Interesting Article on 2003 Harvest.

From today’s St Paul Pioneer Press.

Mille Lacs Rule Changes Weighed.

OUTDOORS NOTEBOOK: Mille Lacs rule changes weighed
BY CHRIS NISKANEN
Pioneer Press

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials are strongly considering revamping Lake Mille Lacs walleye regulations after last year’s record-low harvest.

The angler take was only 66,500 pounds, while the Chippewa harvest was 70,536 pounds.

“When you combine the band and the angler kill, it’s the lowest walleye harvest on record,” said Jack Wingate, DNR fisheries manager.

Anglers were eligible to take 442,000 pounds.

The low angler harvest was the result of an abundant population of perch, a key food for walleye, which kept catch rates low. Harvest restrictions also played a role. Rules required anglers to throw back walleyes from 17 to 28 inches long, with one trophy over 28 inches allowed. The bag limit was four fish.

Although the DNR pushed to keep future regulations stable, the low angler harvest has DNR managers rethinking the strategy. They plan to meet with representatives of eight Chippewa bands Jan. 21-22 to talk about the fishery and convene with a citizens advisory group in early February to talk about new rules, which will be announced shortly after the latter meeting.

Wingate said there’s a large population of walleyes over 20 inches in Mille Lacs, but there are relatively few between 14 and 20 inches. Given the abundance of large walleyes, the new regulation likely will target more walleyes that are 20 inches or larger, he said.

Among the possible options, according to Wingate:

-The DNR could narrow the 17- to 28-inch protective slot limit, meaning fewer large fish would be protected. The 17-inch minimum would be raised or the 28-inch maximum lowered, Wingate said.

– The season could start with a narrow harvest slot limit. The rule would change to a narrow protective slot limit after the night fishing ban expires in June.

“We’re talking about some harvest of large fish, but we don’t want to go whole hog because we have to keep our spawning biomass up,” Wingate said, referring to the DNR’s preference to keep intact stocks of large female fish.

Wingate said there’s a dearth of walleye under 20 inches for three reasons: There were poor classes in 2000 and 2001, the fish that survived were cannibalized by other walleyes, and anglers have targeted that segment of fish in recent years. Wingate said managers also want to protect the large 2002 class, which is currently 7 to 10 inches long and will be catchable size next fall.

There were other notable figures from the past Mille Lacs walleye season:

– It was the first time the band’s walleye harvest exceeded angler harvest since co-management of the lake began in the 1990s.

– Of the anglers’ walleye kill, 35,000 pounds were taken home, while close to 32,000 pounds were the result of hooking mortality after the fish were released.

– Anglers released about 500,000 pounds of walleyes.

– The 2003 angler harvest was 307,000 pounds less than the 2002 harvest. The 2002 season was a record, with 3.5 million pounds of walleyes boated.

When you break these numbers down, anglers only took 35,000 pounds of the 442,000 allocated.

What really pisses this angler off (And I have pontificated on this point in the past) is the limits were set for polical reasons, not what was good for the lake…Or what even makes sense. The following statment only confirms my prior predictions: “Wingate said there’s a large population of walleyes over 20 inches in Mille Lacs, but there are relatively few between 14 and 20 inches.” Duh! When you set limits that allow anglers to pound on 14-17 inch fish year after year, this is what happens.

The DNR needs to go back and look at the 6 fish, one over 20 rule that was in effect for ten years prior to all the court rulings and crap with the tribes. The lake maintained a balance the DNR has not been able to duplicate. You had good years, bad years and record years under that rule. The old saying “If it aint broke, don’t fix it” come to mind.

Ok, enough for now.

Jon J.

It will be interesting to see what happens with this down the road. I do agree with you John, that we need to go back to the one over 20 inches. Thats what really brought Mille Lacs back in the 70’s with the “one over 20 rule”

One question that I have for everyone is this:

Has anyone ever seen a dead walleye laying on the bottom of Mille Lacs Lake? I have never or heard of any one else. I know this from living on this lake……that we sure in the heck don’t have 30,000+lbs of walleyes floating up on shore from hooking mortallity.

