Another Mille Lacs Icon Closing Up Shop?

But I believe the Bass guys are spending less on tackle. They pretty much bring everything with them. The Walleye guys need live bait so thats kicking some of the mom & pops that relied on those sales.

Lets hope the future doesn’t come to this

People need to learn that there is more to fishing other than harvesting walleyes. Bass and muskie anglers have passion about their target because they simply enjoy it but for some reason the walleye guys are always hung up on harvesting some, and when they can’t, evidently there’s no point in even going (sad). The fishing has been nothing short of phenomenal this season. Its slowed down now because the water is so warm but when September gets here, it will improve again. I don’t like to see places like bait shops close up, but businesses have to either adapt or die. Its called survival of the fittest and business competition helps drive down costs for all of the customers.
If your still looking for decent size, lively leeches, Prince Bait & Marine has them heading north on Hwy 169 out of Milaca.

The fishing should be great cant keep any

gimruis wrote:

People need to learn that there is more to fishing other than harvesting walleyes. Bass and muskie anglers have passion about their target because they simply enjoy it but for some reason the walleye guys are always hung up on harvesting some, and when they can’t, evidently there’s no point in even going (sad).

Some people need to tolerate those who do. It’s a great way to put extremely healthy food on the table. Somehow it’s their fault the businesses are closing? Blaming the customer for bad business is just downright laughable.

This is the land of 10,000 lakes. Go find another one.

Good point biggill, how long has it been a catch and release season open or hard water ? How many years with a limit of 1 or 2 fish with shortened seasons ? Curious to see how many places have closed in the last few years due to the restrictions on the lake. Yes some places are doing better but I think it’s related to fewer options to choose from

Outdraft wrote:

The fishing should be great cant keep any

Since this is your 3rd or 4th comment pointing out the fact you cannot keep any walleyes (legally) from Mille Lacs, I thought I might help you out. If you are interested in keeping some?

I know of at least one launch boat going out on “meat runs” occasionally. I will not name such operator publicly as I do not want my tires slashed or other worse repercussion.

If you call around to all the launch boat operators and use the code words “meat run”…you may get a bingo.

Dutchboy wrote:

But I believe the Bass guys are spending less on tackle. They pretty much bring everything with them. The Walleye guys need live bait so thats kicking some of the mom & pops that relied on those sales.

I’m becoming more intrigued by bait shops, like, how many $4 scoops of minnows does someone need to sell to afford the lease/costs of running the shop? The average sale amount is probably similar or less than a fast food joint, but their volume and reach of customers is sooooo much smaller. Obviously, their cost and staff is much smaller too.

Whoever mentioned it earlier is probably right, in order to make any money on bait, you’ll probably need to include it as an add-on/supplemental offering to your main business(ie: gas station). Or use bait as a way to draw people to actual profitable parts of a different business(ie: gas station).

Not to mention people will go on a forum/facebook to get fishing updates instead of stopping in a bait shop nowadays.

But how many times do you grab something else when you go buy bait? Another Rapala, or whatever the shiny new trinkett is … please a coke and whatever else. It adds up.

Outdraft wrote:

Yes they may stay at campgrounds but I’ll bet most are fishing waters where you can actually keep some fish for a fish fry without needing 5 lbs of potatoes.

From a person who has a place at one of these “campgrounds”…. I disagree. I have two young children and we have plenty of fun playing at the beach, taking boat rides, and yes fishing – catch and release. Most all my neighbors at said campground continue to fish Mille Lacs and very little are trailering to other lakes. Yes I would prefer to keep a couple walleye here and there (and hopefully we will soon) but just agreeing with what has been said before that the customer base is changing and most people who have campers etc at well run resorts are not leaving.

Jake Jacobs wrote:

But how many times do you grab something else when you go buy bait? Another Rapala, or whatever the shiny new trinkett is … please a coke and whatever else. It adds up.

Me personally? Not very often. Like a lot of others, I’m overstocked on crankbaits and normally the snack shopping is happening at the gas station or before the trip. Maybe I’m the problem?

I think since people are getting their fishing tips/information elsewhere, they are more prepared before they hit the lake.

I think another big factor is the increased use of plastics and hard baits for walleyes, as well as the AIS laws requiring a person to bring clean fresh water with them if they want to keep their minnows or dump them out. Also, bait suppliers have to face AIS laws in where they can trap the bait and transporting. The bait business seems to have changed quite a bit with the introduction of AIS.

I feel pretty sure my view will be pretty unpopular, but here goes;
I have been renting a spot on Mille Lacs for 2 summers, spending as much time (and money) as I possibly can. If given the choice between being able to keep any walleyes or keep the fishing like it has been the past 2 summers, I would choose the fishing hands down! If I want to eat a walleye I have many choices including the grocery store, there is NO PLACE ELSE I can go within a 4 hour drive of the twin cities where I can enjoy the incredible walleye fishing (not to mention Smallmouth, Northern, and Musky) in both size and quantity as Mille Lacs. I have mentioned this once or twice around the campground and met with significant hostility.

slawrenz wrote:

I feel pretty sure my view will be pretty unpopular, but here goes;
I have been renting a spot on Mille Lacs for 2 summers, spending as much time (and money) as I possibly can. If given the choice between being able to keep any <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes or keep the fishing like it has been the past 2 summers, I would choose the fishing hands down! If I want to eat a walleye I have many choices including the grocery store, there is NO PLACE ELSE I can go within a 4 hour drive of the twin cities where I can enjoy the incredible walleye fishing (not to mention Smallmouth, Northern, and Musky) in both size and quantity as Mille Lacs. I have mentioned this once or twice around the campground and met with significant hostility.

