Latest DNR Report for Mille Lacs Harvest…Uh..Oh!

Unless they (the DNR) continues to revise this report like they did the last one, this could be reason to worry. Looks like we’re getting a lot closer to the limit than we want to be at this time of year. This could get interesting! Also mind you, this is just through July 15.

Fishing report through Friday, July 15

Walleye
State anglers (July 1-15)
Hooking mortality estimate: 14,687 pounds (7,000 fish)
Released: 97,000 pounds (56,121 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 7,808 of 11,400 allowed pounds (2,407 fish)
State angler total: 21,637 of 28,600 allowed pounds (10,138 fish)

Northern Pike
State anglers (July 1-15)
Harvested: 1,631 pounds (322 fish)
Hooking mortality estimate: 447 pounds (101 fish)
Released: 8,130 pounds (1,842 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 1,752 of 50,000 allowed pounds (430 fish)
State angler total: 13,550 of 50,000 allowed pounds (3,468 fish)

Yellow Perch
State anglers (July 1-15)
Harvested 338 pounds (347 fish)
Released: 106 pounds (200 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 636 of 101,714 allowed pounds (953 fish)
State angler total: 5,667 of 135,000 allowed pounds (10,923 fish)

I saw this earlier as well… sadly, It’s not looking good for Fall trolling again this year. The good news is that the busy season for the resorts is winding down soon and hopefully they will also see extra bookings for the FLW championship in early Sept.

Will

That sucks. The sad thing is that there is no choice once the quota is reached.

Was really looking forward to summer and fall trolling.

Will Roseberg wrote:

I saw this earlier as well… sadly, It’s not looking good for Fall trolling again this year. The good news is that the busy season for the resorts is winding down soon and hopefully they will also see extra bookings for the FLW championship in early Sept.

Will

Nope, not looking good at all. This report through July 15 obviously does not include the last 2 weeks of July and then there was that MTT tournament last weekend. I’m sure by now we’ve already blown through the remaining 7,000 lbs and seems likely we’ll surpass the 28,600 lbs (again) before they can blow the whistle. Guess I’m surprised with all C&R this year and what appeared to be far fewer anglers/angling hours reported. On the other hand, guess we should have known it was coming.

Virtually the only way that we were going to avoid going over this year was if the angling hours were way down (The “proposed” no live bait restriction had more to do with depressing angling hours than hooking mortality) or if the lake was completely shut down during the peak temperature period from mid-July through August. The angling hours were way down early but in talking with my friends who own resorts the angling pressure has increased since earlier in the year which is why we’re seeing the higher harvest numbers in July…. Looking at how many more lbs were caught in July and it’s pretty easy to make an educated guess that the angling hours were up.

Will

EDIT – Although I do expect a closure I am actually happy for the resorts that angling hours were up as I think the good fishing early in the year helped keep most of them busy enough to hopefully make it through another summer of unprecedented restrictions.

Will Roseberg wrote:

The angling hours were way down early but in talking with my friends who own resorts the angling pressure has increased since earlier in the year which is why we’re seeing the higher harvest numbers in July…. Looking at how many more lbs were caught in July and it’s pretty easy to make an educated guess that the angling hours were up.

Will

True to some extent. What I have learned is that the pressure was way down until recently. The more notable factor is that catch rates this year are nearly double that of last year. What does that tell us? Anyway…guess the result is the same.
I’ll PM you later.
Andy

Having a brain fart, if they shut it down for walleye’s is it shut down for everything?

basseyes wrote:

Having a brain fart, if they shut it down for walleye’s is it shut down for everything?

No.

What do we do other than find another lake.

Plenty of perch ! those numbers

I think there are a few factors here still left to consider before an actual shutdown would occur…

1 – I have heard from a few sources that the “real” hooking mortality based on their studies is showing fewer fish die versus the historically calculated hooking mortality algorithm. I haven’t definitively if they were able to adjust their calculations for early July but there is also the chance that they can adjust mortality numbers retroactively to the beggining of the year to achieve a more accurate hooking mortality based on their ongoing study.

