<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Seth F wrote:</div>
It’s a small mouth lake, so there’s that…Agree 100%. It also has fantastic Muskie fishing. I’ve said this before but some people are meat hunters and they have no interest in targeting a fish for the sport of it.
Most walleye anglers are out after a nice walleye dinner,myself include.
Help me understand how all of a sudden launches are a problem. They’ve been part of the picture for close to (maybe more than?) an century.
If anything, they’ve become far less significant compared to the pressure by boat anglers.
Edit. After a little fact checking I discovered launches have been part of the picture for over 70 years.
Help me understand how all of a sudden launches are a problem. They’ve been part of the picture for close to (maybe more than?) an century.
If anything, they’ve become far less significant compared to the pressure by boat anglers.
Edit. After a little fact checking I discovered launches have been part of the picture for over 70 years.
How many of those lauches could hold 20-30-40 people?
And how does a boat captain with one deck hand,handle that many people at one time? It’s to many people fishing for two people to handle.
Hence my original post on (ban or limit) the size of launches to a manageable number of people on a launch.
And FWIW there are Sucessful resorts on the lake who do not have launches and still operate without that income.
So I do not buy that the resorts that run launch would go broke without them.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>
Help me understand how all of a sudden launches are a problem. They’ve been part of the picture for close to (maybe more than?) an century.If anything, they’ve become far less significant compared to the pressure by boat anglers.
Edit. After a little fact checking I discovered launches have been part of the picture for over 70 years.
How many of those lauches could hold 20-30-40 people?
And how does a boat captain with one deck hand,handle that many people at one time? It’s to many people fishing for two people to handle.
Hence my original post on (ban or limit) the size of launches to a manageable number of people on a launch.And FWIW there are Sucessful resorts on the lake who do not have launches and still operate without that income.
So I do not buy that the resorts that run launch would go broke without them.
Launches have nothing to do with the crash. What’s the difference between a launch and ten boats? You think because people go on a launch that they don’t know how to handle fish??? How about the thousands of anglers with their own boats that don’t know how to handle fish?
Your logic doesn’t make sense to me. overharvest wasn’t the problem. Forage was. Which actually indicates that we should have been harvesting more larger fish.
How many of those lauches could hold 20-30-40 people?
I don’t know. Most of them maybe?
http://www.lakesnwoods.com/images/Garris90.jpg
https://business.millelacs.com/list/member/historical-launch-service-255
Most of the launch boats used today are 40+ years old and have only seen the waters of Mille Lacs.
And FWIW there are Sucessful resorts on the lake who do not have launches and still operate without that income.
So I do not buy that the resorts that run launch would go broke without them.
I must’ve missed it but I never saw someone suggest the resorts would fold without launches.
The only argument I saw was the fact that launches provide a wonderful opportunity for people without boats, or fishing gear for that matter, to enjoy a phenomenal resource unlike anywhere within 2 hours of the twin cities.
The DNR probably kills more fish than the launches.
I worked as an intern for the DNR in the summer of 2004 on public launches tagging walleyes. I can tell you that some launches definitely contribute to the hooking mortality problem simply because there is usually only one captain trying to help up to 25 people at one time. When the fishing was good, I’m sure a lot of those fish died. I tried to help as best I could when a lot of fish were being caught. But the simple fact that you could have 25 lines in the water using live bait in July or August will definitely result in high mortality. Most anglers on board were novices too – but that’s the crowd the launches often cater to. Some launches were better than others. It was really mostly based on the time of year and the captain. Did the launches cause the “crash” a few years ago? Absolutely not. But they definitely contribute to the hooking mortality in the summer. Arguably more than any other crowd out there. That’s just from what I saw out there.
I worked as an intern for the DNR in the summer of 2004 on public launches tagging walleyes. I can tell you that some launches definitely contribute to the hooking mortality problem simply because there is usually only one captain trying to help up to 25 people at one time. When the fishing was good, I’m sure a lot of those fish died.
Well said 
I have seen it myself, and I am not saying all launch operations are operated the same way. I have been on many, and others are far more conservation minded than others.
Going forward with new regulations that issue should be addressed.