I would say your view is only unpopular among certain people. There are a lot of anglers that agree with you and a lot of people still going to Mille Lacs and enjoying every second of the day catching trophy walleye, smallmouth, and muskie without keeping a single fish. Almost every one of my top fishing trips in my life have been on Mille Lacs. Not being able to keep fish isn’t going to stop me from more of those days.

I get the whole, “you can buy walleye at the grocery store” thing, but at the same time there is something to be said for catching an eater, saying, “this one’s going in the livewell,” and tossing em in there. Maybe it’s just the kid in me that still enjoys opening up the livewell and looking at the fish we’ve kept. Either way, there is just something very satisfying about eating a walleye that you personally worked for, caught, and filleted. Just my opinion. Maybe some others here share the same sentiment.

AUTO_5 wrote:

I get the whole, “you can buy walleye at the grocery store” thing, but at the same time there is something to be said for catching an eater, saying, “this one’s going in the livewell,” and tossing em in there. Maybe it’s just the kid in me that still enjoys opening up the livewell and looking at the fish we’ve kept. Either way, there is just something very satisfying about eating a walleye that you personally worked for, caught, and filleted. Just my opinion. Maybe some others here share the same sentiment.

Let me put it this way. The people who say that are the same people that say that netting is hurting Mille Lacs.

How the heck do you think those grocery store walleyes were caught? 98% of grocery store walleyes were netted from Lake Winnipeg. You can’t define hypocritical any better than that.

But biggill…… how can you say that?? Buying walleyes at the store is COMPLETELY different!!! We shouldn’t fret about keeping a walleye as long as we can just go to a restaurant or a grocery store…lol.

As long as it’s not gillnetted in our backyard, it is OBVIOUSLY well and good! (Please disregard the fake news articles about Lake Winnipeg’s eyes the last few yrs being in trouble due to gillnetting….lol).

It’s like complaining about people hunting deer and then picking up venison at the food shelf (like they were doing in WI a few yrs ago)

slawrenz wrote:

I feel pretty sure my view will be pretty unpopular, but here goes;
I have been renting a spot on Mille Lacs for 2 summers, spending as much time (and money) as I possibly can. If given the choice between being able to keep any <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes or keep the fishing like it has been the past 2 summers, I would choose the fishing hands down! If I want to eat a walleye I have many choices including the grocery store, there is NO PLACE ELSE I can go within a 4 hour drive of the twin cities where I can enjoy the incredible walleye fishing (not to mention Smallmouth, Northern, and Musky) in both size and quantity as Mille Lacs. I have mentioned this once or twice around the campground and met with significant hostility.

I’m with you x1000. I drive over 8 hrs to urine pound walleyes in Canada. Sometimes we can keep a limit of 4, other times the resorts let you keep shore lunch and return the rest, not allowing any to go home…and I keep going back year after year after year cause the fishing is phenomenal.

If Mille lacs stayed this hot but no nothing could be kept, I’ll be up any chance I can.

I have kept my share of walleyes over the years and I agree it is a little hypocritical, and I eat my share at Culver’s every spring as well. My only point is I would gladly trade keeping walleyes from Mille lacs for the exceptional fishing I have experienced the last few years.

biggill wrote:

How the heck do you think those grocery store <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes were caught? 98% of grocery store walleyes were netted from Lake Winnipeg. You can’t define hypocritical any better than that.

I too understand where slawrenz is coming from. He has a place at Mille Lacs just as I do and chooses to fish there because of the good fishing. I’m not going to load up my boat and leave Mille Lacs for another lake just to keep a few walleyes. Right now you cannot keep any walleyes from Mille Lacs and that’s just the way it is. I’ll fish the lake and go to a restaurant on the lake for a walleye sandwich.

I would caution on any labeling of hypocrites though. Lake Winnipeg is a designated commercial walleye fishery…like it or not. We as sportsman frown upon that entirely but the reality is that walleyes are not only gamefish, but food fish as far as Lake Winnipeg or other commercial walleye fisheries go. Do we as sport anglers have any more right to a walleye than an elderly couple having a walleye dinner at a restaurant? Should we expect they can only enjoy a walleye dinner if they caught it themselves?

