Steve DeMars Named to Present at

the 2012 MN DNR Roundtable held in January for the Catfish Workshops.

This will be the first time in Minnesota’s history the catfish will be represented at the Roundtable.

Congratulations Steve!

2012 Minnesota DNR Roundtable

About 350 of Minnesota’s conservation leaders will gather Friday, Jan. 6, and Saturday, Jan. 7, in St. Paul for the Department of Natural Resources’ 22nd annual Roundtable,Stakeholders listen and discuss as the DNR’s annual Roundtable an invitation-only event that focuses on fisheries, wildlife and ecological issues.

The gathering provides hunting, angling and conservation organization representatives the opportunity to share insights with DNR staff and receive updates on the latest trends, research and natural resource issues.

The Roundtable is an important gathering that provides an opportunity for conservationists of all stripes to come together, listen, learn and share ideas for the betterment of our state.

Roundtable discussions help shape DNR decision making on natural resource management, legislative initiates and policy changes.

An agenda is being developed and will be announced later this month.

Congrats BK & Tom, I know this means a lot to you…..

What is Steve’s plan as far as what will be discussed and so on?

Pretty cool honor!!!

Awesome! Keep it up guys. I only hope that kind of enthusiasm spreads beyond your borders, into the rest of the Midwest and beyond!

Our focus is on tackling the AIS/bait issue. AIS is on the minds of everyone. Steve DeMars put in huge amount of time and effort to gather info for a presentation about Risk Assessment and how it can be used to aid us in finding some compromise that would be acceptable to both anglers and to protecting our resources. Steve walked us through an exercise to determin one or two items that would be the lowest risk yet would be of benefit to cat fisherman in allowing us to catch and use bait, specifically in infested waters.

The bottom line: Our proposal would allow us to gather bait, minnows and rough fish in infested waters and use them for bait if caught by hook and line and only used in the waters it was caught from. (still working on wording details)

I would like to record Steve’s presentation at the Roundtable to share here. We’ll see how that goes.

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The bottom line: Our proposal would allow us to gather bait, minnows and rough fish in infested waters and use them for bait if caught by hook and line and only used in the waters it was caught from. (still working on wording details)

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Wait. Isn’t that what it is now? Serious question. I don’t catch my own bait anymore, so I really don’t know. What is the difference of that from how it is now?

Mike – Unfortunately that is NOT how it is now. Here is the specific Minnesota Statute that prohibits harvesting bait from infested waters. I highlighted the portion that should concern you as a Cat Fisherman:

MINNESOTA STATUTE 84D.03
84D.03 INFESTED WATERS; RESTRICTED ACTIVITIES.
Subd. 3. Bait harvest from infested waters.
(a) Taking wild animals from infested waters for bait or aquatic farm purposes is prohibited, except as provided in paragraph (b) and section 97C.341.
(b) In waters that are designated as infested waters, except those designated because they contain prohibited invasive species of fish or certifiable diseases of fish, as defined under section 17.4982, subdivision 6, taking wild animals may be permitted for:
(1) commercial taking of wild animals for bait and aquatic farm purposes according to a permit issued under section 84D.11, subject to rules adopted by the commissioner; and
(2) bait purposes for noncommercial personal use in waters that contain Eurasian water milfoil, when the infested waters are designated solely because they contain Eurasian water milfoil and if the equipment for taking is limited to cylindrical minnow traps not exceeding 16 inches in diameter and 32 inches in length.
(c) Equipment authorized for minnow harvest in a designated infested water by permit issued under paragraph (b) may not be transported to, or used in, any waters other than waters specified in the permit.

Mike – The bottom line is that this State Statute makes it illegal to catch bait from infested waters and use that bait on that body of water. The Catfish Workgroup is a mix of stakeholders from the MN DNR and some of our best catfish anglers in the state. Addressing the harvesting of bait from infested waters is the primary focus of the Catfish Workgroup and I am impressed with the work done to date. We have consensus within the workgroup on our efforts and I feel that we may get this done – it is going to take some time but I think if we do our homework and work within the system we can fix this. It should be understood by everyone that the threat of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) is harmful to everyone especially us cat fishermen. Our efforts to seek compromise with the AIS laws has to insure that whatever we recommend will support current AIS intent.

Wow, I had no idea that the regulations were so strict for bait collection. Is it fair to assume then that most of the waters you fish would be considered infested? How do you go about getting any sort of legal bait then? I would assume it can not be brought in from non-infested waters. That only leaves the purchase of baits which if you flathead fish much can get real expensive quick!

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I would assume it can not be brought in from non-infested waters.

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Steve left, so I’ll pick up.

We can bring in bait from non infested waters (in most cases) or buy them from bait dealers. Unfortunately for us cat folks, few bait shops handle the kind of bait we use.

This will be a challenge at the Roundtable because we’ll talk about bait and most will think of fatheads and maybe walleye suckers, not the 7″ and up baits we use.

As of right now the Mississippi and the St Croix are listed as infested. The MN and Red River are not, but it is just a matter of time before they are deemed infested as well.

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Wow, I had no idea that the regulations were so strict for bait collection. Is it fair to assume then that most of the waters you fish would be considered infested? How do you go about getting any sort of legal bait then? I would assume it can not be brought in from non-infested waters. That only leaves the purchase of baits which if you flathead fish much can get real expensive quick!

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You just hit the nail on the head. With 8 inch suckers running $1.50 each or $18 a dozen it doesn’t take long to run up a big bait bill. Most of us like to harvest bait right from the waters we fish at the start of each fishing trip. I would usually spend 45 minutes to an hour catching a few suckers, possibly a mooneye, and a whole bunch of sheepshead. Fishing two rods on the St Croix I can go through a bunch of baits in a nights fishing. It is still legal for us to use bullheads that we catch from non-infested waters and that has become our primary flathead bait.

The 4 premier catfishing waters in Minnesota are the Minnesota River, the Mississippi River, the St Croix River, and the Red River. Right now the Mississippi River and the St Croix are listed as “Infested Waters” so the harvesting of bait from those waters is prohibited. The Red River has some invasive species issues and will probably be designated as infested in the near future. That leaves the Minnesota River but with it having its confluence with the Mississippi I am willing to bet the chances of it making the infested waters list is not that far away. So with that rather dismal future facing us with infested waters it becomes imperative that we as catfishermen look for compromise with existing AIS laws and seek ways that will still allow us to harvest bait but at the same time maintain the AIS protections afforded by current laws. The timing of the formation of the Catfish Workgroup couldn’t have come at a better time and those of us in the Workgroup understand the importance of making this system work. We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Very interesting. Here in Illinois we have rules prohibiting the transport of live fish out of any body of water. We can catch bait out of a body of water and use it there, however the baits can not be transported from that body of water. Here it is said to help prevent the spread of VHS. Technically we are not even allowed to transport water. To my knowledge we don’t have any infested desigantions.

Interesting how different states regulate. Thanks for the knowledge.

Congratulations Steve

I’m sure the knowledge you have to share will go a long ways, and be greatly appreciated