Mille Lacs Harvest Totals

For any of you who are curious what the harvest totals are, here is the latest report form the DNR dated Thursday June 30?? Not sure how or why they have that date but with the DNR it can always be some mystery . Anyway, here it is:

Fishing report through Thursday, June 30

Walleye
State anglers (June 1-15)
Hooking mortality estimate: 1,015 pounds (513 fish)
Released: 40,086 pounds (23,424 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 7,808 of 11,400 allowed pounds (2,407 fish)
State angler total: 3,107 of 28,600 allowed pounds (1,487 fish)

Northern Pike
State anglers (June 1-15)
Harvested: 356 pounds (119 fish)
Hooking mortality estimate: 756 pounds (263 fish)
Released: 7,281 pounds (2,613 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 1,752 of 50,000 allowed pounds (430 fish)
State angler total: 6,876 of 50,000 allowed pounds (1,880 fish)

Yellow Perch
State anglers (June 1-15)
Harvested 70 pounds (153 fish)
Released: 174 pounds (2,650 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 636 of 101,714 allowed pounds (953 fish)
State angler total: 5,183 of 135,000 allowed pounds (10,385 fish)
The report for the next survey period (June 16-30) will be posted on Friday, July 8.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Yellow Perch
State anglers (June 1-15)
Harvested 70 pounds (153 fish)

A 2.19 pound average! Something seems fishy….

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>walleyestudent wrote:</div>
Yellow Perch
State anglers (June 1-15)
Harvested 70 pounds (153 fish)

A 2.19 pound average! Something seems fishy….

-J.

153 fish at 2 lbs each would be 306 lbs

the only thing fishier than DNR reports is your math…….

J/K. Personally, the tribal totals seem fishy……

Yep! I call BS.

Timmy wrote:

the only thing fishier than DNR reports is your math…….

My body is at work but my brain is already on the way to the lake!!!

-J.

how can there be a total for walleye when its catch amd release?

Dead loss from hooking mortality.

cookie wrote:

how can there be a total for walleye when its catch amd release?

The numbers are produced from the creel survey taking place on the lake.

nope the mortality is shown separate. The tribes has only goy that many northern? I’m a little confused but thats nothing new

Northern Pike totals are interesting:
State angler total: 6,876 of 50,000 allowed pounds (1,880 fish)

3.65# average or about a 22″ or so length?

Now say 500 of those were about 29″ fish at about 7# then the remaining average drops to 2.44# and maybe 19″??? These numbers even possible?

Interesting numbers compared to the size northerns we catch out there…

I am witnessing one of their “mortality counts” this very evening right out in front of my place on the west Myr Mar reef. 3 DNR boats, what looks like at least a dozen volunteer angler boats and the holding pen marked by 2 flags. I could see as each boat catch a walleye they’d quickly motor over to and deposit in the pen, all the while the DNR boats would “circle the wagon”. Was quite an operation. So I guess tomorrow when I head out fishing, I’ll just keep going as that spot has been picked clean. Thankfully the water temps aren’t all that high yet so mortality shouldn’t be too much. The reality is, hardly anyone’s been fishing here this year. Most days I look out and I am lucky to see one boat.

weren’t tha “natives” targeting perch this spring with their nets.. ? they got only 953 perch, but 2407 walleyes by mistake ? this is a joke…. 2407 walleyes…. riiiiiiiiight.

big_g wrote:

weren’t tha “natives” targeting perch this spring with their nets.. ? they got only 953 perch, but 2407 walleyes by mistake ? this is a joke…. 2407 walleyes…. riiiiiiiiight.

Remember they speared too.

What still blows my mind is I have been on the lake 10 times and never seen a creel survey, CO, or sheriff on the water or at the landings. I thought the state was throwing money at Mille Lacs to better monitor the situation.

This morning I watched as the DNR looks to have come out and gathered up the “mortality holding pen” out in front of my place. Not sure if they’ve been checking it periodically or not, but it went in last Thursday so that’s 6 days. I’ve heard from others that there were several other similar operations going on these past few days. I have seen a couple floaters which is not surprising being all the fishing activity over the past weekend. Next report from the DNR is due out this Friday. We’ll see, it was last year at this time that the mortality “estimate” skyrocketed leading to the shutdown in early August. And that was when the catch rate was significantly less than what has been reported this year. So…..?