Two summers ago, we saw a few, I mean 3-4 a day floating out on the flats. The smaller fish, didn’t last long because the gulls cleaned them up pretty quickly. I personally think the hooking mortality rate is still figured with a bit of voodoo. I don’t have the time on the lake like you do, but I’ve never saw a dead fish with my camera on the bottom.

Two springs ago, when the bite was hot………..

I found a 25″ walleye, swimming on top of the water. She couldn’t go down. She literally swam to our boat. I was able to pick her up with my hands. She was belly down, but she couldn’t swim down. She had two battle wounds. One on each side of her eye, back by her gill plate. It appeared that she had been speared, but somehow got away. It was a sad waste. I’m not big on eating big fish, but to watch her swim off, only to die, without even giving her to someone who is lacking money to buy food for their kids really bothered me. I don’t like wasting anything…….from squirels to turkeys to venison to any type of fish. If your going to kill it, you have to eat it…….

That weekend, I also spotted about half a dozen fish that were over or under the slot limit that were floating. I also caught a 28″ that had two hooks in her throat. That was a crazy bite!!! That fish lived………very healthy, a bit skinny, but healthy……

A buddy’s buddy does a lot of scubba diving on Mille Lacs. He recovers alot of anchors and other junk that is found on the reefs. Word is, that he did some diving during that summer (2 years ago), and he did find a lot of dead walleyes on the bottom. Couldn’t tell you how many, but I know it bothered him. I guess it was because of the heat???

Don’t fish float to the top in warm water? I thought they only sink in cold water?

Probably………..

It was word from a friend of a friend………….

They could have been diving in the spring when the water was cooler and the visibility was higher. I know divers like that cold clear water for diving.

Mixed emotions here about the prospects of tinkering with the slot…

On one hand, the slot is much too tight and is likely affecting the natural size structure of fish in the lake.

On the other I fear a change, the “one over 20” rule from years past has been thrown out, would likely have us over poundage in a year when fishing success was at normal levels and we would find ourselves butting heads with that darn court descision again.

What to do?

I for one would love to see the “one over 20” rule come back into effect…. love to reminisce, boy they were the good old days ….but reduce the bag limit to 3. Just my opinion. They would have to do the logistics on catch vs. release per day for X amount of fishing days to come up with a good daily bag limit and adjust it for the first year or two untill the poundage works out. But if the bag limit decreases below 3 as in WI on some lakes that are speared… the whole bag limit would have to be looked at again. On WI lakes in the ceded territory the bag limits for eyes vary, but most are below 3 and it’s not worth fishing.

I have heard the idea of going down to a 3 fish limit many times. I think that would work just fine with most anglers. Three fish can be a nice meal! In my case, I bag 3 filets feeds my wife and I just great……..3 fish=two meals!

I’ll be honest………….

The last Mille Lacs walleye I ate was 2002.

Two reasons for this.
1: The slot limit. I’m throwing back almost every fish caught.
2: Because of the slot limit, I don’t spend as much time up there as I used to.

Please note that in 2000 & in 2001, I ate plenty of meals out of the Pond.

It isn’t worth going up there for a day from work, just to throw back everything. No, I’m not a big meat hunter, but I love my fresh walleye every once a month or two.

Put a slot limit protection of 20″ to 30″ no one needs to mount a 28″ fish. The only reason for that 28″ factor (from what I’ve been told) is because of tournaments. I’m curious if that is true or not.

No one, and I MEAN NO ONE, needs to knife a 20+ inch walleye. One: they don’t taste that good. Two: that 20 to 24 inch fish are prime spawners.

Drop the bag limit to 3 and put it from 14 to 20″, with one over 30 for the wall. AGAIN, NO ONE NEEDS TO FILL THEIR FREEZER. IF A FAMILY IS THAT HUNGRY, THEN TWO PEOPLE WITH LICENSE CAN GO TAKE 6 FISH.

My frustration goes to no end. Even my father of 79 years had enough. He is a reserved Gentleman. However, he wasn’t one afternoon when we came in with 1 perch in the live well, after releasing 30 + walleyes and a 27″ pike. He chewed out the DNR CO up/down/left/righ/forward/& back.

He didn’t direct it directly at the CO, but his point was made that he will never come back to that lake again………..ever……..

