Mille lacs perch

fishingadam54 wrote:

In prior years when there was a good perch population did the fish move in shallow as you get later into the season or do they normally stay out deep in the mud basins? Do they look for shallow weeds, rock or sand?

I am no perch expert. I normally focus on walleyes when the season is open. I targeted perch more in my younger years and late in the ice fishing season I still focused in the deep water. I also had better success in the past than my 2 perch outings this year……

Maybe some one that targets perch more than I can offer a opinion.

Great day out there today. It took two hours to find them, but once we did it was game on. We kept 31 between the two of us in 3 hours before we had to head home. Here are the first 10 out of one hole before we had to start bouncing around and picking a few off at a time.

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Fife wrote:

Great day out there today. It took two hours to find them, but once we did it was game on. We kept 31 between the two of us in 3 hours before we had to head home. Here are the first 10 out of one hole before we had to start bouncing around and picking a few off at a time.

What Access did you go out of ? I was hoping to get out this weekend as Hockey finally ended for my son, but i see more resorts are closing their accesses.

We went out of my friend’s cabin, but we saw trucks that came from the NE side so I assume they came from Castaways.

Fife wrote:

We went out of my friend’s cabin, but we saw trucks that came from the NE side so I assume they came from Castaways.

Thanks – they posted they were pulling thier bridges Sunday. I will have to call up there and see if they decided to keep them out.

Regulation adjustment coming for yellow perch fishing on Mille Lacs Lake
Starting March 11, the daily and possession limit for yellow perch on Mille Lacs Lake will be reduced from 20 to five. This regulation will be in place through Nov. 30.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is implementing this adjustment to the daily and possession limit to help maintain a good perch population for the future. Yellow perch are a key species in the Mille Lacs Lake ecosystem and young yellow perch are a primary food source for predators (especially walleye). Maintaining an abundance of older perch will result in more young being produced this spring and preserve harvest opportunities for next year.
“We are pleased that the perch fishing on Mille Lacs this winter has been good for many anglers,” said Brad Parsons, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fisheries section manager. “With annual perch harvest never more than 7,000 pounds since 2012, this year’s rebound is a positive sign for the health of the lake.”
State-licensed anglers share the perch harvest on Mille Lacs with Ojibwe Tribes that retain fishing rights by treaty. To conserve the fishery, an annual safe harvest level is cooperatively established by the state and the Tribes through a government-to-government, co-management process. Each party then sets fishing regulations to stay within their share of the harvest. As of Feb. 23, the state has harvested more than 43,000 pounds of perch, exceeding its share of the harvest of 36,500 pounds.
“The state and our Tribal partners will intensify efforts to evaluate the Mille Lacs perch population and future sustainable harvest plans. The response we see in the perch population to this year’s higher harvest will be an important part of that,” Parsons said.
Complete Mille Lacs Lake fishing regulations and regularly updated data on state-licensed angler catches of walleye, northern pike and yellow perch are available on the Minnesota DNR website (//mndnr.gov/millelacslake).

Uh oh we went over our number again.

20 to 5?

Mille Lacs – The only lake where good fishing is a problem.

Wow does the joke just keep getting funnier.
Luckily we have the dnr on our side for these battles

You guys finally get 1 good winter perch bite and now we gotta hear about the indians getting their fair share of them to. Let me guess in the treaty it says they can use nets that automatically eject from their livescope transducers.

Mille Lacs – The lake that gets easier and easier to NOT fish with each passing year.

It’s like a sh***y soap opera with the same storylines stuck on repeat.

It’s almost like someone in state government wants Mille Lacs businesses to fail. If you subscribe to that thought it’s makes a lot of sense. Or, going from 20 to 5 could be based strictly on science.

“They” REALLY dont want people fishing on Lake Mille Lacs..bummer…but there plenty of other places to fish in the 5 state area that let you keep fish and have awesome cleaning and launch facilities, Minnesota’s goverment is an embarassment.. just a money grab for trails and “Art”…fools, all of them.