Harm or exploitation of a walleye fishery happens when overharvested. Excessive netting can obviously do significant harm, but so can overharvesting by hook and line anglers. We know that has happened too. If I keep one or 2 walleyes by hook and line, no harm…but add the other 100’s of boats out there doing the same thing? However a walleye is taken from the fishery, it is reducing the population. Question will always be, can the fishery sustain the harvest by whatever methods of capture?

slawrenz wrote:

I feel pretty sure my view will be pretty unpopular, but here goes;
I have been renting a spot on Mille Lacs for 2 summers, spending as much time (and money) as I possibly can. If given the choice between being able to keep any <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes or keep the fishing like it has been the past 2 summers, I would choose the fishing hands down! If I want to eat a walleye I have many choices including the grocery store, there is NO PLACE ELSE I can go within a 4 hour drive of the twin cities where I can enjoy the incredible walleye fishing (not to mention Smallmouth, Northern, and Musky) in both size and quantity as Mille Lacs. I have mentioned this once or twice around the campground and met with significant hostility.

Not unpopular at all, I agree 100% with the exception that I won’t buy a walleye in a grocery store, but that has nothing to do with netting on another lake. I will just catch and eat other fish if I want to have a fish fry. I’m am almost positive I have not complained once about not be able to keep walleye on Mille Lacs. I don’t approve of the netting, but I don’t have a problem with catch and release of walleyes.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

I would caution on any labeling of hypocrites though. Lake Winnipeg is a designated commercial walleye fishery…like it or not. We as sportsman frown upon that entirely but the reality is that walleyes are not only gamefish, but food fish as far as Lake Winnipeg or other commercial walleye fisheries go. Do we as sport anglers have any more right to a walleye than an elderly couple having a walleye dinner at a restaurant? Should we expect they can only enjoy a walleye dinner if they caught it themselves?

You don’t know me very well do you? I’m not one of those that frown upon commercial fishing/netting at all. Anything can work if it’s managed well. Lake Erie for example. Quite possibly the best walleye fishery of them all is commercially netted. I am also not one of those that believe sport fishing is the right way.

What most people here don’t realize is that the elderly couple and most of the non-sport fishing type can’t even comprehend why people let fish go. Why would anyone spend that amount of time and money to come home with nothing?

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Harm or exploitation of a walleye fishery happens when overharvested. Excessive netting can obviously do significant harm, but so can overharvesting by hook and line anglers. We know that has happened too. If I keep one or 2 walleyes by hook and line, no harm…but add the other 100’s of boats out there doing the same thing? However a walleye is taken from the fishery, it is reducing the population. Question will always be, can the fishery sustain the harvest by whatever methods of capture?

Absolutely true but anyone who says don’t take walleyes from my lake go take them from another troubled fishery is a hypocrite. Both lakes have serious problems as a result of the same exact thing. Mismanagement.

I forgot to mention that I think US sports fishermen are some of the most selfish and ignorant people in the outdoors world. Just take a step back and look at our views on Mille Lacs, AIS, lake associations, recreational boaters, canoeists, environmentalists, etc, and try for a moment to understand another point of view for once. Quite often I am thoroughly embarrassed at what we think we deserve and have trouble explaining some of these things to my non-fishing friends.

Every group is selfish. It’s why they are known as “self interest groups.”

I’m not embarrassed. If anything i’m more embarrassed by the self proclaimed experts and zealots in each group.

Well, this self-interest group is particularly more selfish and ignorant than most.

and you are more opinionated then most. It’s freedom of opinion.

Oh and btw, I applaud slawrenz’s opinion. It’s actually a very popular opinion. Just look at the April migration to the rainy river. Lots and lots of miles and $$$ to keep 2 fish? I think not. Catching 100’s of fish over 25” is pretty damn cool.

I often compare Mille Lacs to the RR because it’s two of the very few places in the world you can catch dozens of trophy walleyes in a day.

AUTO_5 wrote:

I get the whole, “you can buy walleye at the grocery store” thing, but at the same time there is something to be said for catching an eater, saying, “this one’s going in the livewell,” and tossing em in there. Maybe it’s just the kid in me that still enjoys opening up the livewell and looking at the fish we’ve kept. Either way, there is just something very satisfying about eating a walleye that you personally worked for, caught, and filleted. Just my opinion. Maybe some others here share the same sentiment.

Oh and BTW, I did not mean this as any kind of statement towards Mille lacs. I still fish walleyes there. Only meant it as an expression of my(and I’m sure plenty of others’) view on keeping fish once in a while. It is a very simple, almost primal, satisfaction that I feel is only natural and should not be frowned upon, but also should not be the determining factor in where you will or will not fish.

biggill wrote:

I forgot to mention that I think US sports fishermen are some of the most selfish and ignorant people in the outdoors world. Just take a step back and look at our views on Mille Lacs, AIS, lake associations, recreational boaters, canoeists, environmentalists, etc, and try for a moment to understand another point of view for once. Quite often I am thoroughly embarrassed at what we think we deserve and have trouble explaining some of these things to my non-fishing friends.

Agreed. I shake my head whenever I see a comment about “Well they shouldn’t be able to net because why should they get to do something that I am not allowed to?” As if everything else is equal between different groups and they only difference in rights, opportunities, quality of life is one can net fish from one lake for profit and the other can’t.

Sorry to say, fishermen often come off as the most entitled, whiny babies in a world full of entitled whiny babies.

I’m with slawrenz, if I had a boat big enough to get me out on Mille Lacs, I’d be up there all the dang time. Maybe in a couple years….