Same 2020 harvest quota on Mille Lacs as 2019

jeff_huberty wrote:

Think of ML Management like a hill full of trees, The Tribe/Governor/DNR Commish sit at the top and try to keep the hill forested. Along came many people, day after day summer or winter it did not matter; they lay to claim their six tree Limit, over and over again. local business owners rent out space on their trucks and will hall trees out for a fee to ride along. Others come with flatbed 18 wheel trucks stacked to their limit of carrying capacity of trees because it was their God given right to do so.
The new natural growth can not keep up with the demand, so our great leaders of the Hill try to replenish the hill with seedlings.
Despite the effort of all involved the hill is soon barren of trees…
Bark Beatles? Ash Borers? Moths? Caterpillars?
Everyone else!!
I had nothing to do with it.

All in jest

It may be in Jest – But its a good analogy

Lindyrig79

If your complaint is that you believe that the fish population of the lake is good enough now to change the regulations and encourage more harvest of Large fish – Then you and I are in agreement

fishthumper wrote:

Bigwerm

I’m no expert here so my idea’s and guesses are probably no better than yours or others. The Three factors that I believe caused the decline in the population on Mille Lacs are:

By the DNR’s own admission there is no problem with the population, so again what is the problem in your opinion?

jeff_huberty wrote:

The new natural growth can not keep up with the demand, so our great leaders of the Hill try to replenish the hill with seedlings.

Jeff don’t forget the annual unregulated forest fire while trying to make more seedlings, and the lake is not stocked with more seedlings. It’s actually really good at making it’s own.

You type alot thumper. There is no problem with the population of walleye on mille lacs right now. I take a pontoon out in may June and July and have no prob putting at least a hundred fish in the boat over the weekend.. and i mean every weekend. When we use live bait and i tell everyone to set the hook immediately and not wait. There is no reason to wait. I don’t think we killed one fish. Every fish tears away right when it hits the water. Everyone is mad because the fish are there in big numbers and they say we kill every fish we catch and it’s straight bs

Plus the fact that a race of people in 2020 has different rights than another is just ridiculous

BigWerm wrote:

Jeff don’t forget the annual unregulated forest fire while trying to make more seedlings, and the lake is not stocked with more seedlings. It’s actually really good at making it’s own.

Agree!

To everyone here who thinks the population of walleyes are now good enough to not need the same regulations as last year. If the decision was yours as what this years Mille lacs walleye regulations should be – What would those regulations be? There smackem33 – I keep it short for you.

By the way who says we kill every fish we catch ???

Just remember. Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called Whining. No one wants Whining

The ONLY way this lake is going to get fixed is by harvesting lots of larger fish to reduce the amount of young walleyes they are eating.
I think the DNR is secretly counting down the days/years left of the aging large fish population so the young fish can start surviving at higher percentages.
Trouble is fish live a lot longer than many people realize. They can live 20 or 30 years in many cases. They are gobbling up millions of smaller walleyes and other forage during the last 15 years of their lives while probably not providing much in the way of reproduction because the eggs are less viable in the geriatric females.
As much as people dont like doing it, larger fish need to be harvested before this will ever get any better in regards to surviving small fish. If the quota stays low and they continue to protect the big fish, it will only be resolved when those fish start to really die off IMO.

Why doesn’t anyone talk about the perch, or lack thereof? Used to have to beat them away with a stick, now lucky to catch some?

fishthumper wrote:

Just remember. Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called Whining. No one wants Whining

What about not identifying a problem, but proposing many reasons for why it is and what should be done about the unidentified problem? I’ve asked you twice what you think the problem is, 10,000 words on the subject yet still nothing.

sticker wrote:

Catch and release is not the solution; in fact, it is the opposite of the solution!!!! THERE ARE TOO MANY WALLEYES IN THE LAKE AND THEY ARE EATING EACH OTHER. I realize catch and release only could extend the summer season, but it will also promote more bigger walleyes which are part of what is eating the small walleyes. Ideally the quota should be raised due to the population of walleyes in the lake and the keep slot should be concentrated on large walleyes. The walleye population as a whole is in great shape, ask anyone who fishes the lake, it’s the proportion of year classes that is out of whack.

