Mille Lacs: lemons to Lemonade

munchy wrote:

As I’ve been told in the past “rubber worms don’t make anyone any money”.

Funny, on lakes like Okeechobee(Mille Lacs south) there are resorts devoted to <em class=”ido-tag-em”>bass fishing. Fully stocked tackle shops, a crew of trained guides with fully rigged boats, etc. They make a killing! If it can be done there it can be done anywhere with a good population of trophy sized fish. The biggest hurdle would be getting the publicity, and back when the major BASS tournaments were being held there was their best and easiest chance.

It probably helps that you can fish their virtually 12 months a year vs 5, is in the second largest state for tourism, within two hours of Orlando, Miami and Palm Beach.
Might be a bit easier to invest in that situation.

There are plenty of guides on the lake who will cater to smallmouth fisherman.

Most resorts that have kept up with the times are doing fine. Not many fisherman want to stay in a run down cabin for 50 bucks with their family anymore. This is probably true all over the state. Those that are struggling or closed probably had other issues besides the fishing. I can think of a few that customer service was probably a bigger issue. Those that focus on more family oriented options are doing fine. Again I think this could be said for most resorts throughout the state.

Reeds a sizable retailer in MN for the outdoors is located on the corner of the lake. It has plenty of gear for bass Muskie Pike and walleye.
I mean how many tube jigs does a guy really need.
There are gas stations and grocery stores/convenience stores at each corner of the lake. Not sure where else they would really need to be located.

If I had to guess the resorts would be tickled and making more lemonade if the lake wasn’t closed each season for a species during the summer where all other lakes in the state are open. Especially when it’s an abrupt closure like years past. Kind of hard to market a place to stay at the last minute. Whether it’s to a bass person or walleye person. It’s also hard to market a world class lake for anything when main headline on the news or in a newspaper is “ Mille Lacs headed for another shutdown”

b-curtis wrote:

I’ve heard ‘rumors’ that some of the launch captains are purposely killing bass so I don’t see resorts evolving too much.

They were just that rumors. Or a resort that is no longer operating for many reasons besides the fishing or smallmouth in the lake.

I’m surprised Joneser hasn’t responded to this thread with 2 pages of commentary.

Mille Lacs Lake “ The Best C& R Trophy Walleye lake in the World”!

Ripjiggen wrote:

There are plenty of guides on the lake who will cater to smallmouth fisherman.

Most resorts that have kept up with the times are doing fine. Not many fisherman want to stay in a run down cabin for 50 bucks with their family anymore. This is probably true all over the state. Those that are struggling or closed probably had other issues besides the fishing. I can think of a few that customer service was probably a bigger issue. Those that focus on more family oriented options are doing fine. Again I think this could be said for most resorts throughout the state.

Ripjiggen, I think you elaborated on some of the points I was trying to make and you made them better than I did. Well stated.

As the saying goes “you’ve been here before, haven’t you”

Buzz wrote:

Mille Lacs Lake “ The Best C& R Trophy <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleye lake in the World”!

This makes me think of something else slightly off topic but Mille Lacs related nonetheless.

About a month ago there was speculating about early ice fishing. Maybe not on 12/1 but now I’m seeing there could be a good chance of open water opportunity to go out and harvest one for a couple tasty sandwiches.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
There are plenty of guides on the lake who will cater to smallmouth fisherman.

Most resorts that have kept up with the times are doing fine. Not many fisherman want to stay in a run down cabin for 50 bucks with their family anymore. This is probably true all over the state. Those that are struggling or closed probably had other issues besides the fishing. I can think of a few that customer service was probably a bigger issue. Those that focus on more family oriented options are doing fine. Again I think this could be said for most resorts throughout the state.

Ripjiggen, I think you elaborated on some of the points I was trying to make and you made them better than I did. Well stated.

As the saying goes “you’ve been here before, haven’t you”

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Buzz wrote:</div>
Mille Lacs Lake “ The Best C& R Trophy <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleye lake in the World”!

This makes me think of something else slightly off topic but Mille Lacs related nonetheless.

About a month ago there was speculating about early ice fishing. Maybe not on 12/1 but now I’m seeing there could be a good chance of open water opportunity to go out and harvest one for a couple tasty sandwiches.

A couple of my college buddies are doing exactly that. One has a cabin right on the water and has said that it is going to be a long time before there’s any real fishable ice on the main lake.

Buzz wrote:

Mille Lacs Lake “ The Best C& R Trophy <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleye lake in the World”!

