Mille Lacs Question

I posted this on my FB page too-Why doesn’t the DNR shut down all angling on Mille Lacs? The DNR says anglers have met the Walleye “harvest” quota for the year. The Walleye season was closed July 7th to protect the resource, and the next day the Governor was out on the lake promoting Bass fishing and encouraging anglers to target species other than Walleyes. The following week I was at a 3/4 full boat landing talking to a creel survey worker. He told me most of the Bass anglers he talked to have been having success on deep rocks and catching as many Walleyes as Bass. That means Walleyes are still being caught at a high rate and released(harvested due to mortality) during the Walleye season closure. Once a handful of Bass tournaments hit the lake over the next 2 months, the Walleye quota will be blown out of the water. If the DNR honestly believes there is a need to protect the “low” Walleye population, then they should close Mille Lacs to all fishing.

Fisheries in Minnesota are primarily managed for economic purposes

Also throw in that no one who has fished ML believes that the DNR population estimates are remotely correct.

My take on it is the closure is meant to keep people off the mud flats and deep gravel using live bait during the hottest water time of the year. Deep warm water is one of their big reasons for the mortality. That and live bait fishing in those deeper water areas.

I am not defending anything here, just saying a tube jig in the lip in 12-18′ of water is probably less stress than a leech rigged in 32′ of water this time of year. And as much as I love running boards and lead in the basin, I would imagine that does stress the fish some also.

Not to hi-jack the thread but quick question on current regs… After this Thursday 7/27 when the live bait ban is lifted, technically it is legal to bobber fish with leeches on the rocks for smallies, correct?

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

Not to hi-jack the thread but quick question on current regs… After this Thursday 7/27 when the live bait ban is lifted, technically it is legal to bobber fish with leeches on the rocks for smallies, correct?

Good question, and the answer does not appear to be on the MN DNR website.

I did just send the following question over to the DNR. I’ll post the answer when I get it:

Question:

Does the live bait ban continue through August 10th along with the extended walleye closure? Or can we use live bait like leeches and crawlers for smallmouth bass after July 27th.

(This info does not appear to be on the DNR website)

Thank you,
Jon Jordan.

“Does the live bait ban continue through August 10th along with the extended walleye closure?” According to my friend that is a high ranking person within the enforcement division, YES the live bait ban is extended with the walleye closure.

According to the Mille Lacs regs on the MN DNR website, the walleye ban is through Aug 10th but the live bait ban is only through July 27th. Seems odd to me that only the walleye dates were updated and not the live bait ban if indeed, they are both intended to run through Aug 10th. Even the DNR can’t keep up with their own regs on ML. Does anybody else feel like they are just making this stuff up on the fly?

Anybody who wants to fish with live bait on ML this weekend, just go to the link below and print off the regulations page and make sure there is a time/date stamp on the printout. If any CO tries to give you a citation for using live bait this weekend, simply hand them the Mille Lacs regulations print out from their own website and tell them you are 100% legal.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/millelacs.html

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Here is the reply from the DNR email contact:

Good evening Jon,

Thank you for contacting the Minnesota DNR.

Yes, the live bait is still banned through August 10th. All regulations from the current ban will continue through August 10th.

Please let me know if we can answer any further questions.

Jeannine Johannsen
State Program Admin Supervisor
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
500 Lafayette Rd
St. Paul, MN 55155
Toll Free: 1-888-646-6367
Fax: 651-297-3618
Email: [email protected]

The website was just updated with this addition:

Live bait restrictions scheduled

Only artificial bait and lures allowed in possession on Mille Lacs Lake from 12:01 a.m. on Friday, July 7, to 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 10. Live bait restriction begins again at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 5, and continue through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 30. Anglers targeting northern pike and muskellunge may possess sucker minnows greater than 8″ in length during these restricted periods.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/millelacs.html

I see they did not update the Yellow “sticker” text….

-J.

I pointed out the Yellow section did not show the date updates.

The reply from the DNR:

Thank you for pointing out the error.

Jed Becher
DNR Web Team

I’ll assume a fix is on the way.

-J.

Good thing I already printed it out yesterday….. haha – J/K.