The data does not matter. This year makes that blatantly obvious. The dnr will twist the data to do whatever the tribe wants. There is no comanagement. It is managed by the tribe.
We are wasting so much fisheries dollars on Mille lacs to gather the data when none of it really matters. Make it catch and release permanently until the tribe wants to actually comanage it.
The data does not matter. This year makes that blatantly obvious. The dnr will twist the data to do whatever the tribe wants. There is no comanagement. It is managed by the tribe.
I have been banging this drum for a decade plus, but I would also say it’s FAR bigger than Mille Lacs and fisheries management. When weed is legalized, but only the tribes can sell it. And sports gambling doesn’t pass, until the tribe gets a monopoly first and foremost. And our metro legislators want to give the tribes hundreds of thousands of acres with nothing in return, and no guarantees on the rest of the state maintaining access. YOU KNOW WHO IS IN CHARGE, AND THEY ARE NOT ELECTED!!!
When they say “biologists”, do they actually mean it in the plural or is it still one guy out of Brainerd office who studies mille lacs when he’s able? Because that’s how it worked when I was there. The number of biologists at DNR is very small. It’s a law enforcement agency first and foremost.
The primary biologists and specialists that specifically managed Mille Lacs when I worked for the DNR were in the Aitkin Field Office, not in Brainerd. There was one Fisheries Biologist who had a PhD that specifically focused on the lake, and 2 other large lake Specialists. This was nearly 20 years ago though.
The Aitkin office also had forestry and wildlife employees who were stationed out of that location.
The Garrison large lake specialist was at the Wahkon access when the crew was out trying to trap female Muskys for artificial fertilization for Tiger Musky stocking in the Metro.
Gave me a lot of time answering questions. Eric Jenson and offices out of Garrison.
Said treaty harvest quotas were close to closing and was perplexed how they were successful trapping male Muskies but not so much on females. Thinking the spawn may have been earlier.
It was this morning Friday 4/26
Tribe is gobbling up a once vibrant recreational economy. Must have good lobbyist.
Economic siege warfare is my categorization. There is maybe 5% of the normal tourism for the walleye opener week. We’ll see what Bass is like.
No boats driving on the lake. None tied up at resorts by me. I saw 4 rigs at the Isle landing yesterday.
As for lobbying, both sides take $$$. They can argue & hide and do nothing. The band is fine with that.
Economic siege warfare is my categorization. There is maybe 5% of the normal tourism for the walleye opener week. We’ll see what Bass is like.
No boats driving on the lake. None tied up at resorts by me. I saw 4 rigs at the Isle landing yesterday.
As for lobbying, both sides take $$$. They can argue & hide and do nothing. The band is fine with that.
You sure you’re talking about mille lacs?! I will agree there was a little less traffic than normal especially given the great weather, but 5%?!?!. The north end was still VERY busy
The north end was still VERY busy
I wasn’t there but I heard that too. Tons of boats on the sand up there with the NW wind.
All this complaining over ML – and I get it. Yet, on the west side of the lake on the opener there were boats as far as the eye could see and in every direction. What occurred to me then is that things can’t be all bad if so many fishermen are choosing to fish ML above every other lake/river in the state…???
There were lots of boats on Saturday, I went out at 6pm (northeast sand) )and by 7pm I had the area I was in to myself, the launch even left the area.
Sunday it was empty in the northeast, but the smoke was thick, so that may have been part of the issue.
BS…yes
Landings were full this weekend where I was however.
I like to say that sportsmen could solve the problems by simply not fishing the lake or the area, But sadly I’m sure the Tribe and the Government would not care less if money is spent in the area or not. The only person it would hurt is the local business in the area. They ones still remaining anyway.
The economy of Mille Lacs is fine…….different than it was before the Walleye debacle started. But it is fine.
Monday and today there were between 10-15 rigs at the landing south of Myr Mar. There were rigs in the Garrison landing also. Cove Bay access was completely full this weekend.
While the DNR claims there are no Walleyes, there are reports of many being caught. So either the fishermen or the DNR is lying. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
If you are one of those who blames the Mille Lacs band for the state of the fishery be sure to vote with your wallet. Stay away from the Casino and educate yourselves on which businesses around the lake are Band owned and boycott them also.
My guess is most of you talk a good game but you will be dropping your dollars where it’s convenient.
I think a ton of the boat you are seeing on Mille lacs are boats chasing bass. I saw a ton of post of guys posting bass picks from this weekend. I know a lot of guys who fished it for bass last weekend but none who fished it for walleyes. The business’s in that are are thankful that the Bass population exploded when it did. Without the bass fishing I think a lot more business’s would be gone
There were plenty of walleye fisherman as well.
