No night trolling this again this fall.

I was really hoping with C&R for the entire summer with it shut down in July, that night trolling would have been open for C&R, but I guess not. This lake is getting more frustrating every year.

Yes every year I get my hopes up that life will return to something resembling normal on ML. I mostly C & R fish but it still really ticks me off that I am told that I can’t keep one or two fish for a meal. The most fantastic northern light display I have ever seen was 2:00 in the morning on ML and it was around opening of deer season. Reeled the lures in and just sat and watched. I really miss the old days on ML.

Look on the bright side. At least for now we will be able to fish past Labor Day for walleyes. This hasn’t happened in 5 years…

^^I wouldn’t bet any amount of money on that.

I feel your pain…..Fall night trolling on mille lacs was one of my favorite things to do each season. Unfortunately i dont see it happening again for a LONG time. Hope I’m wrong.

Matt

Matt M wrote:

I feel your pain…..Fall night trolling on mille lacs was one of my favorite things to do each season. Unfortunately i dont see it happening again for a LONG time. Hope I’m wrong.

Matt

You can always troll for Northerns!

Is walleye fishing going to be shut down again this coming fall?

Probably a good chance they will shut the lake down again later in the year. I guess you can troll until 10pm as of right now.

Night Closure:
Effective 10 p.m. on May 13 through 11:59 p.m. on November 30
From May 13 through May 31, no fishing for any species from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
From June 1 through Nov. 30, no fishing from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. except for species and methods listed below:
Muskellunge and northern pike may be targeted with artificial lures longer than 8 inches or sucker minnows longer than 8 inches. While fishing during the night closure, you may not possess or target any species other than muskellunge or northern pike.
Bowfishing for rough fish – You may not possess angling equipment while bowfishing, and only rough fish may be in possession.

Mike W wrote:

Is walleye fishing going to be shut down again this coming fall?

I attended the MLFAC meeting in February for the sole purpose of starting a discussion with the DNR on a return to fall fishing. During the open question and answer session, I brought up fall fishing on ML and commented that there are a lot of folks like myself who prefer to see fall fishing and for myself fall fishing over winter fishing. And asked what is the deciding factor on allowing fishing in the winter and the comment back was that the MLFAC Members prefer winter fishing. At this MLFAC meeting there was only one home owner on the lake in attendance and I commented the committee is pretty skewed with business owners so I guess not much of a surprise that winter would be a priority.
Based on my question the DNR asked for a show of hands in the audience on how many wanted fall fishing, it was unanimous that those in the audience wanted fall fishing.
I ended my discussion with the request that the DNR, going forward, strongly take the request for fall fishing into consideration when making decision on winter and summer fishing. The DNR acknowledged they would and I will be back at the upcoming meetings to try and make sure this happens.

I am optimistic that there will be fall fishing this year. This is based on the following.

In 2018 the state had an underage of 17,111 lbs. That wiped out the overages of 6,800 for 2016 and 9,250 for 2017 and left the state with 11,061 for overage in 2019.

So with the underage in 2018, my belief is that the DNR felt there could be some walleye kept in the winter of 2019 just like in 2018 and also allow for some walleye to be kept in May. A few things happened in 2019 that led to the early shutdown. The winter for 2019 was almost double 2018, walleyes could be kept in May, and summer 2019 was 70% higher than 2018.
Now for 2020 disaster struck again, this time during the winter. The take for 2020 as compared to 2018 was 5X. So thus a decision had to be made for summer of 2020. Make a planned shutdown or as in previous years, when the totals are hit, shut it down then.
The decision and MLFAC had voice, was to shut down in July with the hope to be able to keep the remainder of the season open and have fall fishing. Not all night but at least until 10. With full July shutdown I think there is a very good chance.

Matt get out at midnight Friday night and troll Saturday night also, that’s how I get my night trolling fix that I miss also.

Matt M wrote:

I feel your pain…..Fall night trolling on mille lacs was one of my favorite things to do each season. Unfortunately i dont see it happening again for a LONG time. Hope I’m wrong.

