http://www.rlnn.com/ArtSept07/RLFisheriesSetToReopenSept12.html
check this out 
my opinion to keep things from getting any more out of order than they already are–
put the lake back to a crappie lake and forget walleyes
therefore “”POOF”” the problem goes away 
Any bets when the lake will be empty again? 
It really paid off for the sportmans clubs and the DNR to restock it.
Pretty sad! I was just up there on a sales trip to the sporting goods stores. It looks like a ghost town. Everyone I talked to was mad at the DNR and the whole situation.
Anglers are having a tough time catching fish outside the protected slot. I think most would except that for a few years to see the smaller ones grow and the bigger ones reproduce. Unfortunately nets don’t discriminate against size, so anglers may never see that day. 
Bring on the crappies!
Some interesting points to me.
1 – It will start out as hook and line. 
2 – There is a harvest slot.
Here was the FAQ.
Sully
This is the portion that concerns me.
Quote:
If the Fishery does not take in enough fish by hook and line fishing, crews will be hired from each district and will rotate shifts to supplement the hook and line take by setting either commercial trap nets or commercial gillnets.
And they can use as many lines as they want. Does this mean they can runjug lines in summer, and run 100 tip ups in winter?
So they WILL meet their quota each year based on this.
I hope they can manage the lake this time, and not have unauthorized sales not through Red Lake Foods.
Let me get this straight.
1. Kill off the best crappie lake in MN history.
2. Use Tax dollars to re-introduce walleyes
3. Allow those walleyes to be commercially fished to death again? (By Non-tax payers)
Wow, I do not know who to look at? The DNR, Politicians? I just do not see the logic here?
Bad deal all around. The tribe should reimburse the DNR (AKA – Minnesota Taxpayers) for the money we spent re-stocking the lake.
You would think the tribe would learn from history. Not repeat it!
-J.
I don’t see the walleye population crashing with these changes as it protects the spawning biomass, however catching a walleye in the current slot could be very tough in a couple years.
I like the fact that it is hook and line to start out with. It would be nice if the nets were gone for good. That last part about being able to trap/net if the quota is not met is the most concerning part. It just about guarantees they will be able to reach there safe harvest level each year.
Can you believe this ####. And people think Mille Lacs has issues and are constantly bashing it. At least they didnt spend millions to stock Mille Lacs! Walleyebry
Scott
I see a lot of walley tournaments held on other lakes all over–any reason there hasnt been an eye tournament on Red with all the eyes
as a matter of fact I dont remember a gator torney there either-
comments to me last year were mostly winter related–
“where are the crappies? thats what we came for-not the eyes we can stay home and catch smaller ones and be satisfied”
my numbers came out 55% filled out in crappies
the other 45% caught a couple or 4
90% filled out on eyes but it 2 days because of the slot size–the other 10% caught either to big or to small
THE EYE REPOPULATION hasnt helped any business up there– bring those crappies back and Red will come back to life in a heart beat
remember the idea of putting cribs in- we sponcered a couple of them, but we did it for the crappies, it didnt work as well as it was supposed to, but we tried, crap the eyes dont go there much–that lake has its own set of rules
say if we could fish the 1/4 of upper and deliver them to the eye factory each day with a quota and our 2 eye limit that lake would be hopping- with the trip paid for
i get a little into it so just take my opinion as 2 cents worth but some of it makes sence– dog gone Judy and I have helped on many kids days, family days with prizes, food, plowing along with some great people that have been there with us- giving and donating- helping build the lake up- I wont step back and let us that helped clean the lake dayly in the winter season, when the ice went out, in the spring along the beaches for 2 days be forgotten– I will voice my opion for not just myself but the others
If the Fishery does not take in enough fish by hook and line fishing, crews will be hired from each district and will rotate shifts to supplement the hook and line take by setting either commercial trap nets or commercial gillnets.
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That says it all.
Bring on the crappies. They need to open the slot up to get people back there again.
Where is a politician on something like this 
? With an election only 14 months away wouldn’t you think someone would openly oppose this sort of thing? Could earn a ton of sportsman votes 
…RR
What happened to the investigation into the Indians actually having control of half of Upper Red and all of Lower Red? If the Indians want to always use their soveriegn nation status against us, let them be completely on their own. No public money for anything. Every nation in the world has had some group take over something that did not belong to them. Borders in some countries are still changing today. Do their governments have to pay these people every month? Why don’t we pay the African Americans every month, or the Chinese that were exploited? It’s time to end this garbage of the Indians ruining our natural resources. Let them abide by the same laws as everyone else, or let them fund everything with their tax free casino money. Just my opinion, but a change is long overdue.
Well where do I start?
What I get a kick out of is how this Red Lake forum is dead until a little trouble starts and out come the stones.
First one
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Pretty sad! I was just up there on a sales trip to the sporting goods stores. It looks like a ghost town. Everyone I talked to was mad at the DNR and the whole situation.
