anglers and managers."

evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye evileye

-- Edited by fishnpole on Monday 3rd of March 2014 05:41:02 PM

7outof10 · Member

so what can i do ....i have gave to save mille laces what I can afford to do I share everything I can about mille laces on my face book and I tell ever one that will listen about the lake ..................I live in mankato so not a lot of people down here care that much......I want to do more up there i just don't know what iI can do ....I just got a camper and a lot up there

fishnpole · Veteran Member

We can keep in contact with our political representatives

http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/

and let them know how you feel about the destruction of this great fishery.

Legislative and Congressional Members

Sondra Erickson - 15A - MN House
Dave Brown - 15 - MN Senate
Rick Nolan - 8 - U.S. House
Amy Klobuchar - U.S. Senate
Al Franken - U.S. Senate

Here is a copy of the e-mail I sent the Governor:

As a launch captain on Mille Lacs, I have seen many years of walleye fishing on this great lake here in Minnesota. This fishing has been the backbone of the tourist industry for the area. Our walleye population has always been a renewable resource, because we have always allowed the walleye to reproduce in great enough numbers to replentish the resource. Since gillnetting during the spawning season has been allowed, the walleye population has dwindled and is now at an all-time low. Tourism to the area has dropped. Myself and everyone in the area that depend on tourism dollars need your support to create a moratorium of the spring gill-netting to allow the walleye to once again reproduce unmolested to be able to replentish themselves. Please help.

-- Edited by fishnpole on Tuesday 4th of March 2014 09:48:24 AM

MCallies · Malmo Bay Bomber

In support of this effort, I have today sent the following letter, properly worded and addressed to:

- Governor Mark Dayton;

- Senator Brown; and

- Representative Sondra Ericson.

Today's letters:

Dear Honorable Governor Dayton,

Good Day to you!

I am writing about an urgent issue in our beautiful State of Minnesota. Please help us save Mille Lacs Lake!

As Mille Lacs Lake lakeshore property owners since 1954, I have seen many years of walleye fishing on this great lake here in Minnesota. This fishing has been the backbone of the tourist industry for the area and made the lake very famous.

The lake's walleye population has always been a renewable resource, because we have always allowed the walleye to reproduce in great enough numbers to replenish the resource. Tragically, since gillnetting during the spawning season has been allowed, the walleye population has dwindled and is now at an all-time low.

Tourism to the area has dropped and is uncertain. For me, my siblings and parents, and everyone in the area -- these tourism dollars are critical to the economy and well being of the community.

We need your support to create a moratorium of the spring gill-netting to allow the walleye to once again reproduce unmolested to be able to replenish themselves. Please help the Mille Lacs Lake community to prevent a true biological and economic disaster.

A true netting moratorium is needed to allow our Lake to heal -- a magnificent resource.

Please support us and take the immediate action that your office provides.

MM

Malmo Bay, Mille Lacs Lake

Isle, MN

-- Edited by MCallies on Tuesday 4th of March 2014 01:40:07 PM

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Bobber wrote:
The annual meeting is scheduled for March 6th at 6pm at the Hazelton Town Hall north of Garrison,Mn
This meeting is an annual meeting with the Minn.DNR

We'll find out tonight what they say they're going to do. (which usually some how changes after the yearly meeting with GLIFWC which happens after the meeting tonight.)

Dan K · Member

Just wondering how the meeting went ? Is there light at the end of the tunnel or was nothing resolved.

wallyhntr1 · Member

From the early grapevine- I hear there was no talk about Gill Nets, along with the same ol smoke n mirror BS from our Aitkin wingnuts, seems they blame water clarity... Too bad these wingnuts have the security of big brother behind them, of whom uses our money at empowering Native America...

fishnpole · Veteran Member

fishnpole wrote:
7outof10 wrote:
that is some very promising news with the zebra mussels but that is probably still two to five years down the pipeline before anything can happen

my next question is what is it going to take for the states to do something about the DNR's mismanagement of the lake someone in the DNR need to stand up and say I'm sick and tired of this and not gonna take it anymore
This is going to be part of the meeting to be sure. Invasives are going to be part of any solution that the DNR thinks it is going to be coming up with. They have called in some of the most prestigious big water fishery biologists in the northern hemisphere to come up with answers to what is wrong with Mille Lacs and the appearance of invasives like the zebra mussel are playing a role.
Another interactive ingredient in the fishery's gumbo mix is the predominence of predator fish. Smallmouth bass prefer clear water in colder lakes, and are found in areas with gravel or rock bottoms near moderate vegetation. They are efficient predators, and eat whatever live prey is available to them. Their diet usually consists of insects, fish, and crayfish, but they will occasionally eat smaller walleyes.Smallmouth bass are known to eat yellow perch, gizzard shad, crayfish, and even zebra mussels. Muskies and northerns are florishing and eat ALOT of walleyes. Due to the slots and nets, larger walleyes are also florishing and are known cannibals that eat their young, also.
This will no doubt be the theme of the meeting.
There will be no change to the slots.
There will be no stop to the netting.