Joe Jarl wrote:

It’s almost like someone in state government wants Mille Lacs businesses to fail. If you subscribe to that thought it’s makes a lot of sense. Or, going from 20 to 5 could be based strictly on science.

No science involved. The poundage number changed in 2022 for no real reason and no real science behind it. If there was nothing was shared. It’s a 50/50 split pounds with the tribe. Pre 2022 we would technically be 20k lbs under the allowance.

For those saying it went from 20 to 5 that is correct number daily. Statewide outside of some special regs on lakes like Big Stone possession went from 40 to 5. I’m all for protecting a resource but this is all pretty knee jerk IMO.

This comment from Parsons sure doesn’t make it feel like it’s based on science.

Fisheries section chief for the DNR Brad Parsons said at the MLFAC meeting “there’s a lot we don’t understand about the perch population. We’re seeing a perch harvest that we haven’t seen since 2012, and so we’re learning on the fly.”

They also said through January no Tullibee have been harvested from the lake. Social media would show otherwise.

Frankly I don’t think they have a great grasp on what is in the lake and how many of any species.

ok I’ll hit you with some facts on the situation.
From the late 90’s to 2022 the perch quota was 270,000lbs. The perch went through a pretty serious population decline around 2014. Harvest was minimal. The 270,000lb quota no longer represented the population nor the harvest realities.

In 2022 a group of biologists from multiple agencies got together and attempted to get a better population estimate and new quota. This isn’t easy for Perch. They tried 4 different methods and presented them to the full Mille Lacs Fisheries committee. Of the 4 a 73,000 pound quota split 50/50 was the largest, the least conservative method. It is believed, generally speaking harvests above 70,000 pounds are not sustainable.

This year ice fishing pressure was high, and the perch bite was bananas. Probably a healthy perch population, and a forage shortage. Which is a little confusing since there appears to be plenty of walleye forage?

As of feb. 23rd anglers had harvested an estimated 43,000 pounds. There that was 14 days ago and the tournament harvests are not included in that. It is possible that angler harvest is pushing up against 60,000 pounds. Well over the states quota. The tribes have indicated that despite the 73,000 pound agreement being breached, there is room for flexibility. Catch and release only seemed unnecessary, but a management action is warranted. Hence the bag limit reduction.

Last spring the lake hatched a huge walleye year class. This is at least partially because there was a bumper crop of perch hatched as well. It is possible that the healthy adult perch spawning population drove that perch year class. We want to make sure there is ample spawning stock to spawn again this spring.

A new perch committee has been formed to rerun 5 different population estimation methods and reassess the 73,000 pound quota.

I know a lot of anglers do not agree with this action but, this winter was amazing fishing, the lake was busy, resorts were full. The lake provided an ice fishing season to be grateful for.

Upnorth85 wrote:

ok I’ll hit you with some facts on the situation.
From the late 90’s to 2022 the perch quota was 270,000lbs. The perch went through a pretty serious population decline around 2014. Harvest was minimal. The 270,000lb quota no longer represented the population nor the harvest realities.

In 2022 a group of biologists from multiple agencies got together and attempted to get a better population estimate and new quota. This isn’t easy for Perch. They tried 4 different methods and presented them to the full Mille Lacs Fisheries committee. Of the 4 a 73,000 pound quota split 50/50 was the largest, the least conservative method. It is believed, generally speaking harvests above 70,000 pounds are not sustainable.

This year <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>ice fishing pressure was high, and the perch bite was bananas. Probably a healthy perch population, and a forage shortage. Which is a little confusing since there appears to be plenty of walleye forage?

As of feb. 23rd anglers had harvested an estimated 43,000 pounds. There that was 14 days ago and the tournament harvests are not included in that. It is possible that angler harvest is pushing up against 60,000 pounds. Well over the states quota. The tribes have indicated that despite the 73,000 pound agreement being breached, there is room for flexibility. Catch and release only seemed unnecessary, but a management action is warranted. Hence the bag limit reduction.

