4 days since the last Mille Lacs post

I never thought I would see the day.

….I hear there is a bass tourney starting tomorrow.

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

….I hear there is a bass tourney starting tomorrow.

-J.

I can’t believe the total lack of info and coverage about the Bassmasters AOY event. Many on this forum admitted how sucked in they were with watching the live video feeds online and following the basstrack leaderboard. Lots of people had strong doubts on the size of crowd that it would bring last year, and I think they were pleasantly surprised. There was quite a bit of coverage about it when it was announced that they were coming back, and lots of coverage about Bassmaster naming it the top bass lake in the country. But since then and leading up to the event, there has been basically no coverage whatsoever. I really don’t understand why, especially with today’s forums and social media.

I was excited but have lost interest. I’ll be up Friday morning through the weekend then plan to bring the boat home for the rest of the season. This will be my last weekend fishing Mille Lacs.

It’ to political for a public forum.

Kyhl wrote:

I was excited but have lost interest.

I guess that goes for me too. My original plan was to be up there this weekend to take in some of the events but it didn’t work out.

blank wrote:

I can’t believe the total lack of info and coverage about the Bassmasters AOY event.
..and leading up to the event, there has been basically no coverage whatsoever. I really don’t understand why, especially with today’s forums and social media.

I don’t understand either. I have seen little if anything posted on FB from any of the area businesses, restaurants/bars that might take advantage and promote specials or anything related. Most are still promoting meat raffles and Viking game day specials.
Meanwhile, there was a big feature article on the back of last Sundays sports page about Seth Feider and the upcoming tournament on Mille Lacs. In case anyone missed it…
http://www.startribune.com/seith-feider-returns-to-defend-bassmaster-angler-of-the-year-tournament-title-on-mille-lacs/443475443/

It’s hunting season

I will bring it up..

Feider has been fishing a lot more then people realize, I know a UPS driver that delivers to him and during the season there has been multiple different boats on his property. Reason being is so people don’t notice him on the water as much up on the lake. Should be a good time.

I am amazed at how much resistance the resorts and bars are towards Bass to people. Why all the hate?

I was planning on going but work and a wedding down by Iowa have me tied up.

no kidding.
me and two buddies spent a week up there in June and dropped a couple of grand easily. us bass guys spend money!

I was up last weekend and dropped a couple hundo as usual.. like most weekends. Hunters harbor was empty and not a boat in sight. (that’s a guy bass fishing on the dock, no offense Steve O, but you cannot replace what once was there)

Charles wrote:

I am amazed at how much resistance the resorts and bars are towards <em class=”ido-tag-em”>Bass to people. Why all the hate?

Maybe because bass guys generally don’t bring a pile of people to jump onto one of their launch boats? Maybe cuz bass people are catch and release and that cramps their style?

Charles & Stevo… The most simple reason that bass fishing hasn’t been embraced by many of the businesses around the lake is that there is no winter season for bass fishing and they absolutely need to have a source of income all year long.

Also, many of the smaller ones do not have the resources, financial or infrastructural, to adapt to a new business model that doesn’t include historical sources of income that come with walleye fishing such as income from launch trips and live bait sales. The ones that are built around or have the ability to generate much of their income from seasonal sites or weekly cabin rentals are much more willing to embrace change.

Will

Well said Will. Nobody would turn away Bass fishermen money, it is vital and always has been. People have been bass fishing Mille Lacs for years… but it is no replacement for what the Walleye has done for the area for centuries… until the Co-Management took over.

Meanwhile, there was a big feature article on the back of last Sundays sports page about Seth Feider and the upcoming tournament on Mille Lacs. In case anyone missed it…
http://www.startribune.com/seith-feider-returns-to-defend-bassmaster-angler-of-the-year-tournament-title-on-mille-lacs/443475443/

[/quote]
Mille Lacs is hosed and in trying to create some excitement even the paper can’t get it right. Seth Feider was not the BASS Angler of the Year in 2016, he only won the Mille Lacs Tournament. He placed 15th in the AOY awards with Brandon Palaniuk taking the honors.https://www.bassmaster.com/aoy/standings/91

Seems like they can’t get nothing right with that lake!

Actually Gerald Swindle was AOY 2016.. Feider was 47th. The tourney is billed “The AOY Tourney” the top 50 anglers are invited.

It is just not an intriguing event to a lot of anglers. 99.9% of anglers will never have the equipment, boats, tackle, etc. that these anglers have at their discretion. I primarily fish rivers for walleye, sauger, and panfish but also enjoy catching bass when I come across schools of them. However, watching some guy in a jersey fire baits at fish from his flashy sponsor-owned boat is not something that catches my eye.

There is still a ton of animosity towards anything that isn’t “walleye” in the Mille Lacs area. Culture takes decades to change.