Mille Lacs will be another Red Lake in two years.
MARK MY WORDS.
Whatever happened to the group's resolution from last year's meeting?
"Mille Lacs Fishery Input Group Resolution
We, the Mille Lacs Fishery Input Group, formally request that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources draw on Minnesota’s legal and political resources, and use its authority as primary manager of Minnesota’s natural resources (including the Mille Lacs fishery,) to respond to the massive gillnetting of Mille Lacs walleyes and pike, the only such spawning-time gill-net fishery in the United States.
‘Business as usual’ is unacceptable.
Examples of compelling reasons and serious concerns:
Major Conservation Issues
• Enormous selective gill-net harvests of male walleyes
• Discriminatory impacts on walleye subgroups that home to the same spawning areas
• Massive by-catch and kill of northern pike by walleye gill-netters
Lack of Transparency
• Minnesota DNR Fisheries managers and Enforcement personnel know little about who’s doing what, where, and when during weeks of intense spring gillnetting around Mille Lacs.
• Mille Lacs-related treaty fisheries co-management by Minnesota DNR, eight tribal DNRs, and the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) escapes public information and media scrutiny.
• Minnesota DNR leadership’s viewpoints and policy plans regarding tribal-related resource-management issues at Mille Lacs are unknown.
High Costs
• Big dollar costs to taxpayers for treaty fisheries management (state and tribal agencies) and related costs.
• Dollar costs and public-relations costs to the fishing community because of Mille Lacs’ image as a gill-netted lake, and because “Mille Lacs is always an issue.”
• Public anger and distrust because of unequal harvest rights, and because gill-netting of spawning walleyes confronts the conservation values of most citizens and resource managers.
Disproportionate Allocation of Mille Lacs Fish
• Under treaty fisheries management, the state-tribal allocations of Mille Lacs fish are weighted heavily against the state.
• Present state-tribal 50-50 splits of Mille Lacs pike and perch allocations bring fears about possible future 50-50 walleye allocations and their impacts on anglers and managers."

Did I call it or what?

-- Edited by fishnpole on Monday 3rd of March 2014 05:41:02 PM

fishnpole · Veteran Member

This is from Bobber:

I attended the Mille Lacs input group meeting with our Minnesota DNR last evening at the Hazelton Town Hall Garrison,mn. I will list a few of the notes I gathered over the 3 hour meeting. The meeting was facilitated last night to control the questions and flow of the meeting. The DNR talked about the water clarity changes the lake has experienced which has changed from 7-8 feet to 14-18+feet currently, and also the lack of zooplankton which feeds the young fish. The winters catch was 1/20 of what is was last season. 500 lbs of walleye were taken this ice season. Proposals of new slot limits were discussed for Northern Pike and Smallmouth bass. The walleye slot was also talked about and looks to possibly be 18-20 with a 2 fish limit again. Once our poundage has been reached we will see catch and release. Tim Ajax a guide on the lake made a spirited presentation to the DNR and the group. His message was simple......get off your ass and do something that is needed to correct this sinking boat. Start looking out for the resource that this lake has offered to all of us. Get the nets out of the lake during the spawn and let the lake get back to producing spawning walleyes once again. Oddly......95 percent attending the meeting knew what the problem has been, the other 5 percent in front of the room spent the night skirting answers, avoiding the real issues and looking very uncomfortable. Many questions and comments were left unanswered from my view point. Looking forward to what spin the media will put on the meeting

Posted on: Today 6:45:21

_________________
Bob "Bobber" Carlson
Red Door Resort Staff
www.thereddoorresort.com
866-444-2453

You can tell how big a person is, by what it takes to discourage them! "Hooks"

MCallies · Malmo Bay Bomber

Thanks for this in person report, Bobber.

It is a tragic 'State of the Lake' report regarding the meeting, but your insight and factual information are most important to all of us in the Mille Lacs Lake and fishing community.

It remains baffling to me and tragic to all that the DNR officials of the area will not even speak honestly and candidly to the citizens... about the heart of the issue, gill netting during spawn season.

One must conclude that they are under a tight order of silence.

