Mille Lacs is Dead

Not.

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It may very well be, but I cant focus very well on your pic…..

It appears to be the weigh in totals for the MTT Mille Lacs tournament. Lots of 5 fish limits.

A lot of dead walleyes then this weekend that means! THANKS

bobberstop4054 wrote:

A lot of dead walleyes then this weekend that means! THANKS

Could be, but those guys are no more to blame than the launches and other anglers out there now. Should nobody be allowed to fish the lake now? A very conservative safe allowable harvest has been set, albeit C&R. Last DNR report was that we were still a long way off from meeting or exceeding that limit.
I am looking out there right now and yes there are a ton of boats farther out on the flats fishing this tournament. Also I have seen quite a few bass anglers going by closer in. It’s actually encouraging and good to see all the fishing activity out there because most days the last couple years I’d look out and see an empty lake.

6 pound average for those in 1st place… WOWZA ! (they are not netting, this is an angling tourney)

bobberstop4054 wrote:

A lot of dead walleyes then this weekend that means! THANKS

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Congrats Dan on the 6th place finish!

where u from mojo the cities? sounds like it Im not I care about the lake

I am from the cities. I fish ML frequently. I am not worried about a catch and release tournament. I am not sure what your position is? Do you want the lake completely shut down so the local businesses fail? I am surprised at how many people have shown up for a catch and release season. That being said I think that the lake is in much better shape than the DNR has stated. I have caught several classes of fish the past few years, and that is a great thing to see. 5 years ago the average fish I was catching was probably 22″ and almost never got anything under 15″. Now there seem to be a lot of 12-15″ fish caught.

A year ago at this time you would have been lucky to boat 15 pounds. This year there is fish everywhere…And multiple year classes. They didn’t magically appear! Mille Lacs is in better shape than people think. Maybe it was a large amount of food last year, poor conditions during DNR shocking…etc. The population may not be what it once was, but I personally think it’s in much better shape than people think! A summer of catch and release fishing will only help, however I don’t think restrictions needed to be this tight…definitely hurting local businesd. I guarantee you hooking mortality is not as severe an issue in a lake this size, with this much biology. This lake will take care of itself with even “reasonable” management. This is my personal viewpoint.

Here are the results from today. The bite has slowed, but is still very good. I saw 2 dead Walleyes and 30 Tullibees. Pretty typical for a July weekend.

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bobberstop4054 wrote:

where u from mojo the cities? sounds like it Im not I care about the lake

How close do we have to live to the lake to be able to care? Don’t know what angle you’re taking here.
DT

Us city folk are into raping and pillaging the resources I guess.

bobberstop4054 wrote:

A lot of dead walleyes then this weekend that means! THANKS

If you truly care about the lake then you should be excited that it, along with the communities play host to large tournaments.
Inside all those trucks pulling big,shiny boats are people with money. They stop at gas stations,bait shops, cafes, taverns and resorts. They bring excitement and folks telling fish stories over a cold one.
A few dead fish is a small price to pay for anything that breathes life into a true Minnesota gem.
People that casually follow the goings on of Mille Lacs will form an opinion based on your comment that tournament fishing kills fish and hurts the lake.

well boys im sorry but does it really make much sense to have a tournament of any kind right now

No, they should wait until ALL the resorts and bait shops are closed. Brilliant.

Fife wrote:

Here are the results from today. The bite has slowed, but is still very good. I saw 2 dead <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleyes and 30 Tullibees. Pretty typical for a July weekend.

That’s 2 more walleyes than I seen this weekend. I did see some tullibees however. I was thinking about this this morning on the water. Few weeks ago I seen some dead walleyes floating around, one thing I remember was that at this time the DNR was doing their hooking mortality study. So I was wondering, what happens to these fish when they release them from their holding areas that they had the fish corralled in, which isn’t how the fish is released after it is caught…. but the water temp is now warmer than when they did their study, and I seen no walleyes floating.
Wallster ><((((>

Caught 12 walleyes this weekend on 4.5″ Tubes fishing for smallmouth. Actually had to leave spots because they were crawling with walleyes and not smallmouth.

the MN DNR made a great call with catch and release this year. It really saved 2 and possibly 3 year classes of walleyes.
Thank You MN DNR!!!! Great work!!

lancew wrote:

the MN DNR made a great call with catch and release this year. It really saved 2 and possibly 3 year classes of walleyes.
Thank You MN DNR!!!! Great work!!