I make my entire living from the lake, I’m not mad. Bussiness is good, yes the meat hogs are gone to the next hot bite but the good clients are still here. I think the DNR is doing a good job with what they have to work with, remember this is a freak show of a lake. NOBODY knows how to handle this including ma nature, she even got a little confused.
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my opinion to keep things from getting any more out of order than they already are–
put the lake back to a crappie lake and forget walleyes
So how are we going to create three weeks of dead flat calm weather with perfect temps during a high water level again to pulll of a crappie spawn? Currently we are on day 33 of wind with low water conditions, guess El’ Nino or global warming will pull that of again in the spring?
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The tribe should reimburse the DNR (AKA – Minnesota Taxpayers) for the money we spent re-stocking the lake.
Maybe the MN taxpayers and sportsmen should pay back the larger sum of money they put forth to re stock the lake the last time. Red Lake Nation put a large amount down and have to come even close to pulling qouta. Lets not forget we are talking 56k, How many of you guys pull a 30k boat with a 40k truck?
Quote:
comments to me last year were mostly winter related–
“where are the crappies?
We had to look for the fish, move houses and scout everyday to find crappies. Thats what it takes to put anglers on crappies. Remember the crappies have always been there just that everyone was to worried about catching walleye to go deep looking for them.
Quote:
They need to open the slot up to get people back there again.
Hello pot. Yes kettle? Your black. So you open up the slot to allow the taking of more fish or a larger group of fish? In sense relaxing the harvest regs similar to that of say a gill or trap net?
Couple things to remember.
1) If you live in glass house throwing stones is not a good idea.
2)Friends accomplish more then enemies
We have a touchy situation at hand. Name calling, slander, and throwing out statements without solid backing will only anger each each party into a standoff.
Remember hook and line unless the qouta is short then supplement with trap and gill. Non reservation borders qouta yearly, the Red Lake Nation does not. Lets also remember the DNR cannot make a solid move until they know if the Red Lake Nation is going to pull full qouta or not. By announcing they will we now have solid numbers to work with and begin to manage the fisherie as such. The fact that the tribe has full legal right to pull off shore with every boat loaded with gill nets in full attack of the walleye, they chose to hold meetings, hire fisheries staff such biologist, fisherie experts, water shed staff along with many more to find a better solution instead.
I think you have to give the powers that be a chance with managing this lake, I remember how nuts people went the first year Mille Lacs put that 14-16 inch slot in, but look at the fishing now, its fantastic for big fish and eaters, and there are plenty of fish for spawning.One more week for me and I will be up there chasing big pike!
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The tribe should reimburse the DNR (AKA – Minnesota Taxpayers) for the money we spent re-stocking the lake.
——————————————————————————–
Quote:
Maybe the MN taxpayers and sportsmen should pay back the larger sum of money they put forth to re stock the lake the last time. Red Lake Nation put a large amount down and have to come even close to pulling qouta. Lets not forget we are talking 56k, How many of you guys pull a 30k boat with a 40k truck?
Need to explain that one. What numbers are you talking about and where can I verify them.
-J.
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Mille Lacs put that 14-16 inch slot
sippi,
The Mille Lacs slot has nothing to do with fish management. The slot exists for political reasons only.
-J.
I thought the slots that the DNR has implemented on all of the naturally reproducing lakes was to maintain a strong breeding population of walleyes. The days of eating 5 and 6 pounders is over.
No. The slot exists only to manage the quota.
-J.
3 stockings of Vermillion fry at a cost of $68,000 each time. Red Lake Band paid $40,000 and the DNR paid $28,000 each time. The 2004 and 2005 smaller stockings with fry from the Red Lakes was paid for completely by the Red Lake Band.
I told Jon $56,000. Gettting old and the minds slipping, I forgot one stocking. 
Check with the DNR if you think we’re wrong.
I guess I read the same book as sippi. I thought the main reaon for “slots” was to protect the breeding population.
So, $84,000 taxpayer money spent on stocking a lake that will get comercially fished by the tribe. Still feeling a little screwed.
On Mille Lacs, the slot exists only to regulate harvest. In other words the slot exists to keep the white guys harvest amount under a politically mandated number. Nothing else!
-J.
So you would rather see URL with no walleyes?
Speaking of feeling screwed,,,,,how many feet or inches of interstate in St. Paul does $84,000 of taxpayers money build? 
$84,000 comes out to be about 1/80 of a PENNY per MN taxpayer. We can hold some raffles or something around URL to repay you if you want. The tough part is going to be how we can cut 1/80th of a penny off the penny.
I get the feeling that if the stocking of the Red Lakes was done for free you would still be unhappy.
What does the slots on Mille Lacs have to do with URL?
Kelly and Jonny P
WhAT are your thoughts on why not the lake wasnt kept as the greatest crappie lake- Iv never figured out why– I for one really didnt miss the eyes to much and a lot of customers didnt either- just a resonable question with some kind of resonable answer– I understand the low water, wind etc;; but with the introduction of that many eyes we all know who would eat who for breakfeast first right?