Thanks again Bob,

Mike of Malmo Bay

T

fishnpole · Veteran Member

The Fon du Lacs are going elsewhere this year!

Look out NE MN!

Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa plans to spear walleyes in northeastern Minnesota treaty area

Article by: STEVE KARNOWSKI , Associated Press
Updated: March 7, 2014 - 2:15 PM

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa plans to exercise its rights under an 1854 treaty to spear walleyes on several northeastern Minnesota lakes this spring.

The tribe announced the plan on its website this week. Secretary-Treasurer Ferdinand Martineau Jr. said Friday that the tribe is working with the state to determine which lakes to fish and set harvest quotas. He said tribe members will stick to smaller lakes in the treaty area, which covers most of northeastern Minnesota. He said they won't spearfish on popular larger lakes such as Vermilion and Saganaga.

Around 70 to 80 members have expressed interest in spearing this spring, Martineau said. One reason is the sharply lower quota this year on Lake Mille Lacs, where Fond du Lac members have speared and netted in past years under an 1837 treaty. But he said another reason is that the 1854 treaty area is closer to home for the tribe, which is based in Cloquet.

"They obviously have their rights, and we don't have the authority to stop it," said Don Pereira, fisheries chief for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. He said his staff is just beginning a dialogue with the tribe on its plans and will try to resolve any concerns once they see the proposed harvest levels.

There were angry confrontations when Wisconsin Chippewa bands asserted their spearing rights in the late 1980s. But spearing and netting on Mille Lacs resumed peacefully after the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999 upheld the rights of eight bands in the 1837 treaty area, which covers parts of east-central Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin.

Martineau said he's not sure how much opposition his band's decision to start spearing in northeastern Minnesota will generate.

"I expect that some people will be upset," Martineau said. "But we expected that when we went into the 1837 area and started spearing and netting down there. It was nowhere near as bad as people expected. I'm hoping cooler heads will prevail and state anglers will understand this is a right that we have."

The Fond du Lac, Grand Portage and Bois Forte bands ceded their lands to the United States under the 1854 treaty. A federal court ruled in 1996 that the tribes' harvest rights remained in force in the ceded area, but the Grand Portage and Bois Forte bands agreed not to spear there under a 1988 deal with the state.

The Fond du Lac Band's plan is to spearfish on no more than two lakes per night, Martineau said, and if members reach the 90 percent of a lake's harvest quota, they won't spear on it again the following year. He said tribal biologists have collected extensive data on walleye populations in the lakes where members might fish, and the tribe plans to take a conservative approach to avoid depleting them.

"We want to kind of start small and then as we go along we'll figure out where the best lakes are to spear. Spearing is not that easy if the lakes are dirty, if the water is not clear," he said.

Pereira cautioned against projecting what might happen in northeastern Minnesota lakes based on what has happened on Mille Lacs, where the walleye population has been declining for several years. While some critics have blamed tribal spearing and netting, the DNR says the main problem there is poor survival among young walleyes for reasons that aren't well understood. Pereira said Mille Lacs is a complex fishery that began underdoing ecological changes even before tribal fishing resumed.

"It's not a productive comparison to make," he said.

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Citizens offer Mille Lacs walleye suggestions to DNR

Article by: BILL MARCHEL , Special to the Star Tribune
Updated: March 8, 2014 - 6:49 PM

The agency is considering options for when the fishing season begins.

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GARRISON, MINN. – A standing-room crowd greeted Department of Natural Resources fisheries managers near here Thursday, when the agency met with the Mille Lacs Fishery Input Advisory Group and interested citizens to propose angler harvest regulations for the big lake beginning in May.

Previously, the DNR announced the 2014 Mille Lacs walleye harvest quota will be 60,000 pounds — a fraction of the 2013 quota, which was 250,000 pounds. Of the 60,000, 17,100 pounds will be allocated to eight Chippewa bands, while the remaining 42,900 pounds will be reserved for state-regulated anglers.

The dramatically lower Mille Lacs quota follows studies showing the lake’s walleye population is hovering near all-time lows, and that young fish, particularly males, are underrepresented in the population.

For whatever reason, DNR officials said, young walleyes in Mille Lacs are not surviving in sustainable numbers in recent years. The last year class of walleyes in the lake that survived to maturity occurred in 2008.

“We did have a good 2013 year class of walleyes,” Aitkin area fisheries supervisor Rick Bruesewitz said. “They are important to us and we will follow them closely.”

Tom Jones, DNR regional fisheries treaty coordinator, presented various harvest options to the group. Only the 25 members of the advisory group were allowed to vote on which options they preferred — a vote DNR representatives promised to consider but won’t be bound by.