Matt

Shut the whole lake down, have the tribe make offers to every resort/business around the lake and give the tribe the lake to manage. We’d all be surprised how quickly netting would stop and hook and line fishing would be allowed to keep fish again. I’d bet people would rather pay for a non tribal license and be able to fish and keep a couple fish, rather than the current situation which is pure and utter stupidity. How it’s managed now is comically ignorant and proof the state and dnr has zero accountability, knowledge or ability to do anything with the resource that is mille lacs. If the resource is in such poor health, shut it down. This half way to nowhere management has become to frustrating to understand, especially when they have a zero transparency doctrine of communicating facts or agendas. Sorry, but if I had a vote in it I’d shut the ch ! T show down and let people move on. It’s a lake in limbo.

Excellent response, gonefishin. Thank you for the insight. I had also presumed it would stay open in the fall this season (not at night) because there was a planned closure in July. July accounts for the highest mortality of any month so I am hoping that avoiding this will allow for it to remain open this fall.

I specifically remember being interviewed twice last season about whether I preferred a planned closure or an abrupt one and my response was a planned closure. I just think it helps people plan better.

The winter vs open water regs are garbage. If they were solely using biological reasons they would not allow winter anglers to keep any fish and they would not allow fishing all night. Just shows you they cater to businesses rather than using science to make all the regs.

I’m having a hard time wondering why anyone would want to go where you have to buy your fish to eat. From c&r to a 1 fish limit to not even being able to fish when you want or target a certain species. With all the studies and regulations that have been tried, from what I understand, nothing has seemed to help the lake rebound. I feel sorry for all the people who enjoyed going ML.

Outdraft wrote:

I’m having a hard time wondering why anyone would want to go where you have to buy your fish to eat.

You must not do any bass or muskie fishing because virtually all of those guys are not in it to keep their catch. There’s more to fishing than harvesting them, outdraft.

Outdraft wrote:

I’m having a hard time wondering why anyone would want to go where you have to buy your fish to eat. From c&r to a 1 fish limit to not even being able to fish when you want or target a certain species. With all the studies and regulations that have been tried, from what I understand, nothing has seemed to help the lake rebound. I feel sorry for all the people who enjoyed going ML.

Why? Because it’s loaded with BIG fish! It’s definitely not like the good old days in keeping limits, no doubt. If I want a limit, there are THOUSANDS of other lakes to get a meal from. It’s hard for me to pass up a lake with MONSTER Walleye, Pike, Bass, Muskie, & even a few Jumbo Perch left out there. Other than the BS politics surrounding the lake, what is there not to love!?

Yes I fish bass,and no I don’t keep em unless severely hooked.

So currently about 3 hrs a night of night trolling will be available this fall. Sure sounds better than nothing.

Mike W wrote:

So currently about 3 hrs a night of night trolling will be available this fall. Sure sounds better than nothing.

Plenty of time once into October. If you’re real aggressive you can get about 5 hrs a day. 3-4 in the evening & 2 in the morning.

Well played IceNEyes.

Currently yes.

That’s a great take !

basseyes wrote:

Shut the whole lake down, have the tribe make offers to every resort/business around the lake and give the tribe the lake to manage. We’d all be surprised how quickly netting would stop and hook and line fishing would be allowed to keep fish again. I’d bet people would rather pay for a non tribal license and be able to fish and keep a couple fish, rather than the current situation which is pure and utter stupidity. How it’s managed now is comically ignorant and proof the state and dnr has zero accountability, knowledge or ability to do anything with the resource that is mille lacs. If the resource is in such poor health, shut it down. This half way to nowhere management has become to frustrating to understand, especially when they have a zero transparency doctrine of communicating facts or agendas. Sorry, but if I had a vote in it I’d shut the ch ! T show down and let people move on. It’s a lake in limbo. [/quote

Or….they lock it down like Red Lake. No I will continue to rip the DRN for being a sub-commitee for GLIFWC. In no way should the DNR be let off the hook for this fiasco.

If it is legal to troll with a stickbait > 8″, then I’ll pull it.