Sorry, in my book a trophy walleye is 30 inches or better. Very, very few exist in Mille Lacs. The one’s I have seen are not trophy worthy IMO. (Too old and skinny.)

Mille Lacs is a walleye factory. The lake can produce millions of catchable walleyes on an annual basis. Fun lake to fish if you want numbers. Want a trophy, go somewhere else.

-J.

I drove around the lake yesterday around 330 and was tempted to hook up the boat. It was gorgeous out and flat calm. Saw several boats out. Not much for ice anywhere I looked.

So does the night ban end on Dec 1 too? If there’s open water a guy could troll at night AND harvest a walleye?

There may be quite a few people hoping for cold temps so they can kick start ice fishing season but there’s at least one really good reason to continue this warm front.

gim wrote:

So does the night ban end on Dec 1 too? If there’s open water a guy could troll at night AND harvest a walleye?

Night ban over Dec 1st.

Night Closure: ◦Effective 10 p.m. on May 11 through 11:59 p.m. on November 30

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Buzz wrote:</div>
Mille Lacs Lake “ The Best C& R Trophy <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleye lake in the World”!

Sorry, in my book a trophy <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleye is 30 inches or better. Very, very few exist in Mille Lacs. The one’s I have seen are not trophy worthy IMO. (Too old and skinny.)

Mille Lacs is a walleye factory. The lake can produce millions of catchable walleyes on an annual basis. Fun lake to fish if you want numbers. Want a trophy, go somewhere else.

-J.

Agree John not what the lake has ever been, is or will be.
Kind of hard to market it as a trophy Lake and have upset customers that went out and caught 50 walleyes all between 17-23 inches that thought they were going there for a chance at a trophy. Quite frankly I don’t think any lake in Minnesota could accomplish that marketing program.
The true C&R trophy walleye lakes like in Canada. You legitimately have a chance at a 10 lber every time out.

I will say John I do think there are more than you think are in the lake. I just don’t think they are caught very often as they are most likely not in traditional walleye locations with all the other 20 inch walleye eating machines. I have seen several boated as in more than 2 less than 4 in the last 4 years. Haha.
Trophy lake however is not Mille Lacs. Probably just about every lake for that matter in Minnesota.

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Buzz wrote:</div>
Mille Lacs Lake “ The Best C& R Trophy <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleye lake in the World”!

Sorry, in my book a trophy <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleye is 30 inches or better. Very, very few exist in Mille Lacs. The one’s I have seen are not trophy worthy IMO. (Too old and skinny.)

Mille Lacs is a walleye factory. The lake can produce millions of catchable walleyes on an annual basis. Fun lake to fish if you want numbers. Want a trophy, go somewhere else.

-J.

From what I’ve learned on here fishing the river gives a good shot at a 30″er. Handy for folks in the city as well.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Quite frankly I don’t think any lake in Minnesota could accomplish that marketing program.

Lake of the Woods/Rainey River or Mississippi River would be my top picks. Maybe Saganaga a close third.

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Ripjiggen wrote:</div>
Quite frankly I don’t think any lake in Minnesota could accomplish that marketing program.

Lake of the Woods/Rainey River or Mississippi River would be my top picks. Maybe Saganaga a close third.

-J.

Agree even those would be tough market if it was just C&R.

gim wrote:

I’m surprised Joneser hasn’t responded to this thread with 2 pages of commentary.

Pretty sure he got the boot finally

Easy to be on the sidelines, look at a business and say that they should ‘just’ adapt, running any business succesfuly is tricky.

tim hurley wrote:

Easy to be on the sidelines, look at a business and say that they should ‘just’ adapt, running any business succesfuly is tricky.

I agree with you that it’s VERY tricky and wish them all the luck but adapting is probably one of the first things businesses learn in order to succeed…unless you’re Vexilar!(yes, that was both a shot at them and the truth) LOL

Personally I don’t think any business has been sitting on their hands. Yet business after business is selling out. My impressions come from those I talk with around the lake. Last year I think the resorts had a great ice season. Let’s hope the restaurants and bars are open in January. The lake is changing,I’d hope that this conversation could have generated a few creative suggestions. The Courts and Legislators aren’t going to fix anything. Time for a paradigm shift to the new reality.

gim wrote:

There’s also plenty of pike in there and other surrounding lakes to keep if you insist on going home with something. And we actually need the <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>pike to be harvested too, especially the smaller ones.

people have been taught that they are slimy and hard to clean so they usually go back. I still prefer the taste of walleye but those 30-38″ pike are pretty tasty and I find they are just as easy to clean using the 5 fillet method. the meat with the y bones gets cut up for pickling……nothing wasted.