Some of the options were intended to ensure the walleye angling quota isn’t exceeded. Others, including those that encouraged higher harvests of northern pike and smallmouth bass, could possibly help the lake’s walleyes, the officials said.

Options included banning night fishing, using circle hooks to reduce catch-and-release mortality, ban leeches and nightcrawlers as bait, and reducing the walleye limit to one fish between 18-20 inches.

Last year, the Mille Lacs walleye limit was two fish between 18 and 20 inches, with one over 28 inches, a possibility for the coming year as well, officials said.

Various options to encourage higher harvests of smallmouth bass, which are exploding in the lake, also were presented. Gaining the most favor was one that would allow six smallies of any size to be kept.

Interestingly, the idea of renewing northern pike spearing in Mille Lacs received an 84 percent “yes” vote.

Reducing pike numbers in the lake is seen as a possible fix to the large number of big predators that might be feasting on small walleyes. Large walleyes are also plentiful in Mille Lacs, the result of protecting those fish — generally described as walleyes greater than 20 inches — over many years.

The lake’s increasing water clarity is one possible reason Mille Lacs walleyes are struggling, said DNR fisheries researcher Missy Drake.

Water clarity in Mille Lacs can be blamed on a number of factors. Invasive zebra mussels, which according to Drake exploded in growth beginning in 2011, filter and cleanse the water.

“Mille Lacs has seen a dramatic change in water clarity,” Drake said. “Optimal water clarity is about 8 feet. The water clarity in Mille Lacs is now about 15 feet. As water clarity increases, walleye survival decreases.”

Drake also noted that pike are sight feeders, and water clarity aids them in ambushing prey.

“We need to promote keeping pike,” Bruesewitz said. “And we need your help.”

Another invasive species, spiny water fleas, first found in Mille Lacs in 2009, could be causing a decrease in zooplankton, which young walleyes feed on.

DNR fisheries managers said tribal netting has not affected Mille Lacs walleyes. But the netting issue dominated a follow-up question-and-answer period.

At times, voices were raised as the issue grew heated.

“We need the DNR to step up for us,” said one attendee. “The local economy is really suffering.” Cheers followed.

“Federal court says we can’t fight tribal netting based on economics, only on conservation,” DNR fisheries chief Don Pereira said. “Dialog has started between the DNR and the tribe.”

Pereira noted the DNR is hiring a panel of national experts to evaluate the lake. The group, Pereira said, is part of five-point action plan that will address, among other issues, northern pike and smallmouth bass regulations, protection of young walleyes, a predator diet study and tourism promotion.

rjhumpy · Member

Naa

How can you think setting up nets in the spring, during a spawn of a species could possible affect that species

When all the males of that species are targeted

I can see how they think that tribal netting had NOT AFECTED the decline of Mille Lacs

Come on

I Hope this is not the new panel "o experts" that came up with this

NOT AFECTED, that is a strong statement - I would like to see there way of Proving that

7outof10 · Member

rjhumpy wrote:
Naa
How can you think setting up nets in the spring, during a spawn of a species could possible affect that species
When all the males of that species are targeted
I can see how they think that tribal netting had NOT AFECTED the decline of Mille Lacs
Come on
I Hope this is not the new panel "o experts" that came up with this
NOT AFECTED, that is a strong statement - I would like to see there way of Proving that

so what your are trying to say is that there are no females killed in the net ? Sorry to tell you but there are plenty of you tube viedows that show large females that have yet to spawn. And for every female you take out of the lake is up to 40,000 eggs that are removed from the lake now think about that ..............this is the only place in the us that netting spawning walleyes is allowedto take place just think if they only took one...........lets do some easy math lets just say they got 200 females in the nets but i think that is way low but lets just pretend that ia true that would be 8,000,000 potential walleyes

rjhumpy · Member

I hear you 7outof10

It is sad, and I have watched the vids

I was just touching on the juvenile male problem that the experts can not figure out - And that the nets size targets juvenile males, and yes will capture female fish as well

Don't overload them with issues like that, they might need to bring in a few more experts (at all of you lake property owners expense, and Minnesota tax payers) to figure that out

It is sad, and very obvious to all, but unfortunately, they will not admit it - Lets not start any arguments, or hurt peoples feelings that are dwindling a resource - We will take care of it with slots limits and closed seasons, but don't get them nets out of the water

Maybe when they empty out the areas described in Fishnpoles message below, they will get the hint something should be done - Like the past at Red Lake, funny how red started out the same way with issues

Spawn netting, should be done, and gone - Correct the only place in the US - Disappointing to say the least