What was done is flat out wrong and a terrible waste over political BS. Probably shouldn’t say this, but if anyone needs government subsidies, it would be the lodge owners, to protect them from Bankruptcy………

Quote:

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No one, and I MEAN NO ONE, needs to knife a 20+ inch walleye. One: they don’t taste that good.

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I’ll respectfully disagree with that statement. Walleye up to about 24 inches are great tasting fish out of Mille Lacs. I’m not ashamed to admit I have taken and eaten plenty of 20-24 inch fish out of the lake! (When the slot allowed, of course!)

J.

I agree that filleting the occasional 20-24″ fish is just fine. I have eaten plenty of fish in this category and they taste just fine. I don’t support taking more than one of these fish per outing. I would never go out targeting these fish just for eating.

If the current slot makes Mille Lacs more like Winni, then I am all for it. I have fished Winni every year for 8 years now. Winni just keeps getting better and better. I have never caught a 10″ walleye on Mille Lacs, but in the spring on Winni, 10″ or smaller eyes usually make up 25% of our catch. 50% of the catch is right in the perfect-eating, 14-17″ range. We also catch some larger fish every year also. I love all the action, and all the different sized fish. My point with all of this babbling is that maybe we need to hold out a couple years and see what the current slot does for the lake.

I would leave the trophy fish mark at 28″ or maybe 26″. “Trophy” carries a different meaning for everyone. Out of Mille Lacs, I would never mount a fish under 10 pounds, but I know some people who have caught some awesome 27″ that they proudly display on there walls.

Last year I caught 2 walleyes for 62 hours on the big pond, so do agree that something needs to change.

i have been fishing the puddle for 25years and have lived here for over a year now. it wasn’t the walleye fishing that brought me here. first and formost is the muskie fishery, next is all around trophy fishery. everything from panfish to carp this lake produces trophy fish. as we all know it is the walleye fishing that is the bread and butter for all of the area businesses. as far as all of the dead walleye, i had more dead bullheads wash up on my shoreline this last year than walleyes. i think there was 4 of them. trying to predict what this lake is going to do is like trying to predict the weather. sometimes you get close and sometimes you miss it by a mile. lately they haven’t been close. i think that the people that think they know, are all scrathing their heads. i think that it is mostly politics that regulates this lake and that is sad to see. the one fish over 20″ rule did just fine along with the spring nightfishing ban. i know that some of the didhards won’t like this idea, but maybe some type of a night ban for the fall also. anyone who spent any time up here last year knows that there wasn’t anybody fishing here. due to the slot and the reports of no fish biting, the access’s had very few cars or were empty on most days. even this fall was not was not all that hard hit. i know nothing about managing a lake, but on the other hand, the people that are in the know are in the same boat. i think that nobody fishing here last year had some thing to do with the low harvest rate, but there is alot of other factors that have to be figured in. i think that over regulation can and will ruin this lake. hopefully down the road the people in the know can get together with the DNR and the natives and the business owners and anybody else that thinks that they can help, and get this lake back to what it used to be. the walleye captial of the world!!!!!!!

Jon and Bigfife.

I in turn, respect your feelings as well. No, those bigger fish don’t taste bad. However, my opinion is that a 15″ taste alot better than a 24″.

I do apologize for coming accross unruley, but MAN, IS THIS FRUSTRATING.

Yes, history on the lake has shown good years and bad years for harvest. But the past two years have been a mess.

One side of the coin (last year for example), the majority of the people didn’t catch squat…………..Ergo, couldn’t take a meal home.

On the other side of the coin (2002 for example), you could of caught a walleye with (as one wise man said) a hot dog on a hook. However, we still couldn’t keep a meal, and we watched a few walleyes die from it.

Many other lakes in the state have tight restrictions and do very well. Winnie, Rainy, LOTW, Farm Is. etc. Why can’t the political BS’rs get this right???