When you look at the Science behind things it leads towards Mille Lacs becoming a world-class bass lake with their ability to handle rising water temps, their ability to coexist with invasive species present, and the ever rising percentage of the lake’s carrying capacity filled by species of bass. There will always be walleyes in Mille Lacs throughout my lifetime (but rarely in sustainable populations). Until people let go of the past, the local economy will tank.

This could be reversed with limits and season changes…. in 2 years walleye anglers could have the bass numbers back down. (this is exactly what was done to get the walleye numbers down)

I for one will be there this weekend watching and fishing. From what I read on the Bassmasters site Seth is currently 15rh in AOY points this year(2017). Last year he barely made it into the tournament. So it would appear that the win last year launched him into the top echelon of bass anglers. It would really be nice if he could win the tournament again this year.

Good Point Will.

Back page of today’s Strib sports section has the article…Lake Mille Lacs Bassmaster tournament will work with DNR to limit fish kills

I found this part of the article;
“Brad Parsons said walleyes caught and released by the contestants will be factored into the DNR’s hooking mortality methodology. In cool weather, hooking mortality is lowest. Any mortality will count against Minnesota’s 2017 walleye quota, not against the tribal quota.” Brad Parsons is Central Region fisheries manager for the Department of Natural Resources.

Personally I wouldn’t worry so much about this but I could imagine some of the launch operations, bait shops, and other walleye angling interests and perhaps mostly the ice fishing operations being irked by this. The state is already into the “overage” allowance and wouldn’t be surprised if most of that is now counted. Add this reminder to the Mille Lacs “walleye interests” and it is no wonder they are not rolling out red carpets.

its kind of like golf. I like playing I’m not going to spend too much time watching someone play on tv or the internet.

I found this part of the article;
“Brad Parsons said walleyes caught and released by the contestants will be factored into the DNR’s hooking mortality methodology. In cool weather, hooking mortality is lowest. Any mortality will count against Minnesota’s 2017 walleye quota, not against the tribal quota.” Brad Parsons is Central Region fisheries manager for the Department of Natural Resources.

So the DNR hops in bed with the band to allow and encourage this Bass tournament to help promote Mille Lacs tourism and hence the economy. However in the joint spirit of helping the area the band wouldn’t make any concession towards the mortality rate or calculations? Am I reading that right? Seems to me the DNR and the band are sharing a single size bed and not a king size bed. Cozy, very cozy indeed.

I’ll have it on at work. If I were up there, I would be fishing and not watching others fish. I’m excited for Seth Feider who seems like a good dude, and not for nothing but when he took Gov Goofy out on Mille Lacs they caught more eye’s than smallies. And I anticipate hearing a lot about how many walleyes all the anglers catch again this year….

I think the Bass tournament is a great thing for Mille Lacs and MN in general and I will definitely be following along online. It is a very cool format and I really wish that the walleye tour had a similar on-line presence.

I am also very curious to see if they will go muskie fishing with Gene Miller again this year during their live online broadcast. Last year they caught a 52″ while going live. I thought it was pretty entertaining, but Gene is a very polarizing fisherman with the die-hard muskie guys against his style of catching and unhooking fish and I’m sure they heard about it.

will

It’s easy to be a backseat driver, but it is bizarre to me that the resorts wouldn’t promote the heck out of the bass tournament. How could it hurt?

Add to all these problems the agreement that the DNR made with the tribes for the next three seasons and I just feel like throwing in the towel, at least for the rest of this season, if not longer.

Until then, there was always hope that next year will be better. Now we know it won’t.

And I don’t care what the bass fishing guys think. ML is a walleye destination. Always has been and still should be. The idea that people should roll with the new order of things is silly and they are only saying it because it happens to fit their hobby. With that thinking URL should not have been shut down and managed for walleye after it became a world class crappie lake for a few years. Were the same bass guys at the time saying screw the walleye management on URL and foster the crappies instead. For a while, crappies were king there.
It’s the same argument.

Coming home from the cabin last Sunday they were already showing up, fisherman and sponsors.

Man! those guys have some killer boats.

I’ll stop by up there this weekend and sniff around.

Kyhl wrote:

The idea that people should roll with the new order of things is silly and they are only saying it because it happens to fit their hobby.

For a second there I thought you were a tribal member talking about how the resorts should stay off your lake!

Kyhl, not at all suggesting that bass should replace walleyes even a little bit. As others have said, that culture is way too strong. Just surprised at the extreme lack of coverage of the B.A.S.S. event. Hell, I forgot about it until I received an email from Reed’s last Friday that is offering discounts at the Onamia store during the event! Since walleye fishing is closed now, any bodies taking up space at a resort, restaurant, hotel, gas station should be welcomed.