You’re missing the point. It’s not the amount of money. It the fact that the tribe is commercially fishing the lake. It’s wrong and we both know it! Ten years ago If the state had know the tribe was going to turn around and commercially fish the lake, they (aka – us tax payers) would have turned and ran!
“So you would rather see URL with no walleyes?” I would rather see both the tribe and state citizens governed under the same rules in any regard to the lake.
“What does the slots on Mille Lacs have to do with URL?” I don’t know. Ask sippi, he brought it up. But in regard to tribes having the so called “right” to net the lake rubs most of us the wrong way as URL. There are many parallels. All of them sit wrong in my book.
-J.
I wish those that think it should have been kept a crappie lake would just tell us how to do it????? It’s easy to SAY it should be a crappie lake. Making it happen is a whole nother world.
Look at what it would take for the crappies to come back great again.
#1 The lake has to get warm enough soon enough for the crappies to spawn with the fry having enough time to grow and get big enough to survive the winter. Most years the lake never gets warm enough for them to spawn so they reabsorb their eggs. Also now when the lake gets warm enough for the crappies to spawn there are 300 boatloads of fishermen catching them. The same people that are calling for URL to remain a great crappie lake now have a bunch of female crappies full of spawn flopping around the bottom of the boat. Crappie spawn has a very low chance of survival in the bottom of a boat.
#2 In URL the crappies do not have the bays or protected areas to spawn in so they spawn in the lake. Then they need 3 straight weeks of calm weather so the eggs are not covered with silt and smothered in the nest. When is URL calm for 3 days let alone 3 weeks?
#3 Now that the eggs have hatched into fry they need food so they grow big enough to survive the winter. 12 years ago crappies were the only fry in the lake all the food was theirs. Now they have to compete for it.
#4 Predators. 12 years age there were very few other fish in the lake. There was nothing to eat the crappie fry.
#5 Now we have the crappie fry through the summer and it is big enough to survive the winter. Now we need 5 or 6 years of no or very little fishing pressure so they can grow. It wasn’t hard 12 years ago because fishermen avoided URL and us like we had the plauge. Now who would like to tell MN anglers that they can not fish URL for 5 years to give the crappies time to grow????
To have the crappies come back stong would be great but it would take many things to fall in place just exactly right for it to happen again.
Jon,
It is not right in YOUR mind. Don’t lump the rest of us in with you. The Red Lake Band has the legal right to fish 82% of Upper and Lower Red Lake as they wish. That is the hand we are dealt, live with it. For the Band to try hook and line fishing is the best thing we could have hoped for. The Band should be applauded for trying this not have rocks thrown at it like was happening on this Forum. I cannot believe that the moderators, (if there are any) of this forum allow so many half truths, slanders and lies to be posted. All in all Jon we will never agree but I am happy that you’re in the metro area and I’m here. If you were here it would be fighting and we would have a lake with a dwindling crappie population and no walleyes. I’m proud of the fact that we worked with the Red Lake Band and brought the Lake back. 90 years ago my Grandfather was a commercial fisherman on URL using gillnets. Does that mean he was a bad person?
Bigfife, I’ld like to know who you talked to but do not put words in all of our mouths.
colklink83, Do you realize that the take used to be 3.5 to 4 million pounds. Isn’t 1 million a lot better?
Before the walleye crash we had white “sportsmen” putting gillnets in the rivers during spawning run. Why isn’t anyone here talking about that? I believe that the Band could do well hook and line commercial fish because before the crash we had white “sportsmen” hook and lining boxes and boxes of walleyes and taking them to the Cities and selling them.
I hate to burst your bubbles here but we as white sportsmen are not on the high road wearing our white robes bathed in glory. The stench of what happened to the walleyes in the Red Lakes during the 70’s and 80’s clings to all of us! The time for throwing rocks, finger pointing yelling and fighting are in the PAST!
I think everyone can agree that there were mistakes made in the past, mistakes are made, its not making the same mistakes twice that matters. I think URL has a bright future, I brought up Mille Lacs because its a great example of a success story in fisheries managment, juggling open water and ice fishing and treaty managment without closing the season, in five years I believe URL will be the same, alot of eaters and big fish. If they would have put it out to a vote I would have voted to restock the lake.
thank you both for giving your opinions– and it is well taken
now a couple other ?s
we have heard of sunnies being caught there–we have never seen them –but is the rumer true?
now we had 4 houses each year and im certain Jonny has read the about average % of caught to bodies in houses we had, we know you have way more houses than me–how did your houses do on crappies and eyes, and how many houses did you and Jonny have out on the north end
you know me and you know I moved my houses sometimes twice a week and never gave up and my crew was only me- to bad a hip slowed me up last winter and strapped me in a position to sell everything– no other reason!!!
I know you cant advertise here without paying but you shouldnt have to;; being on the other site all these years;
do you think that crappie frys (like eyes size) could have been released the same time eyes were–hatched the same way? guess it was never brought up to the DNR huh?
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