The inspectors taking 30 minutes to inspect a boat
Oh come on, 30 minutes to conduct a simple check of a boat/trailer and ask a few questions?
A few minutes, tops. Not a difficult concept.
I’ve never encountered one longer than a few minutes. I can’t even imagine one dragging out for half an hour. Yikes
I’ve never encountered one longer than a few minutes. I can’t even imagine one dragging out for half an hour. Yikes
That’s my point exactly. Having done the job before, I specifically pointed out that it should take less time than it takes you to get ready to launch.
Saw it happen, took over another launch for a few weeks because they had a line out the parking lot on Saturdays and complaints were coming in. Guy was going full blown magnifying glass inspection on every rig during busy Saturday afternoons.
Also had the guy with the power wash truck show up every other week. Spent 45 minutes setting up that mat every day, and never once washed a boat or trailer. It’s not a well managed program to begin with so I wouldn’t cry about the cut funding. The one nice part is it’s an option for a paid internship for students out there looking. All the hospitals want college biochem undergads to work for free.
My experience, Inspections the last 5 years have been a simple 4 questions, all while prepping the boat or packing up. Not painful, and less than 2 minutes.
If one took 30 minutes on any landing, all hell would break loose. No chance.
AIS “can’t be stopped”, but prevention is cheaper than management, and lake associations have large pools of money to spend on inspectors.
The remote camera systems are a better way to educate anyways, having seen people actually take time to read them. About all you can hope for.
Personally I think the main goal of AIS inspections where I’m at is to make those that have property on the lakes happy. Without the inspections I’m sure some of the local associations would be trying to limit access to the landings. Not a lot of intelligence in some of those associations.
Personally I think the main goal of AIS inspections where I’m at is to make those that have property on the lakes happy. Without the inspections I’m sure some of the local associations would be trying to limit access to the landings. Not a lot of intelligence in some of those associations.
Mike after attending those early meetings you are correct. AIS prevention was used to try and stop a highly successful Minnesota DNR muskie program. Limit public access to lakes by closing or limiting public access’s and putting restraints on tournaments.
Saw it happen, took over another launch for a few weeks because they had a line out the parking lot on Saturdays and complaints were coming in. Guy was going full blown magnifying glass inspection on every rig during busy Saturday afternoons.
Lol well I think we can all agree that is the exception, not the norm. But still, it’s completely uncalled for. No one would argue that. Except the guy doing it.
The day the DNR starts denying the lake associations permits to dump chemicals into our lakes is the day I’ll start taking their AIS initiatives seriously.
I’m more concerned with the chemicals getting sprayed and seeing the water turn brown and dead fish floating shortly thereafter than I am some invasive specie that *so far, cannot be stopped.
^How about the bags and bags of “weed and feed” being dumped on those golf course like lawns next to the lakes? That $h** is ruining lakes at a rapid pace too. The people who live on them have to be stewards first and foremost if anything would ever be changed for the better.
As for the inspectors, I rarely see any because I primarily fish the river. Nobody can really bring anything here that already isn’t in the Mississippi. I did ask one inspector a few years ago what he was hoping to prevent as the river was already completely exposed to most AIS out there…and the guy didn’t really have a response. He along with every other one I’ve seen have been very polite, did not slow anything down, and weren’t intrusive.
Seems like we need more education. Lots more education. Pulling in clumps of zebra mussels and losing hundreds in tackle sucks. When there’s a thousand lakes in your county you can guarantee it’s not a bunch of rich people that are the cause of the concern for invasive species. Around here regular Joe still has a year round lake house. It’s not the birds I’m worried about adding milfoil to the lakes and rivers I fish, It’s arrogant city folk that don’t think that the water in their bilge and livewells with little chunks of weeds and creatures aren’t going to make the problem worse, because it cant get worse. It can. Most of the lakes in my area are real shallow, milfoil would make access impossible. It would be a shame to have to rename the Red River the Crystal Clear Canadian River because we give up on trying to prevent further damage. I watched a show I think on Amazon called The Fish Thief. About lampreys and how it took decades to kill enough of their population to bring back the lakers. Very interesting and shows how much dedication it takes to fight these problems.