Andy

So they throw fish in a pen, then check it after several days to see how many die and somehow use that to determine mortality for caught and released fish?
I realize this is not an exact science but I can tell you that will yield exaggerated results. When we had a cabin we had a cage we put fish we caught from the dock. This was mainly because we could only get a few eating sized fish a night and wanted to release them if we didn’t get more than a few fish. Well if those fish were left for more than 1 day they almost always died.
I would guess the mortality number of these pens would be inflated too.

CaptainMusky wrote:

. When we had a cabin we had a cage we put fish we caught from the dock

We did same thing with our cabin dock, and we never had any fish die.
Conclusion, results may vary….

…and in conclusion: The DNR has no idea what the hell they are doing with this lake…RR

Well for any of you that have been anxiously awaiting the DNR’s clicker count on the “imaginary dead walleyes”, here is the updated report. This would be through June 30. (I will say based on my observations, they have put far more effort into their mortality studies this year).
Andy

Walleye
State anglers (June 16-30)
Hooking mortality estimate: 3,843 pounds (1,651 fish)
Released: 44,647 pounds (24,630 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 7,808 of 11,400 allowed pounds (2,407 fish)
State angler total: 6,950 of 28,600 allowed pounds (1,487 fish)

Northern Pike
State anglers (June 16-30)
Harvested: 4,045 pounds (1,017 fish)
Hooking mortality estimate: 551 pounds (147 fish)
Released: 10,020 pounds (2,681 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 1,752 of 50,000 allowed pounds (430 fish)
State angler total: 11,472 of 50,000 allowed pounds (3,045 fish)

Yellow Perch
State anglers (June 16-30)
Harvested 4,045 pounds (1,017 fish)
Released: 106 pounds (200 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 636 of 101,714 allowed pounds (953 fish)
State angler total: 5,329 of 135,000 allowed pounds (10,576 fish)
The report for the next survey period (July 1-15) will be posted on Wednesday, July 27.

I had to read this 3x before reposting. I have got to get up there. with an average perch weighing 3.97#s(Harvested) I could fill a bucket real quick. that was nice of the anglers to release all of the .53# ers for brood stock. Its a shame they only let 200 go though.

How exactly are you suppose to take anything they do seriously when they cant even fudge the #s to make sense.

Yellow Perch
State anglers (June 16-30)
Harvested 4,045 pounds (1,017 fish)
Released: 106 pounds (200 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 636 of 101,714 allowed pounds (953 fish)
State angler total: 5,329 of 135,000 allowed pounds (10,576 fish)
The report for the next survey period (July 1-15) will be posted on Wednesday, July 27.

4seasonsport wrote:

I had to read this 3x before reposting. I have got to get up there. with an average <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch weighing 3.97#s(Harvested) I could fill a bucket real quick. that was nice of the anglers to release all of the .53# ers for brood stock. Its a shame they only let 200 go though.

How exactly are you suppose to take anything they do seriously when they cant even fudge the #s to make sense.

Yellow Perch
State anglers (June 16-30)
Harvested 4,045 pounds (1,017 fish)
Released: 106 pounds (200 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 636 of 101,714 allowed pounds (953 fish)
State angler total: 5,329 of 135,000 allowed pounds (10,576 fish)
The report for the next survey period (July 1-15) will be posted on Wednesday, July 27.

Well you may want to go back and read it a few more times but you can take consolation in that you are not the first one this thread to get confused by the mathematics.
1017 fish/4045 lbs = 0.2514 lb average.
No word from the DNR on if they consider any “hooking mortality” for perch? Because well ya know those could/should be counted towards the 135,000 lb agreed upon “safe allowable harvest” for perch.
Edit…My math is wonked!! 4045 lbs of fish with a 1017 fish count?? You’d think I work for the DNR. Perhaps #’s were transposed? Anyway, I am just as confused!