Buzz wrote:

Yet business after business is selling out. My impressions come from those I talk with around the lake.
The lake is changing,I’d hope that this conversation could have generated a few creative suggestions.

Buzz, I’m not here just for the sake of an argument but I’m having a hard time trying to understand what you’re driving at.

Which businesses are selling out? And do you define selling and “selling out” the same?

Name all these businesses selling out and we can talk about them.

And I’m not sure what kind of creative suggestions you were expecting here, but many who commented here agree the area businesses are not at the brink of widespread economic collapse.

Well, the pandemic could change that but that’s not exclusive to this area alone.

There’s not much area businesses can do about that any more or less than anywhere else.

eyeguy507 wrote:

people have been taught that they are slimy and hard to clean so they usually go back. I still prefer the taste of walleye but those 30-38″ pike are pretty tasty and I find they are just as easy to clean using the 5 fillet method. the meat with the y bones gets cut up for pickling……nothing wasted.

Ya I think you’re right. The general consensus is that lots of anglers that catch small slimy pike have almost no interest or knowledge on how to clean or prepare them. This was my own feeling as well for many years and I caught so many of them by accident I’d just curse at them and toss them back angrily without thinking anything of it. I’m still not very proficient at cleaning them and removing the y bones but I do know how to pickle them so I’ve been trying to do that more often with those 21 inchers that are so numerous and need to be removed. The fact is that if you know what you’re doing and you catch them out of cold water they’re actually not bad as long as you can get past that slime.

Bearcat89 wrote:

Pretty sure he got the boot finally

Buzz, whats the Smallmouth Alliance been up to in regards to Mille Lacs?

Selling pictures Dutch.
I was going to ask the same questions Andy but thought I would just let it go.

Their doing alright. Media campaign for C&R is strong. They held a large Smallie tournament this summer. Big storm hit and I ran for the harbor, it was so rough I ended up in the water trying to get the boat tied up. Typical tourney,I have fish going right up till the day of the event. Their talks with the DNR don’t go very far. I’m encouraging them to take issues directly to the Legislature. Folks like to tout support for Presidents but abhor political activism.

Buzz wrote:

Their doing alright. Media campaign for C&R is strong. They held a large Smallie tournament this summer. Big storm hit and I ran for the harbor, it was so rough I ended up in the water trying to get the boat tied up. Typical tourney,I have fish going right up till the day of the event. Their talks with the DNR don’t go very far. I’m encouraging them to take issues directly to the Legislature. Folks like to tout support for Presidents but abhor political activism.

Good luck with that. Thats exactly why people are skeptical of politicians. Unless you can stuff their pockets or make them uncomfortable in the media they won’t do a thing.
Thats why a star studded organization like Mn Fish should throw their weight around. The media will listen. Unfortunately it seems they are far more concerned about their reputations than any issues they begged money for. I wouldn’t give them a quarter if the whole darn bunch showed up on my front porch.

Good luck Buzz with the Alliance keep us filled in on anything happening.

Tourism on and around the lake has been suffering for years. Unfortunately, they do not help themselves when the primary message is about how you cannot keep and eat walleye, or how restrictive the slot is.

There are plenty of opportunities for a positive message. “We have gone catch and release for walleye and the bite is fantastic”. Or, Mille Lacs, the #1 smallmouth fishery in North America according to Bassmaster. Mille Lacs, Over 132,000 acres of clear water for boating, swimming, or any watersports within a 1-hour drive of the north metro.

Every time they are in the newspaper, television, radio, or any other media, their constant complaining about how things are, hurts the areas reputation.

ptc wrote:

There are plenty of opportunities for a positive message. “We have gone catch and release for walleye and the bite is fantastic”. Or, Mille Lacs, the #1 smallmouth fishery in North America according to Bassmaster. Mille Lacs, Over 132,000 acres of clear water for boating, swimming, or any watersports within a 1-hour drive of the north metro.

Absolutely true. They could also add the trophy potential world record muskie fishing and the trophy caliber pike fishing too into that marketing idea simply from a fishing stand point.

Wasn’t to long ago that Walz came up to send a positive message and resorters organized protesters and shouted denigrating remarks. They just don’t seem capable of acting in their own self interest.

Buzz wrote:

Wasn’t to long ago that Walz came up to send a positive message and resorters organized protesters and shouted denigrating remarks.

Actually I believe that was Governor Dayton. He went on a launch out of Fisher’s Resort to bass fish and a bunch of boats kept circling them and yelled profanity at his crew. Real classy