Hey here is a little fun fact:

Didn't you know, if you read the band of Ojibwa web site, in the history and traditions section (or something like that) they will walk to the water with the females to squeeze the eggs out into the water - Well back then anyways - that's Most likely not the case now, when most can not clean up the messes they make from cleaning them after taking them out of the nets - I have it copied on an earlier post for the save Millie Lacs section

Ice Man · Member

why would it be so hard to just give the tribe money and fish. that seems to be what it is about anyway. Dont they sell the fish they net? I know they say they dont but is that reality. Then lets see if the lake comes back. My bet is it does.

wallyhntr1 · Member

Ice Man wrote:
why would it be so hard to just give the tribe money and fish. that seems to be what it is about anyway. Dont they sell the fish they net? I know they say they dont but is that reality. Then lets see if the lake comes back. My bet is it does.

This very thing was brought up in senator junbauers/Aitkin DNR/GLIFWC roundtable meeting a few years ago, believe it was Steve Fellegy who ran it past Jim Zorn of GLIFWC... In a smirky, bright rosey red face I remember Zorn saying something like they do it because they can & netting during the spawn is like going to the grocery store to stock up... Been a few years since that meeting, our Aitkin wingnuts/Zorns BS words are a bit foggy... Believe this meeting was filmed, not sure who has the tape..

fishnpole · Veteran Member

They've been offered compensation to quit since day 1. They know they're ruining the economy around the lake by continuing to kill the spawn and destroy the walleye population. It's all part of their plan to take over the lake and drive the white man out.

Mic Isham of the LCO band says it right in the video. He wants federal funding to drive the white man from the shores of Mille Lacs...............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4EWzfpPQN4

wallyhntr1 · Member

That same smirk Isham had is the same as Zorns... How much more racist can Isham be, unless his definition of invasives are humans in general, of which he would be admiting Natives being the 1st invasives... Shitty deal is- more than any other race, they are getting federal funding, along with the casino monopoly, in time the "invasives" according to this racist POS, will be removed...

Moonski · Member

Its really disturbing to look at all the webcams today and not see any activity on the lake.

wallyhntr1 · Member

There soon will be activity- a handful of panfishers, then an onslaught of Gill Nets... Hows this for the latest- coming to a lake near you?

Wisconsin DNR preps for spearfishing rules
The Associated Press
Posted: 03/12/2014 11:45:44 AM CDT | Updated: 52 min. ago

MADISON, Wis.—Wisconsin wildlife officials are bracing for this year's Chippewa spearfishing goals, taking steps that would allow them greater flexibility to compensate.
Each spring the tribes declare how many walleye they will allow its anglers to harvest. The Department of Natural Resources then reduces bag limits for non-tribal angers to compensate and conserve walleye populations.

The DNR's board is set to consider giving the agency the go-ahead next week to draft rules that would allow the agency to do more than reduce bag limits if needed.

DNR officials don't know if they'll have to draft such rules or what they would say, although the regulations could including adjusting size limits and season length for non-tribal anglers.

The Chippewa are expected to release their 2014 goals to the DNR on Saturday.

fishnpole · Veteran Member

Ya know, this wouldn't even be an issue if indians knew how to fish hook and line, which is good enough to be traditional for all the rest of us.

wallyhntr1 · Member

Feel really bad for the young kids growing up with the love/passion for fishing as I did...

With the way things have turned in just the past decade, with the growing dysfunctional ways of our DNR/Government- it wouldnt surprise me to see nonnatives only be able to fish every other thursday between 10am & 2pm for a fish having such a tight restriction that it may be years of thurdays before ya catch one in that slot... ALL TO ALLOW GILL NETS...

fishnpole · Veteran Member

I was at a City Hall Meeting with Sen. Dave Brown this afternoon. Rep. Sondra Erickson and Sen. Brown are both trying to pass a bill for a little relief for the lake. They did the same thing up on Red Lake when it crashed.

Senator Brown told me that he is having to turn to the Ojibwe to get the attention of Governor Dayton. The Ojibwe, he said were happy to help, with no strings attached and speak DFL.

We can't fight back with taxpayer financed lobbying like THOSE guys got.

http://data.influenceexplorer.com/contributions/#b3JnYW5pemF0aW9uX2Z0PU1pbGxlJTIwTGFjcyUyMEJhbmQlMjBvZiUyME9qaWJ3ZSZnZW5lcmFsX3RyYW5zYWN0aW9uX3R5cGU9c3RhbmRhcmQ=

http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/mille-lacs-band-of-ojibwe/59e6439aeec442b1b60501c9212c3275