And for what it’s worth BigWerm, I agree with 100% of what you said!!

Sticker & Bigwerm got it right. The lake is absolutely loaded with fish. Big fish, small fish, green fish, gold fish. The walleyes need to be harvested to keep things in check. With all the political BS that’s going on, it’s going to crash again because of it. There needs to be some kind of harvest. I fish the Big Pond 80% of the time I’m out fishing. It’s a great lake & I hope someday all this will go back to the glory days.

Smackem33 wrote:

Plus the fact that a race of people in 2020 has different rights than another is just ridiculous

You do realize that it is probably your RACE that gave that RACE those rights that you are talking about correct – Its probably also your Race that has upheld those rights in courts on several different occasions.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying I agree with it any more than you do.

jeff_huberty wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
Think of ML Management like a hill, roll things off with no basis in science, the DNR takes it tries to polish it up, MLFAC gets it throws it back up hill with some ideas to help them, and then the anglers and property owners who support the area economically get whatever is left at the end with no say in anything.

Think of ML Management like a hill full of trees, The Tribe/Governor/DNR Commish sit at the top and try to keep the hill forested. Along came many people, day after day summer or winter it did not matter; they lay to claim their six tree Limit, over and over again. local business owners rent out space on their trucks and will hall trees out for a fee to ride along. Others come with flatbed 18 wheel trucks stacked to their limit of carrying capacity of trees because it was their God given right to do so.
The new natural growth can not keep up with the demand, so our great leaders of the Hill try to replenish the hill with seedlings.
Despite the effort of all involved the hill is soon barren of trees…
Bark Beatles? Ash Borers? Moths? Caterpillars?
Everyone else!!
I had nothing to do with it.

All in jest

Or the hill full of trees ages to the point where straight line winds wipe them all out. Selective harvest of those trees, overtime, would be a better solution, no?

MNFISH will lead the way.

BigWerm wrote:

To answer your questions Tangler, there is no science behind it or any of the decisions made up there anymore. They keep it open in the winter because the resorts make more money in the winter, and supposedly there is no hooking mortality. And they shut it down at the end of year, around Labor Day because that is a slower time of year for the resorts. Think of ML Management like a hill, The Tribe/Governor/DNR Commish sit at the top and roll things off with no basis in science, the DNR takes it tries to polish it up, MLFAC gets it throws it back up hill with some ideas to help them, and then the anglers and property owners who support the area economically get whatever is left at the end with no say in anything.

Interesting. If the DNR is managing the fishery to placate those who stand to profit from it, I find that far more troubling than tribal netting. Tribal netting is derived from treaties and upheld by the supreme court. Agree or not, I feel the DNR has their hands tied with regard to netting. I see a lot of people bashing natives, and I see very few people bashing resort owners for lobbying the DNR to help their business instead of doing what’s best for the fishery and the average angler.

Crap. Beads, I’m gonna need some reinforcements, the breeze is picking up in here

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Smackem33 wrote:</div>
Plus the fact that a race of people in 2020 has different rights than another is just ridiculous

You do realize that it is probably your RACE that gave that RACE those rights that you are talking about correct – Its probably also your Race that has upheld those rights in courts on several different occasions.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying I agree with it any more than you do.

I was my race because for some reason we have to tip toe around the world these days because god forbid we don’t hurt anyone’s feelings. I just ask everyone how can this country become un divided by race if we don’t have equal rights for everyone? Everything people whine about was 100 years ago. How much time will have to pass??

tangler wrote:

Interesting. If the DNR is managing the fishery to placate those who stand to profit from it, I find that far more troubling than tribal netting. Tribal netting is derived from treaties and upheld by the supreme court. Agree or not, I feel the DNR has their hands tied with regard to netting. I see a lot of people bashing natives, and I see very few people bashing resort owners for lobbying the DNR to help their business instead of doing what’s best for the fishery and the average angler.

I think that’s not a bad view to take, but it is a superficial one. The DNR’s job isn’t to do what’s best for the fishery, if it were there would be no fishing and no DNR, their job is to manage our resources for maximum utility, which can be any of thousands of different things. The Mille Lacs area has “profited” off the lake for thousands of years, it has just evolved more drastically the last 30 years. And it’s not just the resorts, it’s literally the towns and average joe’s around the lake that need it and it’s visitors to survive. Sure you may not care about Avg Joe’s Business in Isle/Wahkon/Malmo/Garrison etc., but if they are not there our access and ability to enjoy the lake diminishes greatly. Plus the resorts have gone from hundreds down to a handful and shrinking.

