What are your thoughts?

With the poor weather and tough fishing on Mille Lacs this spring will a more liberal slot in July improve fishing and resort business this summer?

It sure seems like tourism been slow this spring and summer.

What do you think?

Its hard to say. If the water temps sky rocket, the bite will get tougher. I think the wider slot will help in Sept and Oct.

I read this in the paper today.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/533/4853372.html

Even with a more liberal slot to this point, we are behind last years kill harvest.

The increased slot will help mentally and will bring a few more people up to the lake. The fish are still biting it is just not a harvest fest, like some years past. I am happy going out and cathing a dozen fish in a day. That is a good day to me.

The last thing we need is a knee jerk reaction right now. Leave things as they are. As the perch grow, and they are growing fast, they will be harder for the walleye to target and the fishing will improve. I predict next year the fishing will be good/great and the year that follows will be nothing short of excellent.

We are just in one of those cycles where the the lake is full of bait, it won’t last forever.

Yes, We have tons of bait still swiming around. The harbor is full of small perch 2 inches maybe. The walleye that we have been catching are spitting up perch in the live wells. The fish are well fed that is for sure!!!

The thing that gets me worked up is the numbers. You look at the 70,000 lbs of walleye that our native friends netted this spring during spawning and than look at the 26,578 lbs of walleye us white fisherman have caught. It took the natives two-three weeks to get their take of 70,000 and here we are fishing in the end of our second complete month of angling and we are at 26,578…….we will be lucky if we harvest 175,000-190,000 total lbs. this year?

anyone else care to make a guess?

I highly doubt we will catch 75,000 this year, even with the expanded slot. I’m not calling for changes, but with the abundance of bait fish, the fish just don’t have to bite a little crawler or leech. Only time will tell.

I agree, If we catch 75,000 lbs this year that would be quite an end to the year. The majority of the harvest occurs in May and early June. I would be suprised if we even hit 50,000 for the year. But, that is the state of the lake, lots of bait, and lots of walleye. At least they are well fed and healthy.

If the harvest remains low, which it will, it give us a lot of room under the 5 year plan for future harvest. And, in 2 years when this 2001 year class goes crazy we will need all the room we can get because the harvest will exceed the allowed at that time. Until then we keep plugging away…literally

We chewed on this topic last weekend and here are my thoughts…..

Slots and fishing are two different things in my mind. Sure the fishing is slow this year, but I have kept more fish this spring than all of the last 2 seasons combined. So, for me the fishing has been super! As far as the current and planned slot, I personally won’t keep a fish over 20 unless it’s a bleeder. The new expanded slot will make for some better tourneys, but I doubt the change alone will attract Joe fisherman. I’d like to see the under 14 inch fish protected. I think the lower number of boats on the lake is simply due to the cold wet weather we have had ever since the opener.

Resorts. I think the resorts that are in trouble are the one’s that just plain run a crappy operation. Most are not kept up, don’t advertise, over priced, unclean or just plain mean people to be around! The resorts that are thriving are catering to other customer opportunities in the area. They market to 4-wheelers, bikers, hikers, golfers, snowmobilers and so on. Others have nice bars and restaurants that are actually fun to go to. It’s just like any business. If you fail to adjust to your market, you go out of business! I think it’s too easy for some of these resorts to lay back and put all of the blame on the DNR and the Tribes for problems that they themselves need to correct. In other words, good fishing does not necessarily translate into a great year for resorts.

Whew!

Amen Jon;

I won’t go to a crappy resort…………

I won’t mention the name, but one place we stayed at, on the west side, that has hotel rooms above the resurant/bar, which name reflects plural, green, tall trees…………well, after a long night of fishing, came back to crash. As I woke up in the morning, I was sitting on the bed, putting my boots on, when I noticed a “raincoat” under the bed.

They heard about it……..actually, the rant I gave, I’m sure all in the resturant heard it too………..I was not a happy camper………

The neighbor to that place…….we stayed at ONE TIME. Well, again, after a long night of trolling in the early fall………we went into the cabin only to be greated by probably………say……….1000 spiders!!!!!!!! They were everywhere………we both ended up sleeping in the truck and got our money back. I didn’t know so many spiders could migrate to one building. I don’t like spiders………so sir…….don’t like em!!!!

I personally really miss the condos you could rent at the old Garrison Creek Marina. That was a blast to stay at a few years ago. Nice harbor for the boat. Bar was right there. Town was just down the street. Comfy place to sleep!!! Plus CHEAP!!!

Is there any other places like that around on the old pond????

You make some good points about running a business. I’ve watched it a few times in my little home town. My dad ran a very successful bar, but do to health reasons he had to sell. He sold it to a couple that didn’t have the correct “attitude” for running that type of establishment, and the business has suffered.

Gary,

What’s a “raincoat”??

Waterfowler……….If I had to explain………..Well……….how old are you???????

Gary, It dont surprise me at all you found that “glove”.

I use to live at the Garrison Creek Marina. There was still about 4 units you could rent at about $70-$90 bucks a night. Those 4 units were still owned by the resort which was recently bought out so you may want to contact the new owners. I use to live in the house across the parking lot from the bar. Talk about a prime location. During the week I would walk to my boat in the harbor and fish all day, then walk to the bar to bartend all night.

Wear your helmet…wear your helmet

Scott, now your really going to confuse people.

Raincoats? Helmets? Are we fishing in a hailstorm?

Besides, what are you supposed to do with them? You throw them out the window and they choke the ducks.

Old farmer joke.

Sorry. I couldn’t resist.

Now that I have settled down from a good laugh…. …I would like to comment on the expansion of the slot. On Sunday we did have a nice 20 1/4″ fish that would have tasted very good in beer batter. Adding a couple of inches to the keeper slot may allow a fish or two to a persons limit but will not have too much impact on the overall kill totals.
Dino

There are guide a few of those 20 1/4 inch fish out there. Not enough to add significantly to the spawning bio mass but certainly enough to make a few anglers happy with a meal of fish.

The lack of fish is not the problem by any means, they are just well fed right now. If nothing else, the increased slot sends a good message. The big fish bite is very good right now, get out and enjoy it.