Last spring the lake hatched a huge <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye year class. This is at least partially because there was a bumper crop of perch hatched as well. It is possible that the healthy adult perch spawning population drove that perch year class. We want to make sure there is ample spawning stock to spawn again this spring.

A new perch committee has been formed to rerun 5 different population estimation methods and reassess the 73,000 pound quota.

I know a lot of anglers do not agree with this action but, this winter was amazing fishing, the lake was busy, resorts were full. The lake provided an <em class=”ido-tag-em”>ice fishing season to be grateful for.

Thank you for the additional info.
I understand that getting fish estimated populations is not an exact science and can be a difficult task.
Do you happen to have the tribes number of harvested perch this year? I can not find that info.

Secondly do you have the states harvested numbers from the past two winters?

I’m actually putting together the tribal harvest totals for the last decade now. It’s not much usually between 1000-2000 pounds.

Where the concern lies this year is:
These perch are large and therefore more likely to become bycatch during our walleye harvests.
If the population density is high also higher perch catches.
Low perch forage = more foraging activity, more movement again, higher perch catches.
I expect the tribal harvest will be more than 2,000 pounds this year. What it will be I have no idea.

I chair the perch assessment committee. We are partnering with a mathematician professor from Canada who is also tasked with assessing Lake Eries perch population. Hopefully we can come up with a reasonably accurate perch population estimate. Perch are notoriously difficult to estimate.
One of the reasons perch populations crashed in Lake Michigan. Retrospective analysis using upgraded methods show that population was being over exploited for years.

Mille lacs is looking good, best assessments in 11 years. Hoping to keep it that way.

Oh and I’ve got all the previous year info somewhere. I’ll post a graph asap.

Last year harvest was probably very low. Which I think is part of the reason the bite has gone crazy this year. Last year probably would have been a mediocore bite, thousands of pounds of perch would have been harvested. Instead they remained in the lake spawned and over ate their food source. Now this year we have a super bite. This does not necessarily mean there are a million billion perch (though it may). Hungry fish populations are prone to over exploitation.

Thanks.
So we are no where near the 73,000lb number combined correct?

If you factor in the last two winters we are miles apart from the magic number over a three year period in which these fish were big enough to harvest? Correct?

Frankly I think 40 in possession is an old school number to begin with.
Not sure I agree with 5 either but a middle ground seems responsible to stay under a safe number.

By June 1st, even with the bag limit reduction I believe we will be over the 73,000 mark.

We don’t factor in previous quota underages. It dosn’t really work that way because so many fish die of natural mortality each year.
But this and a few other things have been taken into consideration, its why we are not closing perch angling despite being significantly over the angling quota, and remember it’s not closed, angling harvest will slow considerably, but will continue. Especially if the perch bite is still going opening weekend.

The 5 fish bag limit is not forever, just the remainder of this fishing year. I think the states fishing year resets Dec. 1.

Upnorth85 wrote:

This year <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>ice fishing pressure was high, and the perch bite was bananas. Probably a healthy perch population, and a forage shortage. Which is a little confusing since there appears to be plenty of walleye forage?

They are regularly puking up isopod or some kind of bug and also young perch when caught. I really don’t think it’s a forage issue drivingthe good bite. There is a lot of perch and they are competitive.

I’m really surprised the reduced limit didn’t come earlier this winter. I bet they tried to get it through sooner. 5 is a bit aggressive in my opinion. I think 10 would have been a more reasonable number. I think 20 was more than enough especially considering the average size of the fish out there right now.

Trust me, the state was NOT trying to reduce the limit sooner. They wanted to keep it at 20 through the ice season.
Keep the positive ice fishing energy level high.

But it became apparent the bite wasn’t slowing down, a reg change was necessary. If the ice woulda stayed good I wouldn’t have been surprised if anglers hit 73,000 pounds before the tribal harvests even started.