Yeah I’m sure regular Joe dries his live well with a shop vac and towel and keeps his boat completely dry for 7 days before putting in at a different lake. 
They don’t put them in different lakes. Most just keep it in the same lake. And when they do, they probably Clean Drain and Dry since they most likely have a sign right in their front yard that says Warning: Invasive Species, remember to Clean Drain and Dry. When someone brings in a new lift and they find zebra mussels on it in a lake without them it makes the news. You don’t want to be the guy on the news for bringing zebra mussels into a lake that didn’t have them before.
They don’t put them in different lakes. Most just keep it in the same lake. And when they do, they probably Clean Drain and Dry since they most likely have a sign right in their front yard that says Warning: Invasive Species, remember to Clean Drain and Dry. When someone brings in a new lift and they find zebra mussels on it in a lake without them it makes the news. You don’t want to be the guy on the news for bringing zebra mussels into a lake that didn’t have them before.
Got it. So locals only fish one lake all year. There are no local fisherman that don’t live on a lake. Just dumb city folks then.
They don’t put them in different lakes. Most just keep it in the same lake. And when they do, they probably Clean Drain and Dry since they most likely have a sign right in their front yard that says Warning: Invasive Species, remember to Clean Drain and Dry. When someone brings in a new lift and they find zebra mussels on it in a lake without them it makes the news. You don’t want to be the guy on the news for bringing zebra mussels into a lake that didn’t have them before.
So, under this line of reasoning would you be ok with closing access to lakes? If folks that live on lakes apparently follow all the rules maybe we shouldn’t allow access to “city folk” since they are the issue.
They don’t put them in different lakes. Most just keep it in the same lake. And when they do, they probably Clean Drain and Dry since they most likely have a sign right in their front yard that says Warning: Invasive Species, remember to Clean Drain and Dry. When someone brings in a new lift and they find zebra mussels on it in a lake without them it makes the news. You don’t want to be the guy on the news for bringing zebra mussels into a lake that didn’t have them before.
I mostly disagree with this. Coming from all the lake shore owners I’m buddies with.
As was mentioned somewhere earlier in the thread – how can any of this (control of AIS) be taken seriously when trailers and lifts are made of tubing? Is this being rinsed out? I’m sure no shredded vegetation or small critters get stuck in them…
If a lake property owner takes a boat to a different lake for a day, how long before that boat is back in the water on the lift or tied to the dock?
Now take that city folk and odds are the boat gets put in the garage until next “weekend”
Please someone correct me if my thoughts are totally wrong.
So, under this line of reasoning would you be ok with closing access to lakes? If folks that live on lakes apparently follow all the rules maybe we shouldn’t allow access to “city folk” since they are the issue.
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No we need there money. Not alot to be made selling rocks and cows on the side of the road these days. And there’s plenty of rubes that don’t care either but like I said it’s easy to make headlines in a small town. A simple hot water pressure wash and hanging out while your boat drains for awhile before driving away is effective in removing plenty of vegetation, and allowing the water with the veliger’s to drain out.
Who are you talking about needs their money?
Another fact that seems to get lost in the whole AIS conversation is that lakeshore owners do not own the lake and there is no gray area. Lakes in Minnesota belong to everyone in the state and everyone in the state has the legal right to enjoy them, yes, even the city folk that you wrongly blame for the spread of AIS.
As was mentioned somewhere earlier in the thread – how can any of this (control of AIS) be taken seriously when trailers and lifts are made of tubing? Is this being rinsed out? I’m sure no shredded vegetation or small critters get stuck in them…
Valid point. However, most lifts/docks aren’t moved from one lake to the next like a boat is. They stay on the lake where the owner lives.
My Ranger trailer has a u-frame. So water drains much better and I can access the wiring much easier too.
No we need there money
He said “there” money. Like money to go there. Wherever that may be. Not their money. As in the ignorant city folks.