I don’t see anyone bashing Native’s on this entire thread, just that the unmonitored commercial netting harvest should stop, and that we should all operate under the same laws.

And, IMHO, the DNR’s primary goal regarding ML should be keeping the lake open all season, and once they can do so with a stable biomass, start allowing a minimal harvest, once a minimal harvest can be achieved with a stable biomass, they can increase it if the biomass can sustain it. But closing this or any lake should be a non-starter.

eyefishwalleye wrote:

Why doesn’t anyone talk about the perch, or lack thereof? Used to have to beat them away with a stick, now lucky to catch some?

The lack of perch has definitely contributed to the problem. The primary fish forage in the lake has traditionally been perch but the very bottom of the food chain has been greatly affected. It’s a significant reason why the big walleyes eat the small ones. They used to eat perch, now they eat each other.

Barnacles harbor is loaded with spottail shiners in the spring. You kick the dock and the whole harbor erupts it’s pretty cool. Got to be happening other parts of the lake???? Anyone witness this at other resorts?

I do remember 10 years ago hitting the flats and catching tons of dink perch. That doesn’t happen anymore

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
Just remember. Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called Whining. No one wants Whining

What about not identifying a problem, but proposing many reasons for why it is and what should be done about the unidentified problem? I’ve asked you twice what you think the problem is, 10,000 words on the subject yet still nothing.

Bigwerm
I thought your ? To me was what I had thought the cause of the original problem was – I tried to answer that – I guess there were some who thought I should have done so in less and smaller words.
I have also asked yourself and others if this years regulations was yours to decide – what do you think the regulations should be.
You say by the DNR’s own admission that there is no problem with the population of the lake – where do you see where they have ever said that?
If all your saying is there is no reason they should need to close the walleye fishing on the lake – we are both in agreement

If you believe that the population of the lake is good enough to go back to the statewide limits with no control on the size of fish being taken we are still going to need to disagree. If that were to happen the lake would be right back to record lows in no time.

You are making it sound like the DNR or the state government or the natives – whoever you believe is in control of the decision making ( just to be clear – who’d do you think it is? ) does not want the local businesses or towns in the area to succeed or survive. What reason do you think whoever has control would want that.

BigWerm wrote:

And, IMHO, the DNR’s primary goal regarding ML should be keeping the lake open all season, and once they can do so with a stable biomass, start allowing a minimal harvest, once a minimal harvest can be achieved with a stable biomass, they can increase it if the biomass can sustain it. But closing this or any lake should be a non-starter.

On this we surely agree bw.

And just to clarify, it’s not that I don’t care about the average joe working in Isle, or the resort owners anywhere on the lake. Was merely pointing out that it appears the DNR has more than one puppet master, yet we typically only hear about how it’s the bands steering the ship.

Ripjiggen wrote:

You do not actually think the DNR is the one managing the lake do you? Yikes..
You can not truly believe the DNR or the state is doing what is truly best for the fishery and the average angler?

Management/mismanagement, call it what you like. Beyond that I Don’t really know how to answer these condescending questions so I’ll just say enjoy the night.

tangler wrote:

And just to clarify, it’s not that I don’t care about the average joe working in Isle, or the resort owners anywhere on the lake. Was merely pointing out that it appears the DNR has more than one puppet master, yet we typically only hear about how it’s the bands steering the ship.

I share your opinion on there has to be more than one “player” here, but no idea who or why? I just responded to your post because it was here at the tail end.

What even to say anymore? This is the new normal for Mille Lacs, continually swirled in controversy but not much has really changed. It is what it is now, might as well get used to it.

We’ll never see again what some reminisce as the “good old days” or “golden era” of Mille Lacs walleye fishing and culture.

And maybe it’s not all that bad as the “doomsday” folks are weeping about.