2 – The was a week in mid to late July with 10-12″ of rain on Mille Lacs that at least temporarily lowered water temps and also those storms kept the angling hours down which will result in a lower catch during the next period.

3 – Now that this has become such a hot topic and is on the radar of our elected officials all the way up to Governor Dayton who knows what will happen… It is definitely not beyond the realm of possibility that they will do something, shall we say less than smart, such as making an agreement with GLIFWC that if you let us keep Mille Lacs open for walleye fishing this year when we have a national spotlight coming here in a few weeks then feel free to also net lakes X, Y, and Z in the future.

Will

Will Roseberg wrote:

sadly, It’s not looking good for Fall trolling again this year.

Those plans were pretty much done at the start of the season with the night ban in place until December….. Unless we are talking musky!

-J.

It is going to be an interesting next year up there…again. It would be rather embarrassing to have Minnesota’s crown jewel walleye lake shut down for walleye, when the spotlight from the biggest fishing tournament in the US is here. Also, I can’t help but wonder what next years regs will hold. Obviously with the catch rates, leads me to believe there has to be a shortage of forage in the lake. And the majority of the fish being caught are between 12-15″, so next year those should be 15-18″. Which, I’m no biologist, but I believe bigger fish eat more food…oh and remember it is just a coincidence these big year classes are from the late ice/no netting years…

The shortage of food theory would make more sense if the fish looked as skinny as years past. They don’t. They are all very fat and healthy looking.

I’ve come to expect skinny walleyes from Mille Lacs, until this year. They seem to be very well fed.

What does this mean for the upcoming ice season? I guess I’m not sure what year that harvest goes against…

How is it possible with 100% catch/release that the Angler total take for fish 10,138 can be higher than the hooking mortality estimate of 7,000 fish. Should those numbers be equal? Basically, where does the extra 7000lbs come from that are not part of the hooking mortality? Is it the winter take from Jan 1st through ice out?

riverrookie wrote:

How is it possible with 100% catch/release that the Angler total take for fish 10,138 can be higher than the hooking mortality estimate of 7,000 fish. Should those numbers be equal? Basically, where does the extra 7000lbs come from that are not part of the hooking mortality? Is it the winter take from Jan 1st through ice out?

The 10,138 fish are a cumulative estimate for hooking mortality for the entire open water season and also those kept last ice fishing season. The 7000 fish was the hooking mortality estimate only for the first half of July.

The extra 7000 lbs comes both from the winter take as well as the first 6 weeks of the open water season.

roosterrouster wrote:

What does this mean for the upcoming ice season? I guess I’m not sure what year that harvest goes against…

The entire winter season harvest typically goes against the following year and based on precedence in years past any changes in regulations for winter will take effect on December 1st. For example the shutdown last year was lifted effective December 1st.

I would hope for a total shut down today! Open back in mid September when the walleyes are shallower

bobberstop4054 wrote:

I would hope for a total shut down today! Open back in mid September when the walleyes are shallower

I’d hate to have to tell you, but, the walleyes ARE still in the shallows. Maybe not ALL of them but I spent Sunday trolling in 10′-12′ and caught Walleyes from 8″-22″ along with a bunch of Smallies any where from 6″-18″. Don’t need the fall to troll shallow.

Will is exactly correct answering the above questions.

bobberstop4054 wrote:

I would hope for a total shut down today! Open back in mid September when the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes are shallower

As far as this, they (DNR) will wait until the next report before they declare anything official but it’s quite possible the total quota is close to being met if not already. Once that has been met (or exceeded?) they will not be able to reopen in September. December 1st would start the next harvest season.

If theyd ecide to shut it down is there specific shut down dates established? Like review for a shutdown on a quarterly basis and give a 1 month warning it will be shutdown…or will we just read in the paper one day that Mille Lacs is closed to walleye fishing as of today?

biggill wrote:

The shortage of food theory would make more sense if the fish looked as skinny as years past. They don’t. They are all very fat and healthy looking.