Launches have nothing to do with the crash. What’s the difference between a launch and ten boats? You think because people go on a launch that they don’t know how to handle fish??? How about the thousands of anglers with their own boats that don’t know how to handle fish?
I never said launches were the cause of the crash,those are Your words!
I said A Captain and a Deck hand can not handle 20-30 40 individuals on a boat, and that situation kills as many walleyes as a gill net.
The rest of your off-base claims are all your misinterpretations.
Funny, been fishing the lake for darn near 30 years now. First time I have heard this complaint about launches. Go figure. Easy fix. Let people keep the fish they catch until they hit their limit. Wow, what a concept….
In other words, the launches are not the problem, the regs are.
-J.
I worked as an intern for the DNR in the summer of 2004 on public launches tagging walleyes. I can tell you that some launches definitely contribute to the hooking mortality problem simply because there is usually only one captain trying to help up to 25 people at one time. When the fishing was good, I’m sure a lot of those fish died. I tried to help as best I could when a lot of fish were being caught. But the simple fact that you could have 25 lines in the water using live bait in July or August will definitely result in high mortality.
I’m trying to figure out what you are actually saying?
If memory serves me…what I still have, was that there was a 4 walleye limit with a slot of 22-26″ which you could NOT keep. So everyone was allowed to keep 4 fish up to 22″ with only one of the 4 allowed over 28″.
So my question is how much hooking mortality did you actually witness in 2004? It would seem to me that most all the mortality would have been fish going in the livewell. Even the best of fishing days it was rare for everyone to catch their limit.
But maybe they did and I’m wrong. 
Regardless, times have changed greatly since 2004 and there is obviously a far greater likelihood of hooking mortality since most everything needs to go back.
So what! The safe allowable harvest has been set and that includes hooking mortality. If we were allowed to keep them all they’d still die due to “frying pan” mortality. Mortality is the fish dying regardless of floating or being in a sandwich.
Whether it’s anglers in their own boats, launch boat operations, or the “little people” on the launch boats…those were the cards we’ve been dealt and we all gotta play that game. Or you can choose to fold your hand and not even fish the lake.
I’m getting kind of sick of some of these people on their high horse judging other’s for not being as good as these Knights riding their white horses that they’re somehow better in their angling ethics and/or have more entitlement to the resource.
Can anyone guarantee or certify regardless of what boat they’re in that every fish they released survived? These “elites” act as if they’ve never killed a fish. 
Someone made a comment that the launches caused a crash in population. I simply chimed in with what I saw when I was out there. I honestly don’t remember what the slot was back then either. I don’t disagree with what your saying Andy.
“I’m getting kind of sick of some of these people on their high horse judging other’s for not being as good as these Knights riding their white horses that they’re somehow better in their angling ethics and/or have more entitlement to the resource.
Can anyone guarantee or certify regardless of what boat they’re in that every fish they released survived? These “elites” act as if they’ve never killed a fish.”
Well said Andy!
It’s been a while but I can say for certain that none of the launches I’ve ever been on were responsible for much walleye mortality.
A lot of the people I’ve seen on the launches aren’t any different than everyday people fishing otherwise. Most of the times I did it we were with a larger group that wanted a fun afternoon on the water together with a chance to catch a few fish. The fact that you have a group of people in one small area with limited “supervision” has nothing to do with increased mortality or a lake crash. On any given launch there might be a couple of small groups that need help on occasion. 2 guys are plenty for that. Are they busy? Sure but that doesn’t mean there are 20 or 30 other neglected people standing around with walleyes hanging out of the water bouncing off the side of the boat. I’ve never been on a launch and came home with a memory of “wow, I can’t believe how many fish came over the rail”. In fact, I don’t view the launches as a very productive way of putting fish on the hook at all, which is why it’s been quite some time since I’ve done it. At least I have used my several experiences to speak to the matter.
Ban Launches
Or limit the # of people who can fish from one boat.
It started with this post then others incorrectly jumped in to support it.
With a little bit of thought of what happened to ML, young of year walleye where not surviving to year two, it is pretty easy to see that launches or fishermen were not the problem, are not the problem, won’t be the problem of killing 4-7″ walleyes.
Back to the top 
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