I think a ton of the boat you are seeing on Mille lacs are boats chasing bass. I saw a ton of post of guys posting <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>bass picks from this weekend. I know a lot of guys who fished it for <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass last weekend but none who fished it for walleyes. The business’s in that are are thankful that the Bass population exploded when it did. Without the bass fishing I think a lot more business’s would be gone
It’s funny how things have changed. Initially, when the smallmouth bass fishing took off and the walleye regs tightened, there was a lot of animosity towards the increasing popularity of smallmouth. The governor at the time even went out to promote bass fishing and a group of disgruntled walleye boats starting circling and harassing him.
I remember 20+ years ago no one even targeted smallmouth. It was almost 100% walleye anglers, and a few muskie guys. I still think there are more walleye anglers, especially if you count ice fishing, but smallmouth fishing has certainly risen exponentially in popularity there.
There were a lot of boats out there because there are tons of walleyes in the lake and they are easy to catch. The best catching reports I got from opener this year were from Mille lacs. I guess it goes to show people will go to fish for fun even if they can’t keep any due to the ‘comanagement’ bologna. The lake could handle some harvest and it would actually probably be good for it.
I would just pull an Elizabeth Warren and claim to be Native American and keep some for a fish fry.
I can’t really add anything that hasn’t already been said previously, and I think most of the regs are comical at best. But we fished for 5 hours Friday night/Saturday morning and caught 39 walleyes between 2 guys. We never once moved to a different spot. We caught fish as small as 8 inches and as large as 23.5 inches so at least 6 different year classes, probably more. There are loads of walleyes out there. I haven’t seen a perch in 7 years or so, so maybe, just maybe, you should remove a few of the predators.
It’s good fun for my boys. They can catch walleyes like we’re bluegill fishing off the dock. Small victories.
I can’t really add anything that hasn’t already been said previously, and I think most of the regs are comical at best. But we fished for 5 hours Friday night/Saturday morning and caught 39 <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes between 2 guys. We never once moved to a different spot. We caught fish as small as 8 inches and as large as 23.5 inches so at least 6 different year classes, probably more. There are loads of <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes out there. I haven’t seen a perch in 7 years or so, so maybe, just maybe, you should remove a few of the predators.
It’s good fun for my boys. They can catch walleyes like we’re bluegill fishing off the dock. Small victories.
Haven’t seen a perch in 7 years ? On Mille lacs ? Man we catch so many perch out there it’s annoying.
Yeah not catching a perch even on an outing seems almost impossible out there.
We haven’t caught perch in years. The last I saw was ice fishing probably 7 years ago. I remember when I used to go there to target perch and not walleyes lol. I’m sure there are some in there, I just can’t prove it.
I haven’t caught a perch out there in at least a decade either.
All of my fishing is open water though. I used to catch them regularly mixed right in with the walleyes constantly.
Keep more 12-14″ smallmouth from the water while it’s cool for the fish fry. Walleye meals from Mille Lacs have officially went the way of the dinosaurs for non-natives.
I’m not a Mille Lacs regular and generally steer clear, but when we’ve ice fished it a few times we’ve seen perch coming through in waves. I’ve never really ran into them open water fishing.
The daily northern pike limit out there is fairly liberal. You can keep 3 fish under 30 inches. Head into one of the bays with weeds and you’re bound to run into a few.
There is a lot of filet on a 28 or 29 inch pike provided you know how to remove the y bones.
I’ve never caught a smallmouth that small out there bucky. I think the smallest I’ve ever caught is about 16 inches. The quality size of smallmouth bass out there is fairly ridiculous.
Also, bass season is only C & R right now until May 25. Just an FYI
The DNR says there isn’t a lot of forage in the lake (not enough baitfish) that’s why the bite is so awesome.
If they don’t remove some predator fish we’ll be back to skinny fish and canabalism.
There are TOO many big fish in that lake. Big Walleye, big smallmouth, big pike, big muskie.
But nobody wants to remove big fish.
There needs to be a balance.
I don’t think keeping other species is the point here fellas. Or a solution for that matter.
I don’t think keeping other species is the point here fellas. Or a solution for that matter.
What are we looking for a “solution” to?
I just posted that for people who want to keep fish as a solution to walleye being C&R only.
As far as I’ve heard (as an outsider so I could be wrong) Mille Lacs has been kicking out fish of multiple species in quality size? Trophy SMB, accounts of dozens of released walleyes in an outing on opener with more than a couple year classes, the chance for trophy Muskies.
The troubling issue will be when there isn’t enough baitfish to feed all of the big fish in the lake.
When that happens the walleye year classes fail, due to canabalism. Then you end up with no new fish to replace the big fish after they die.
It’s great if you want to see Mille lacs turn awY from walleye and more smallmouth, but imo it will be bad for walleye in the future.
The troubling issue will be when there isn’t enough baitfish to feed all of the big fish in the lake.
When that happens the walleye year classes fail, due to canabalism. Then you end up with no new fish to replace the big fish after they die.
It’s great if you want to see Mille lacs turn awY from walleye and more smallmouth, but imo it will be bad for walleye in the future.
That will not be the 1st time that has happened on Mille lacs.
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