I’ve come to expect skinny walleyes from Mille Lacs, until this year. They seem to be very well fed.

Agreed, however before the last crash (like 2008-09 I think?) they were pretty well fed also, and similarly everyone was hammering them. At that time the # of big 23″+ fish were more common than anything else, and those fish were blamed for the crash. Now we see similar catch rates, but the dominant year classes are 2-3 year old fish (2013-14). Soon those fish will be even bigger and hungrier, so I’d like to see some learning from history by our DNR and proactive management (ie taking some of those fish, and maybe some of the bigger ones too). I know that is a lofty wish…

I’ve wondered about hooking mortality rates for the last few years… it always seemed very excessive in their calculations….

TripleA wrote:

I’ve wondered about hooking mortality rates for the last few years… it always seemed very excessive in their calculations….

You and just about everyone else has wondered that also. This year however, the DNR has gotten more scientific. Starting at the opener they have set up large holding pens at various locations around the lake and have had volunteers catch walleyes at different depths, times and angling methods. All information is recorded, live bait or artificial, depth, water temp. etc. They are held in the pens from 5-7 days and the mortality is counted. One could argue that mortality would be higher being held in a pen. Which could very well be true, however they will be able to compare the mortality rate in May with the rate in early July. They will also factor catch rates and increased angling pressure percentages. So long story short, this year they will have far more tangible evidence to validate their mortality estimates. Believe it or not, like it or not!

I would think they will need to run the data past GLIFWC before publishing anything.

does the dnr know how many fish would die naturally if they do not eat for 5-7 days
i am wondering if this test of keeping in a pen for this length of time makes any sense and is really valid????

Wally fry wrote:

does the dnr know how many fish would die naturally if they do not eat for 5-7 days
i am wondering if this test of keeping in a pen for this length of time makes any sense and is really valid????

No it’s not valid and it makes no sense. Comparing a fish that is caught, handled properly and released immediately to one that is caught, put in a live well, then hauled across the lake to be put on a small pen in very shallow water for multiple days makes no sense to me at all.

No it’s not valid and it makes no sense. Comparing a fish that is caught, handled properly and released immediately to one that is caught, put in a live well, then hauled across the lake to be put on a small pen in very shallow water for multiple days makes no sense to me at all.

How small/deep are the pens your referring too?

I watched them do the catching/netting one day and the pen was out in 18-22′ FOW. Where was the pen you saw in in very shallow water? The pen I saw had to be 50 yards long…can’t remember exactly but it wasn’t a 10′ pen. When I was out there the boats were all in the vicinity of the pen, so they were not motoring across the lake. Granted, they were still handled….moved to a second boat…and then put in the net(pen) minutes later.

It can only help with the mortality numbers IMO and from what I heard earlier in the year was mortality was way less, but that was based on water that was still cooler.

311hemi wrote:

No it’s not valid and it makes no sense. Comparing a fish that is caught, handled properly and released immediately to one that is caught, put in a live well, then hauled across the lake to be put on a small pen in very shallow water for multiple days makes no sense to me at all.

How small/deep are the pens your referring too?

I watched them do the catching/netting one day and the pen was out in 18-22′ FOW. Where was the pen you saw in in very shallow water? The pen I saw had to be 50 yards long…can’t remember exactly but it wasn’t a 10′ pen. When I was out there the boats were all in the vicinity of the pen, so they were not motoring across the lake. Granted, they were still handled….moved to a second boat…and then put in the net(pen) minutes later.

It can only help with the mortality numbers IMO and from what I heard earlier in the year was mortality was way less, but that was based on water that was still cooler.

Hemi, What you are describing is exactly what I witnessed as well. These “collections” have been taking place around the lake and the one I saw was right near the West Myr Mar reef. I motored by it a number of times and also watched the whole collecting process from my deck. As I previously posted, this DNR mortality process is more thorough and perhaps (hopefully) more accurate than previous years estimates based primarily on mathematical formulas, estimates and wild guesses.