Would the state of fishing on Mille Lacs keep you from purchasing property on or around the lake?
What about the guys with seasonal trailers / campers. Are you thinking of moving to another lake?
What about you hard core Walleye guys, what are you planning for 2014? Mille Lacs or elsewhere?
I have a seasonal camper on the east side. I’m not going anywhere. We like the resort we’re at, and the people there. If we can’t fish for walleyes, then so be it. Plenty of other fish to catch, and other things for our family to do. Nothing is permanent.
For now going to The Red Door for Opener.
Will stay with this trip unless the lake is ice covered—went up last year but will not do that again.
After that we will see. As of yesterday my
fishing partners are looking dimly upon additional
trips to Mille Lacs.
I have a place in Sherwood forest and would be there even if the lake is bad. There are so many other lakes within 10 miles that have great fishing, lots of things to do inside and outside of the grounds, short drive from the cities and Mille lacs will always offer something, be it walleyes Smallmouth, Northern or just the great sunsets. 
A part of e has always thought it would be fun to have pretty sizable Ice house up there. Somewhere like the Red Door, on a nice lot and be able to use it year round. I like the idea of a big warm shack to spend a weekend in, playing cards and hearing bells go off.
Having said that I greatly enjoy our cabin on a 1400 acre lake. Good fishing, swimming, skiing. When I get the hankering for big water we’re twenty minutes from Leech.
Bought a place on the lake 14 months ago. (RV and camping at resorts for about 20 years.) Would do it again today, no regrets.
Last year spent more time chasing smallies than walleyes. Will continue to do that and look to other local lakes for panfish or walleye this coming year.
-J.
Bought our place 22 years ago across the hwy from the lake… had some really good years and some really bad years fishing the lake… but always have a great year going to the cabin Not sure short term whether land will go down or not. I would think this will keep the weekend walleye warriors away for a few years, good for the lake, bad for the tourism. 
Was up this last weekend and the sleds were pounding the ditches 
I must have missed something. Is the DNR walleye quota so low this year that most expect walleye not to be harvested this year during open water? You make it sound as though they are not allowing any walleye fishing, let alone harvesting.
FDR
I would think the realestate market will downturn up there in a year or so. May be a good time to buy. If they end up closing the season, I would predict quite a few properties coming up for sale.
I for one will pay close attention to it.
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I must have missed something. Is the DNR walleye quota so low this year that most expect walleye not to be harvested this year during open water? You make it sound as though they are not allowing any walleye fishing, let alone harvesting.
FDR
Total harvest for 2014 is 60,000 pounds. Non tribal quota about 43k. Lowest number ever. If we hit quota, the law requires the lake to be shut down.
Yes, it has finally come to that. 10 years of tribal netting has destroyed the lake. (Yea, I said it – don’t regret it. No PM’s please.)
If this actually happens, Gov Dayton should consider declaring Mille Lacs a disaster area and fund it appropriately. 
-J.
To most people, buying recreational property is about more than the fishing. A lot of people wait years and years until they can afford it AND until they find the right place. After all that, I can’t see anyone selling property on Mille Lacs and I can’t see anyone holding off on buying property there just because of the short term outlook.
After last year, everyone already knew that hard new regs were going to come down. As they say in the stock market, it’s already been priced in. Everybody should already be hip to the fact that unless ML has a radical turnaround, walleye could go total C&R for several years.
They aren’t going to close fishing and that’s the only thing that could freeze the market up there. There are so many other lakes nearby, that there will always be good options. Plus, on ML, you need Plan B options because the wind can make the lake unfishable for days on end.
Grouse
We will be keeping our seasonal up there as well. Many options in the neighborhood and it is still an easy drive.
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I have a seasonal camper on the east side. I’m not going anywhere. We like the resort we’re at, and the people there. If we can’t fish for walleyes, then so be it. Plenty of other fish to catch, and other things for our family to do. Nothing is permanent.
Same here. We have a place at Fishers and I don’t plan on moving. Although, if walleye season were to close prematurely mid summer…and did so a few years in a row I could see myself reconsidering….or spending money on musky gear!
I have had a fish house on the south end for almost 2 years and we use it year round. To be honest with you if I am not on Mille Lacs for a tournament I actually do a lot less fishing now. More casual and go when conditions are right. Quite a few other things to do in the area if you look for them.
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If this actually happens, Gov Dayton should consider declaring Mille Lacs a disaster area and fund it appropriately.
-J.
Huh? Will the Governor bail me out if I have a couple bad years? They are in business just like anyone else. No reason they should get money given to them. It’s a sad deal, I agree and basically the DNR has alot of blame, but I don’t think any business deserves to be bailed out because they are having a rough go of it.
Why not? Dayton knew this was coming and promised action 4 years ago. He failed to do anything. He should be held accountable for his lies.