Sorry “their” like we need that city money cuz the corns selling cheap and we only have tourism and ag to pay the light bill. And yes everybody in the state has the right to use the water, but that doesn’t mean its okay to poop in the pond. In 1989 zebra mussels were found on a buoy in Lake Superior. In 1992 they were found in Lake Pepin. I know we already had the discussion of what the cities are but as far as I’m concerned Lake Pepin is for the city folk. You can watch the spread all the way up I 94 right to my area where all the glacier lakes and silt filled rivers gives them plenty to munch on. Milfoil will be next and its gonna suck too.
So they were brought to Lake Pepin from Superior? Do we know they werent in Lake Pepin first and just not found? Or maybe not looked for.
Last year was the lowest number, 41, of new infestations in Minnesota lakes since 2010. That’s down over 50% since the peak in 2012 of 118 and the 113 in 2014. And over 90% of Minnesota lakes still have no invasive species so the spread is fairly slow.
Cutting this program will allow the spread to likely triple rising above where it was before the County AIS aid program came online in 2014.
Also this wouldn’t effect MN DNR’s inspections that program is funded separately and does about 20% of boat inspections in Minnesota, rather wastefully some would note. Counties and their partners perform 80% of the boat inspections in the State using the boater survey data to identify high use and high risk locations and the high use timeframes. That’s why you see County inspectors on weekends and DNR inspectors on Tuesdays. Some Counties do send inspectors to slow accesses just to keep boaters on their toes.
Last year was the lowest number, 41, of new infestations in Minnesota lakes since 2010. That’s down over 50% since the peak in 2012 of 118 and the 113 in 2014. And over 90% of Minnesota lakes still have no invasive species so the spread is fairly slow.
Cutting this program will allow the spread to likely triple rising above where it was before the County AIS aid program came online in 2014.Also this wouldn’t effect MN DNR’s inspections that program is funded separately and does about 20% of boat inspections in Minnesota, rather wastefully some would note. Counties and their partners perform 80% of the boat inspections in the State using the boater survey data to identify high use and high risk locations and the high use timeframes. That’s why you see County inspectors on weekends and DNR inspectors on Tuesdays. Some Counties do send inspectors to slow accesses just to keep boaters on their toes.
Thanks for providing numbers Steve. Where did you access that information?
What i think about these inspections isn’t going to change a thing. I’ve never had issues with the inspectors I’ve encountered. Some i think might enjoy interacting with fisherman.
There’s a lake i fish occasionally in Itasca County that actually does ac2 for 1 lake inspection he is parked by the little less know fished lake that is go to and just a block further is big turtle lake. So he’s monitoring both. And always the same guy.
Enjoy! Shoot alot of Ottertail Counties inspectors are retired and if your just shore fishing in the area you might end up learning the entire history of whatever they retired from, plus their lineage, and whatever else they might have a shared interest in with you.
The Mississippi River ones are my favorite . What the hell isn’t in that system ? The barges clean drain dry ? What about all the tuna boats locking up and down ? I’d sure like it though if they kept the Asian carp down south . I’ve seen what they can do on the Missouri and it ain’t pretty .
Most lakes in Minnesota have zebra mussels they just haven’t been declared yet. Young mussels are microscopic. 0 chance of keeping them out of any lake over time.
Ais action by the dnr is just wasting money. Money that could go to useful things like boat ramps…….
Cities, counties and lake associations have used ais as an excuse to illegally close public launches and or change the allowed time you can use them.
Most lakes in Minnesota have zebra mussels they just haven’t been declared yet. Young mussels are microscopic.
And you know this as fact how? They are sizable with a shell within a year.
With currently 4 percent of lakes in the state actually declared with zebra mussels I think your statement is probably far from fact.
Lake shore owner associations scare me a lot more than the invasive species. They dump herbicide into Lake Demontreville several times a year, year after year. They destroyed a lake that used to be a real treasure. Hope they enjoy running their jet skis around in circles.
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