Here’s a little different twist to the same idea. Similar to how the St. Louis river is managed.
We complain that there aren’t many 14-17 inch fish right?? How about allowing 2 fish per day between 17″ and 22″ and the rest have to go back? This way it allows the smaller fish to grow up, the majority of good spawners to be left alone, and 17-22″ should provide a good opportunity for people to get their 2 fish per day.
My .02

All good ideas guys. The fish in the 14-18 inch class are almost non-existant in the lake when compared to the other size of fish present. They just don’t represent the current population well. So, a 2 fish limit from 17-22 will not do a lot of good, as you are still targeting the same fish that have been targeted for the last 3 years by anglers and would be from the 2000 & 2001 year classes. These two year classes were not big to start with and the ones that made it were canabalized by the bigger fish in the lake in 2001 when the perch population crashed.

The bottom line is the harvest right now is minimal and the DNR is still using hooking mortality percentages that are falsely high. So, in reality, the harvest or kill is much less then being reported.

What do we do about it? Well, somehow the powers that be have to get together and figure out how to allow the harvest of SOME bigger fish without going over the safe allowable harvest. My guess is it will involve keeping one fish in the current protected slot for a certain time period, like after the night ban is lifted. I would imagine the limit of 4 will not be changed.

On a positive note, there is a HUGE 2002 year class that are currently 9-11.5 inches and will fill the void left by the 2001 & 2002 year classes very soon. Also, there is a huge forage base to support the current population of fish. In addition, eveyone is aware of the two huge year classes of perch. I look for EXCELLENT fishing over the next two years, especially if we have a bad perch spawn in the next two years.

Oh, and for the panfish guys, there is a huge year class of 4-5 inch crappies in the lake. These will be a nice addition to the current crappie population.

I am excited about the future possibilities and look forward to Mille Lacs walleye getting back to that 12 lb mark. Unless something changes, the possibilities are very real in the next couple years.

The tullipee population is coming back too! We saw schools of tullie’s swimming around the boat last summer on calm days.

I’m not sure I agree with you Scott. I boated over 150 walleyes this year and was only able to keep 5. However, I threw back dozens of fish a couple inches over the legal limit, which puts them smack dab into the middle of the 17-22 inch slot I talked about earlier.
Anyway, It’s neither here nor there since you and I aren’t making the decisions.

Good Fishin’ !
Crossin’

Yes, Scott I took notice to the small crappies that were in my boat harbor this mid summer. I saw large schools of 2-3 inch fish……….big schools! I hope they swim back home someday when they are around 13-14 inches!!!!!

Crossin, you don’t have to agree with me, just do some research you will find out for yourself.

I caught over 100 slot fish this summer and they certainly don’t represent the lake well. So I don’t rely a lot on fish I caught because it is very techinque specific. For instance, if you are a troller, your odds of getting a lot of slot fish are less than if you are a bobber fisherman. ( just and example)

The Balance of the fish in the lake are bigger than 22 inches or will be bigger by the time any regulation is changed. That is my whole point.

A 17-22 inch slot just targets a population of fish that have been target by the slot for 3 years already and were scarce to begin with.

If you would have said 19-24 I would have said that would have made a difference. But, like you said, we don’t make the rules, we just live with them.

I see your point Scott. I guess I am basing my info on the fact that I fish many different ways (slip bobber, live bait rig, jig and minnow, trolling etc) at differnt times of the season, and I caught many more fish in the 17-22″ range than the current limit. That being said, you are right that the fish keep on growing and by the time they do anything ( IF they do anything) those 17-22″ range will soon be too big too.

BTW “technique specific” raised my eyebrows. Care to share???

LOL, Maybe if I don’t fish the Wave Wacker this year I will give out that secret

Not fish the wacker?

If I remember right you cashed a pretty sweet check last year.
Gotta go for it!

Yes, 2nd last year and the check was nice. But, the RCL kind of squeezed us this year. I would have to leave right after the Wacker for Oahe, which isn’t ideal but I may have to do. I hate to miss the WW

I’ll make you a deal Scott, you give me the GPS coordinates, techniques and bait. I’ll fish the wacker for you and give you 30% of my winnings. Ah heck, I’ll get my own bait.

Seriously, I may have some Oahe info that may be helpful. It’s old info, but may help you get started. The water levels are down 26 feet since the last time I fished her, so I’m guessing my info will be of little help. I’ve got lots of friends out there though, so let me know if I can help out at all.

That would be much appreciated!!!