The resorts that have survived should be okay, they’ve adapted. The many others that have closed likely would have anyway because they didn’t modernize, fell behind on the changing angling direction, and/or just retired. That was likely inevitable regardless of the “walleye crisis”…many smaller resorts have been disappearing all across the state, and the Midwest and even nationwide.

Lindyrig asserted that furthering C&R practices and protocols (banning live bait) out there is not really meaningful is true IMO too. It has in fact been that way for some time…what would be any different?

Bigwerm has raised a lot of questions that many other’s also have been asking. One, the inexplicable hooking mortality and the ongoing nonsense from the DNR.

I think most understand they’re being “controlled” by aliens or Russians…

But in all seriousness, they (the DNR) continues to destroy any trust with the state anglers and the MLFAC committee in which they were mandated to establish which is a “stinky” appeasement.

Some are aware of the “secret agreement” a couple years ago that drew fire.

So now, the DNR had known since last Wednesday the 22nd of the “agreed” allowable quota for this season. They were scheduled to meet with MLFAC this past Tuesday the 28th and cancelled the meeting. No information of what they knew or agreed upon given to MLFAC until they (the DNR) made the public announcement yesterday.

Was like a gut punch for MLFAC.

What a drama, and why?

The tribe could care less about the overall health of the area economy.
Other than Eddie’s they shutter commercial property that they buy.

My perspective is a landowner who has his great grandfathers name on the abstract starting after the 1890 Nelson Act. 1892

The_Bladepuller wrote:

The tribe could care less about the overall health of the area economy.
Other than Eddie’s they shutter commercial property that they buy.

My perspective is a landowner who has his great grandfathers name on the abstract starting after the 1890 Nelson Act. 1892

And out of the woodwork appears “The_Bladepuller”

And as you say, I’ve been telling that story here before and there were some that thought it was all in my head.

Not so good for you on the “South end”, either Crow Wing or Mille Lacs county in the targeted area.

I lucked out, I landed in the NW corner in Aitkin county…just outside the “acquisition zone”…get off my lawn.

I’m not sure of what ” out of the woodwork” is supposed to mean. I have been a member here for a long time. I quit posting when citidiots went after what they thought was me having a over possession limit. When or if you are down south ask Ben where I am. I had him read about your post on him having to shut down to an ice heave.
I don’t have the answer on proper quota management. The lake is a tremendous fishery. Frankly I dialed way back the last couple of years due to building a new house, fishing boat issues, motorcycle touring, etc. I have vowed that this year will be different.
WHEN the quota is reached this June I’ll target Gators. Pulling rigged deep water Walleyes up just to spin a clicker ……nah. Beartooth Highway time then.
For me I just love fall nights with stick baits over rocks. Now if that is banned….👹

I’m not sure of what ” out of the woodwork” is supposed to mean. I have been a member here for a long time. I quit posting when citidiots went after what they thought was me having a over possession limit. When or if you are down south ask Ben where I am. I had him read about your post on him having to shut down to an ice heave.
I don’t have the answer on proper quota management. The lake is a tremendous fishery. Frankly I dialed way back the last couple of years due to building a new house, fishing boat issues, motorcycle touring, etc. I have vowed that this year will be different.
WHEN the quota is reached this June I’ll target Gators. Pulling rigged deep water Walleyes up just to spin a clicker ……nah. Beartooth Highway time then.
For me I just love fall nights with stick baits over rocks. Now if that is banned….👹

I’m not sure of what ” out of the woodwork” is supposed to mean. I have been a member here for a long time. I quit posting when citidiots went after what they thought was me having a over possession limit. When or if you are down south ask Ben where I am. I had him read about your post on him having to shut down to an ice heave.
I don’t have the answer on proper quota management. The lake is a tremendous fishery. Frankly I dialed way back the last couple of years due to building a new house, fishing boat issues, motorcycle touring, etc. I have vowed that this year will be different.
WHEN the quota is reached this June I’ll target Gators. Pulling rigged deep water Walleyes up just to spin a clicker ……nah. Beartooth Highway time then.
For me I just love fall nights with stick baits over rocks. Now if that is banned….👹

Ripjiggen wrote:

Andy I agree we are never going back to the good old days.

I agree, just accept it for what it has become, a trophy multi species system for walleye, pike, smallmouth, and muskie. Other states would kill to have such a thriving fishery like this.