I’m not talking about just resorts. All stake holders. The entire area should get help. The state could start off with tax breaks and go from there.
-J.
I would agree with Jon, the state caused this mess via poor management, they should be on the hook for the result.
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Why not? Dayton knew this was coming and promised action 4 years ago. He failed to do anything. He should be held accountable for his lies.
I’m not talking about just resorts. All stake holders. The entire area should get help. The state could start off with tax breaks and go from there.
-J.
I bet that’s the first time a politician lied. 
I get what you guys are saying, as the lake was fine before the state and DNR starting messing with it, but I don’t ever agree with the government giving out tax money to businesses just because they can’t make a buck. Sucks, but that’s life.
I just bought a house this fall on the south side of the lake. I live in California, but have a son who lives in Minneapolis and my wife and I hope to retire (half the year) to Minnesota. So I just went through this thought process in a serious way.
I don’t think there is any question that bad press is affecting real estate prices. For example, a good friend of mine from Minneapolis told me I was crazy to be looking at a house on Mille Lacs. He had heard plenty about the wind, the “ice outs,” the “huge” numbers of people and most importantly the “fishing demise.”
Perhaps being somewhat of a contrarian, I decided to investigate further. I had a hunch the problems were being exaggerated and I figured maybe, because of these attitudes, we could find something we could actually afford.
Coming to Mille Lacs, I found lots of for sale signs and a real estate market not yet fully recovered from the last recession. Mille Lacs definitely was not making the “desirable lakes” lists.
But here’s what else I found:
A lake an hour and 45 minutes from Minneapolis.
A lake that is still considered a world class fishery by every knowledgable fisherman I could find.
A lake with almost unmatched fishing variety available.
A lake with unbelievable sunsets.
A lake with two state parks and the Rum River.
A lake with world class ATV and snowmobile trails.
A lake with easy access to grocery stores, hardware stores, bait and tackle shops, and even a few restaurants.
Contrary to the slow real estate market I was seeing, my son told me the real estate market in Minneapolis was really heating up. It seems like a pretty obvious theory that prosperity in the twin cities should usually be followed by rising demand for lake homes.
Of course, I could be dead wrong, but I don’t think anyone should pull out of Mille Lacs right now unless they have to. I think it’s an underappreciated diamond. Like most diamonds, it has some flaws, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a diamond.
those are excellent observations. I thinks those who are in for the long haul won’t focus on walleye populations, those who are seasonal or month to month will look at the walleye population. I’ll just tap more maple trees!
We have a cabin on the West side and are not going any where. I fish eyes a lot so I do typically get to Leech, Winnie, Lake of the Woods and and sometimes pool 4 as well during a season.
I consider Mille Lacs my home and it is certainly where we do the bulk of our fishing.
We hope and pray they do away with the nets, figure out and correct the other issues, and get the lake turned around.
In the meantime we weill keep fishing and making memories.
We’re on the west side near Sherwood Forest, and like many of you, we’re going to be staying put. There’s so much excellent fishing, hiking, biking, etc. etc. that even if Mille Lacs is shut down, there’ll still be plenty to do.
I suspect I’d actually become a better fisherman if that were the case. I know Mille Lacs very, very well and fish it almost 100% of the time. Some time elsewhere would probably do me good.
Hi, depends on what you are looking for. There are a lot of other factors that we viewed as more important.
We purchased last summer after many years of dreaming of having a lake home. As a kid we were always fishing, pulling a 14 Herters around from southern lake to southern lake. It seemed like everyone else had a lake cabin/home but were not nearly the fisherman we were. Just didn’t seem fair. After helping the kids with college, etc.. it was time to start working on our lake home nest egg and now hopefully we have the home that can be passed down from generation to generation.
As with many we set up a wish list of things important with the biggest requirement to have a place close enough to the cities so that we would see our kids/grand kids on weekends. Even if there was a ball game on Saturday, they could come up Saturday night and spend Sunday. So drew a circle around the cities with two hour drive radius.
Ended up selecting ML because of size and cost. From what we found, we could get a a lot more of a place on ML with comps than on other lakes. Folks were telling me that with how much I fish, on a small lake I would lose interest quickly.
Once ML was chosen, then where, type of shoreline, etc… In the end we choose a property with a beautiful sand beach. Again for the family. Grand kids can go out 75′. Now the sticker shock of 180’foot dock and lift was a bit much.
The only down side so far has been the wind which was the main item I needed to convince the wife we could deal with. To this end bought a +20′ boat, but still many days to difficult to fish.
We are very happy with our purchase and while a few years away from full time use, I can’t wait to wake up every morning, walk out to the end of the dock, decide to get in the boat or sit and gaze over the water for bit.
Oh is that a smallie calling me, I think it is!!!!!!
Gonefishin, congrats on the cabin! sounds great. Sometimes seems like the cabin is the cheap part huh? That’s a lot of dock! Enjoy
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