Mille Lacs to close Friday, Sept 6

Hmm

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I am really pissed off about this. I have gladly gone along with past closures. I just fished bass on Platte/Sullivan out of my boat instead. It wasn’t a big deal to me. Last Fall with the season being open I got hooked on the shore night bite throwing lures which was phenomenal a lot of nights. I was really looking forward to doing it again this year. I really want to catch a 10lb/30″ walleye. That Fall shore bite gets me a shot at it. This announced closure was a shot right to my gut. The walleye population is now healthy. An angler can incidentally catch all the walleye they want during the day in a boat. But if I so much as dare to step foot on that Jetty with the intent to catch a walleye I am in very real jeopardy of being pinched for it. That is b.s.. That isn’t right. I sent emails to the Governor, my State Senator, and Rep.voicing my displeasure.

I agree with Dennis. Their disposition very recently (2 weeks ago) was that it was not in jeopardy of closing this season. If there has to be a closure, we get it. But communicate it further in advance and don’t indicate that there is almost no chance it will happen. That is some awful PR.

I would still like some clarification on the live bait issue too. I don’t quite understand why they would still allow the use of leeches, crawlers, and other frequently-used live bait to target walleye if the walleye fishing is off limits. Something is “fishy” about this whole thing.

Because the bait shops will complain again.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

Because the bait shops will complain again.

Agree. Can’t really blame them either.

Dennis Williams wrote:

I think the DNR usually gets things right, but they did a bad job on this one. Here is a quote from a meeting August 12th.

“Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee member and business owner Tina Chapman asked how soon the DNR would be able to communicate the upcoming harvest and whether there would be a last minute closure. Parson replied that the DNR would be working to communicate with the committee on a weekly basis. “The key is that we feel we have enough safe allowable harvest to get us through the rest of the season,” Parson said, “and we will be monitoring it and communicating with you.””

Full article-

https://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/outdoors/season-at-percent-walleye-allocation-dnr-tells-mlfac/article_32d6734c-c351-11e9-aab2-f7193a93cc59.html

Governor Walz ran on transparency, his appointee to DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen continually mentions how transparent they want to be, yet nothing from either one of them on this blindside. Unacceptable imo, but not unexpected when the tribe is literally in the governor’s office.

Feathers wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>gimruis wrote:</div>
I would still like some clarification on the live bait issue too. I don’t quite understand why they would still allow the use of leeches, crawlers, and other frequently-used live bait to target walleye if the walleye fishing is off limits. Something is “fishy” about this whole thing.

Believe it or not, people use live bait for species other than walleyes. And there are people who target species other than walleyes on Mille lacs. I know that is hard to fathom for a lot of walleye guys.

Well no sh**. That’s why I brought it up to begin with. The exception has always been to allow the use of sucker minnows at least 8 inches long for pike and muskie fishing but there’s no mention of that in this case.

Dutchboy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>jeff_huberty wrote:</div>
Be interesting to hear what stance MN Fish will have on this.

They won’t touch it. They don’t have the balls or any interest in tangling with GLIFWC.

They need more $$$$$

shefland wrote:

The DNR has there hands tied,its politics, treaty rights, no one has the guts to stand up. Trump could stop this insanity, at the will of the president Our Lt Gov Flanagan is a member of the white earth tribe, and I guess we all know where she stands. The Mille Lacs tribe is now in the processs of reclaiming property in Isle, if successful will go off the tax rolls. Madness

I don’t see the connection with Trump. There isn’t a large/hugely profitable industry that would benefit from opening Mille Lacs up. Unless there’s some billionaire who could benefit from it, it probably won’t happen. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he knows more about walleye fishing than anyone on the planet though.

Although, maybe I’m ruling out the opportunity to stick it to another minority group…The ‘non-whiteness’ of the Native Americans might be enough to get him interested.

Ahhhh…. the Left and the Tolerance.

We should all be governed under the same rules and laws. Stop the madness.

My feelings exactly