What are we saving them for?

roosterrouster wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lancew wrote:</div>
the MN DNR made a great call with catch and release this year. It really saved 2 and possibly 3 year classes of walleyes.
Thank You MN DNR!!!! Great work!!

What are we saving them for?

That’s the question of the year in my opinion. A big part of the Mille Lacs controversy seems to be the underlying question of, “What do we want the fishery to be?” Apparently a lot of guys want to see it managed as a walleye farm. I’m not one of them, but I can understand why some people would be.

By the way, bait shops in the Mille Lacs area are like drug stores in the Twin Cities. We choose Lundeen’s over the two shops across the street from it because we failed to brake quickly enough on Thursday evening.

For me, Mille Lacs has never been more fun to fish than it is right now.

I’m not an expert just a plain fisherman who likes to catch walleyes more than eating them. Don’t get me wrong I love eating fish but it does not bother me one bit to catch and release. The bite on mille lacs this summer has been one of the best around the state. I’ve consistently caught between 30-40 walleyes each time out. I’ve caught fish from 8-27 inches with a wide variety of sizes coming from all areas of the lake. This past weekend I fished the tops of flats on Saturday with spinners and crawlers and trolled cranks in shallow (10-12ft) on Sunday. We got good numbers of walleyes in all sizes from both areas. IMO The fish are there in greater numbers than the DNR and most “experts” believe. I also believe that the idea that all walleyes caught right now are doomed to die is bogus. I’ve seen maybe five walleyes floating all year, lots of tullibees but very few walleyes. If one takes a little care this time of year the fish will be just fine. Once it gets warm like this I avoid the deepest water (no need to fish in 30+ft), take your time reeling fish in, don’t let them eat it for a week when rigging, a couple seconds is plenty when using a leech, and lastly get the thing back in the water asap. Proper handling, a quick pic and back in the water in less than 45 seconds.
I think the only problem with mille lacs is the bad reputation and bad press it gets. Go find out for yourself and create your own opinion, or don’t, just more fish for me.

we’re being conservative, and conserving them for next year.

lancew wrote:

the MN DNR made a great call with catch and release this year. It really saved 2 and possibly 3 year classes of walleyes.
Thank You MN DNR!!!! Great work!!

Late ice out hampering the gill nets during the spawn the past years had nothing to do with the bounce back.

It must be the fine work of the DNR closing the lake for the first time in history.

OK, I got my shot in. You can go back to the original topic.

I grew up less than a mile from the East side of Mille Lacs. My dad and many of my closest friends are still local. None of my friends, or for that matter not one single person who I’ve talked with back home, think that the way that things were handled this year is correct. Many of my friends fish the lake almost every day and to a person they all feel that it’s not the lake that’s broken… It’s the management approach.

The only people who I’ve talked with that are in favor of shutting the lake down completely are definitely not locals.

lancew wrote:

we’re being conservative, and conserving them for next year.

…and a very dumb idea based on the fish being caught this year…RR

I think you will are out of touch of the neiborhoods who are the real locals. Why catch hundreds of walleyes in 32 feet of water when you know they are likely to die? and take a chance of the lake being totally shut down because one resort don’t give a rip !

Dutchboy wrote:

Late ice out hampering the gill nets during the spawn the past years had nothing to do with the bounce back.

Late ice out did have a huge impact on walleye spawn, statewide! I’ve hammered eyes of that class across the metro, from stocked lakes that had a boom from natural production.

Just my observation and few others who’ve been this as well.

bobberstop4054 wrote:

I think you will are out of touch of the neiborhoods who are the real locals. Why catch hundreds of walleyes in 32 feet of water when you know they are likely to die? and take a chance of the lake being totally shut down because one resort don’t give a rip !

You think Will Rosenberg is out of touch? I’m not sure how you came to that conclusion. It seems like he has a pretty good grasp of the situation.