Even if you don’t fish the Brainerd Area please help and get involved. It will take two minutes out of your day to send a email in support of this effort. With more and more anglers chasing Muskies we MUST take every step we can to get new waters and to protect what we ALL love.
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DNR NEWS – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AUGUST 15, 2006
Media contacts: Ronald D. Payer, DNR Chief of Fisheries management, (651) 259-5229;
or Tim Goeman, northeast regional fisheries manager, (218) 999-7819.
DNR to seek public input on plan to stock muskies in Gull Lake
A proposal to stock muskellunge in Gull Lake near Brainerd will be the subject of a public input meeting in October. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is considering a proposal to stock 2,800 muskellunge fingerlings per year for four consecutive years starting in 2007. The proposal aims to create a muskellunge fishery in the immediate Brainerd area, a popular angling destination in central Minnesota.
“The Brainerd Area Fisheries Office developed this proposal because muskie angler numbers continue to increase, those in the Brainerd area are seeking additional opportunities, and Gull Lake – due to its large size, forage base and habitat types – qualifies as lake where muskie management is an option,” said Tim Goeman, northeast regional fisheries manager.
The public input meetings will be Oct. 6 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Central Lakes College cafeteria, 501 West College Drive in Brainerd and from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the DNR’s headquarters, 500 Lafayette Road in St. Paul.
Minnesota has become one of the nation’s premier muskellunge fishing destinations. Originally, the muskellunge existed in 44 lakes and six rivers in Minnesota. Today, 85 lakes and six rivers contain muskellunge as a result of DNR stocking efforts. There has been no significant expansion of muskellunge waters during the last five to 10 years. This is due, in part, to the mystique of the fish, which can grow to more than 50 inches in length and is a top predator in the fisheries food chain.
“The muskie has a reputation that is both deserved and underserved,” said Ron Payer, DNR chief of fishieries management. “It is a great fighter and impressive to behold. Still, it is not the nemesis to game fish that many believe it to be. As an adult, its preference is to eat perch and those species that have soft spines within their fins such as suckers, cisco and redhorse. There is no research evidence that suggests introducing the muskellunge into a lake has caused a corresponding decrease in the walleye fishery.”
Payer noted that many of Minnesota’s best-known large walleye lakes – such as Winnibigoshish, Leech and Lake of the Woods – have always contained both muskellunge and walleye. Both fish can thrive, said Payer, because muskellunge numbers never become as dense as fish species of a smaller size.
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Tim Brastrup, DNR Brainerd area fisheries supervisor, developed the muskellunge stocking plan as a result of input from the local Muskies, Inc. chapter, whose members have reported increased crowding on lakes within 25 to 45 miles of Brainerd such as Mille Lacs, Cedar, Shamineau, Alexander and Woman lakes. “Twenty-five to 45 miles isn’t an unreasonable distance to drive for a muskie fishing opportunity,” said Brastrup. “But the issue has become one of crowding. An increasing number of anglers are converging on the same spots and quality of the angling experience is declining.”
“Our stocking proposal recognizes the fact that northern pike spearing has a long tradition in this area and this proposal does not ban pike spearing in Gull Lake,” Brastrup said.
A 10-day public comment period will follow the open house and end Oct. 16. Comments may be mailed directly to DNR Area Fisheries Headquarters, 1601 Minnesota Drive, Brainerd, MN 56401; DNR Fish and Wildlife Division, Box 12, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155; or e-mailed to [email protected]