Good to hear about the forage. I mean they must be hungry for some reason. I’ve only worked at Mille Lacs for three years. It’s a dynamic lake, tough to figure out. All fisheries aspects of 2024 have been surprising.

Crazy El Niño year
Huge tulibee year class
Huge perch year class
Huge walleye year class
Hottest perch bite in over a decade
What’s next…..

Upnorth85 wrote:

By June 1st, even with the bag limit reduction I believe we will be over the 73,000 mark.

We don’t factor in previous quota underages. It dosn’t really work that way because so many fish die of natural mortality each year.

Which we don’t know what that number is right?
Fish die naturally of all species in every lake. Some more some less each year. May as well toss that out of the equation.

I understand they don’t factor in underages from previous years. My point was that if they started making plans over a 2-3 year period it may not set up knee jerk reactions. I think you agreed with this when we were talking walleyes before.

Upnorth85 wrote:

Trust me, the state was NOT trying to reduce the limit sooner. They wanted to keep it at 20 through the ice season.
Keep the positive ice fishing energy level high.

But it became apparent the bite wasn’t slowing down, a reg change was necessary. If the ice woulda stayed good I wouldn’t have been surprised if anglers hit 73,000 pounds before the tribal harvests even started.

Good to hear about the forage. I mean they must be hungry for some reason. I’ve only worked at Mille Lacs for three years. It’s a dynamic lake, tough to figure out. All fisheries aspects of 2024 have been surprising.

Crazy El Niño year
Huge tulibee year class
Huge perch year class
Huge walleye year class
Hottest perch bite in over a decade
What’s next…..

Less Regs?

It seems like tribe harvest numbers are always notoriously late? Same way in Wisconsin. It gives the notion of lack of transparency and accuracy.

Upnorth85 wrote:

Oh and I’ve got all the previous year info somewhere. I’ll post a graph asap.

Last year harvest was probably very low. Which I think is part of the reason the bite has gone crazy this year. Last year probably would have been a mediocore bite, thousands of pounds of perch would have been harvested. Instead they remained in the lake spawned and over ate their food source. Now this year we have a super bite. This does not necessarily mean there are a million billion perch (though it may). Hungry fish populations are prone to over exploitation.

I can tell you there are a lot of perch. Of all sizes.

Tribal harvests are reported to the DNR within 24 hours (often less) they are the most timely reported harvest totals in all of fisheries.
We make them publicly available out of good faith, We are not bound by public notification requirements.

ok I’ll hit you with some facts on the situation.
From the late 90’s to 2022 the perch quota was 270,000lbs. The perch went through a pretty serious population decline around 2014. Harvest was minimal. The 270,000lb quota no longer represented the population nor the harvest realities.
In 2022 a group of biologists from multiple agencies got together and attempted to get a better population estimate and new quota. This isn’t easy for Perch. They tried 4 different methods and presented them to the full Mille Lacs Fisheries committee. Of the 4 a 73,000 pound quota split 50/50 was the largest, the least conservative method. It is believed, generally speaking harvests above 70,000 pounds are not sustainable.

Crazy El Niño year
Huge tulibee year class
Huge perch year class
Huge walleye year class
Hottest perch bite in over a decade
What’s next…..

So the number was changed before the huge perch hatch or at least a number that that is very hard to quantify even happened or were large enough size wise to notice?
How did the safe number of 73,000 lbs come to be?
Can they quantify what the overall fish biomass can be in a lake the size of Mille Lacs. I wouldn’t think it’s an infinite number? Yet regs get tighter and tighter.

Do you ever see a time when Mille lacs goes to whatever the state wide regs are? Serious question

I do not no matter how healthy the fishery is or gets.

We can calculate natural perch mortality. It’s one of the goals of the new perch committee. We have a biologist that is confident he can age perch otoliths and the mathematician that will take the age class data over the last 10 years and do the analysis. After that it becomes a simple formula
Natural mortality + fishing mortality = total mortality. If it’s 40% or even a little higher we are probably fine, if it’s 50% or higher we’ve got a problem.