Smallmouth Alliance Event

Greetings fellow smallmouth bass lovers!

This Saturday SEMSA, the South East Minnesota Smallmouth Alliance will hold an open meeting at Sandy Point Restaurant on Lake Zumbro from 2 to 4 pm. We will have Kevin Stauffer and Al Schmidt from the DNR office in Lake City presenting to our group.

Kevin yesterday will be sharing with us important information on the new regulations for the Zumbro River….future thoughts on

where we go from here…and How to take scale samples of smallmouth bass…what they reveal about the health, size and age of the fish…and how the habitat plays into the formule for evaluating the samples.

Al and Kevin will have numerous handouts for us, and a map showing the various stretches of water that have smallies will be presented. You can commit to harvesting the scale samples from these stretches to aid in determining what if any action should be taken to promote, protect and enhance the quality of smallmouth fishing in our area.

Club President Bill Planton will also present a brief overview of our accomplishments of the past year and list a few of the proposed projects for the upcoming year to be considered by the SEMSA membership.

This meeting is open to everyone as we would be happy to meet with you and introduce you to SEMSA and smallmouth fishing in South Eastern Minnesota.

There will be a drawing for door prizes as well. Please stop out to Sandy Point this Saturday afternoon and say Hi. We look forward to seeing everyone.

——————

Fish On!

Big Lew

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the meeting because I was coaching a youth basketball team in a tournament. Anyone have any observations they would like to share?

We had a nice turn out for our SEMSA meeting at Sandy Point on Saturday. The questionable weather forecast may have kept one or two people home. The gentlemen from the DNR went over the regulation change that goes into effect this next season, extending the catch and release area for smallmouth on the Zumbro River from the base of the Zumbro Dam Plunge Pool to Highway 63 at Zumbro Falls. The DNR has also selected specific stretches of the local streams for SEMSA members to take scale samples and maintain a fishing diary. At the next SEMSA meeting, the members will have an opportunity to look over the selected stretches and pick two or three that we will monitor for the upcoming season. There was an open discussion on the future of special regulations in South East Minnesota and implimentation procedures. All in all a very interesting meeting.

I can’t say how happy I am that the regs went through. If you ask me the entire strech down to millville should be special regs.

I highly agree with micro on that one

I think the next goal will be to include the plunge pool in some type of special regs for smallmouth. That holds a lot of fish, especially just before the catch and release period in September and gets a lot of pressure and needs to be protected.

The best way to see these regulations changed is get involved in a local organization like the SE MN Smallmouth Alliance dedicated to improving smallmouth fisheries, and secondly, keep informed about and attend the DNR input meetings. They do listen very carefully to what you have to say, no matter what the public perception is. They’re also in a tough spot many times, being obligated to look out for the interests of different groups.

I have no doubt they’ll seriously consider and implement better management for the Root also if they see enough public interest.

I deer hunt in that stretch between Zumbro Falls and Millville – what a beautiful area. I’m hoping to do some canoeing and fishing there this summer. I think catch and release would be a great idea through that stretch.

Fellow Smallie Hunters, we don’t have to wait for the regs to change to make a difference. 1. Make Catch and Release of all smallies your personal mission. 2. Take a moment to explain catch and release to fellow fishermen. 3. Be curtious to those who practice catch and eat, it is their right (assuming they are within the laws of the land). All new regs take time and as uffdapete mentioned, the DNR is often trying to best serve the needs of the many. As active anglers we can best help catch and release through assisting in the education of others. Fish On!

I agree. Catch and release has caught on by ”example” from Bass fisherman and now also Walleye fisherman. What we do and say can have a big effect on other people and on a fishery. Bill

Nothing better than smallmouth lovers if you ask me! SE MN continues to provide the state’s best stream/river and most un-tapped smallmouth fishery! I highly recommend getting invloved with the Alliance or other groups. Or as others have mentioned, take the time to “get the word out” regarding selective harvest and catch and let go fishing practices of smallmouth. I truly believe if you have had the opportunity to catch one of the Zumbro/Root River smallies, you understand!

If you haven’t gone, get a hold of myself or others who are actively fishing SE MN small stream/rivers for the best fighting fresh water fish around!

Jim W