Walleyestudent
I am glad you rechecked your math…I saw the post above with bad math and cerainly would not have made my response if I did not have it right.

On the other hand the perch harvest numbers are same as pike so I assume it was a clerical mistake. Maybe by DNR, maybe when info was copied. Either way, this whole scenario is a major waste of our money.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

1017 fish/4045 lbs = 0.2514 lb average.

That is backwards.

Lbs per fish = pounds / fish count = 4045/1017 = about 4lbs per perch.

I’d say their “assumptions” are wrong since the state record perch is 3lbs 4oz.

Do they realize how silly they look?

I…I…I..yi…yi…

Attachments:

1. 

   confused.jpg
   

4seasonsport wrote:

I had to read this 3x before reposting. I have got to get up there. with an average perch weighing 3.97#s(Harvested)

Oh no! The first kids to learn common core math are starting to get college internships with the DNR…

4seasonsport wrote:

Walleyestudent
On the other hand the <em class=”ido-tag-em”>perch harvest numbers are same as <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike so I assume it was a clerical mistake. Maybe by DNR, maybe when info was copied. Either way, this whole scenario is a major waste of our money.

Well the DNR finally revised their report on the Yellow Perch harvest (if anybody cares)

Yellow Perch
State anglers (June 16-30)
Harvested146 pounds (191 fish)
Released: 106 pounds (200 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 636 of 101,714 allowed pounds (953 fish)
State angler total: 5,329 of 135,000 allowed pounds (10,576 fish)

We still have almost 130,000 lbs before we go over our quota!

It seems like 135000 lbs of perch is a giant quota for a lake with a lack of predator fish bait (aka perch). I don’t know much of the history on the perch quota but has it been lowered significantly or does the dnr just not really care about the perch?

That would suggest that there is almost 5 times as much perch fishing pressure during the ice season than there is compared to boating season. Maybe, I don’t know. Does that seem correct?

I know, one month doesn’t make a trend but, 216lbs of perch caught in June making a season total of 5,329lbs.

Fun with math would show 5,113lbs (5,329 – 216) were caught from 12/1/2015 – 5/31/2016, or 852lbs per month (5,113 / 6). Since there was probably no fishing pressure in April, thin ice, you could do (5,113 / 5) or 1,023lbs per month between 12/1 and 5/31.

That equates to 1,023lbs of perch caught per month through the ice versus 216lbs from a boat in June.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>4seasonsport wrote:</div>
Walleyestudent
On the other hand the <em class=”ido-tag-em”>perch harvest numbers are same as <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike so I assume it was a clerical mistake. Maybe by DNR, maybe when info was copied. Either way, this whole scenario is a major waste of our money.

Well the DNR finally revised their report on the Yellow Perch harvest (if anybody cares)

Yellow Perch
State anglers (June 16-30)
Harvested146 pounds (191 fish)
Released: 106 pounds (200 fish)
Tribal fishing total: 636 of 101,714 allowed pounds (953 fish)
State angler total: 5,329 of 135,000 allowed pounds (10,576 fish)

We still have almost 130,000 lbs before we go over our quota!

That is still an average of .76lbs per perch which are some really nice perch!!!

Sticker, do I have to come visit you and teach you math again

Evan Pheneger wrote:

It seems like 135000 lbs of perch is a giant quota for a lake with a lack of predator fish bait (aka perch). I don’t know much of the history on the perch quota but has it been lowered significantly or does the dnr just not really care about the perch?

Yep, that’s what I think too…”the dnr just not really care about the perch”. The way they’ve been reporting the #’s or misreporting, I’m thinking they’re not even trying to count. Maybe there aren’t any to count?

Kyhl wrote:

That would suggest that there is almost 5 times as much perch fishing pressure during the ice season than there is compared to boating season. Maybe, I don’t know. Does that seem correct?

No doubt, I ‘m hardly aware of anyone targeting perch open water anymore. For sure ice season, that and you have contests over the winter like the “Perch Extravaganza”!

Attachments:

1. 

   perch-extravaganza-sketch3.jpg