The problem is nobody wants to manage the lake for the health of the lake they want to manage it for whats best for them. If you were concerned for the health of the lake you would close the whole lake from July 1st thru Jan 31st yearly.
Peel away all the layers of “cause” and it comes down to $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The problem is nobody wants to manage the lake for the health of the lake they want to manage it for whats best for them. If you were concerned for the health of the lake you would close the whole lake from July 1st thru Jan 31st yearly.
Peel away all the layers of “cause” and it comes down to $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Or from April 1st thru May 10th
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.
For me I just love fall nights with stick baits over rocks. Now if that is banned….👹
Sorry Bladepuller, I did have you mixed up with another forum member that used the forum name “Puddlejumper” I think he lived on the south side too and would post/comment on this forum until a couple years ago he went silent. I confused you with him and was just bantering a bit.
I don’t remember specifically my post about Beachside? I think you’re referring to?
I would think/hope it wasn’t disrespectful as I usually just try to relay information I come across.
Anyway, hope you do have a good year fishing the lake. I’m hoping to get out more this year too…although I’m not really that good. 
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>The_Bladepuller wrote:</div>
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.
For me I just love fall nights with stick baits over rocks. Now if that is banned….👹Sorry Bladepuller, I did have you mixed up with another forum member that used the forum name “Puddlejumper” I think he lived on the south side too and would post/comment on this forum until a couple years ago he went silent. I confused you with him and was just bantering a bit.
I don’t remember specifically my post about Beachside? I think you’re referring to?
I would think/hope it wasn’t disrespectful as I usually just try to relay information I come across.
Anyway, hope you do have a good year fishing the lake. I’m hoping to get out more this year too…although I’m not really that good.
Well thats disheartening to read. Oh well, maybe i’ll just pick you up one morning, we can tie on a couple Flicker Shads and just troll all around the whole lake at 12′ and see what happens. 
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
If I remember right, it was some southern ruraltard that called you out…and didn’t you get fined? Rumor has it anyways…
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Its very clear everyone likes to blame the treaty and its netting, and I get it, but why are there still SO many 17-21 inchers in the lake right now? This will sound stupid, but w/o saying both- Are we more upset about netting because its less walleyes out there to catch for each of us? Or less number of walleyes spawning each spring? And how wide are the holes in these gill nets? I assume they’re killing the 11-13 inch walleyes too? How about smaller perch? Ciscoes?
It really seems that the two main issues are directly correlated, lack of forage and minimal number of small walleyes. Bigger walleyes preying on small ones is a known issue. How is a catch and release only year, two, or five going to help either of those issues? Sure, it continues a great bite for the next few years, but wont it put us right back where we were a few years ago?
Has there been any talk into try stocking again? Is there any proof that the stocking in ’16 has even contributed or were the fry all eaten by all the healthy, spawning walleyes? 
The mille lacs controversy remains all about who gets to kill the walleyes. It’s simply the best catch and release fishery around right now. As someone who doesn’t care if I can take fish home, I couldn’t be happier.
It’s definitely a change from how it used to be. Who deserves the credit or the blame? Is it a great thing or a problem?
Its very clear everyone likes to blame the treaty and its netting, and I get it, but why are there still SO many 17-21 inchers in the lake right now? This will sound stupid, but w/o saying both- Are we more upset about netting because its less walleyes out there to catch for each of us? Or less number of walleyes spawning each spring? And how wide are the holes in these gill nets? I assume they’re killing the 11-13 inch walleyes too? How about smaller perch? Ciscoes?
I won’t get into the “blame game” regarding treaty netting other than to say it’s not as much the netting as it is the treaty co-management that is causing most the problems.
I think gimruis answered in the other Mille Lacs netting thread which I’ll elaborate.
They (tribal netters) use a specific mesh size to target a size range of fish.
The mesh size they use would not collect 11-13″ walleyes or small perch, those fish would swim right through the net. Tullibee’s are not even in that shallow neighborhood where the walleye’s are in spawning after ice out.
So no, the nets are not a factor in depleting small fish, forage or minnows. Larger fish for the most part do not entangle in the net and are usually spared although some can as well as pike.
Has there been any talk into try stocking again? Is there any proof that the stocking in ’16 has even contributed or were the fry all eaten by all the healthy, spawning walleyes?
That stocking was little more than an appeasement to some of the “pitchfork gang” that was rising after a closure or secret agreement was revealed. They (the DNR) also justified part of that to perform a survival rate census by injecting the stocked fry with a dye marker and then would do an estimate of natural recruitment based on the percentage of YOY walleye in the fall or the next year with the dye marker compared to those without.
However most have acknowledged that walleye hatch rate success is amongst or is the highest of any naturally reproducing walleye lake in the state.
It’s the survival past the first year that has been part of the problem.
But then anyone can go out there now and pretty much catch walleyes like they do on TV shows. 
It is a absolute coincidence when the year classes are strong the years there is a late ice out preventing the nets.
Killing spawning age Walleyes with gill nets does nothing to hurt a fishery.
The Minnesota DNR is doing a fantastic (some would say elite) job of managing Mille Lacs.
It is a absolute coincidence when the year classes are strong the years there is a late ice out preventing the nets.
Killing spawning age Walleyes with gill nets does nothing to hurt a fishery.
The Minnesota DNR is doing a fantastic (some would say elite) job of managing Mille Lacs.
And analytics are the best thing that ever happened to baseball, right? 
They didnt net in 2016, what happened to that years class? Honest question, not trying to be a you know what.
tbro a quick search will net you a discussion on the problems of Mille Lacs at least once a year. Most times there have been multiple discussions for the last 10 or more years. They all end the same way. They all have the same suspicions, opinions and lack of facts.
The DNR has championed as many reasons as there are reasons for climate change. Not many reasons have stood the test of time.
Appreciate all that info Andy. Very good to know.
So the netting itself isnt necessarily the *main* issue, its likely more the timing of the netting? (along with a few other things, surely) Shame. Seems fixable but extremely doubtful. Joy!
Fair point, dutchy. I’ve been reading more news articles about the topic than opinions/arguments on prior threads on this site. Easy for us to assume what would and wouldnt work. They certainly dont know the issue but it doesnt seem like they’re willing to try new things besides blame us for it. Shocker
So the netting itself isnt necessarily the *main* issue, its likely more the timing of the netting? (along with a few other things, surely) Shame. Seems fixable but extremely doubtful. Joy!
No, not the timing of the netting at all. More significant problems resulted from the “treaty mandated” co-management system which skewed towards releasing larger fish and directed harvest of smaller fish which began the downhill slide. This management although said by many was to create a trophy walleye fishery, which it may have been in part…was primarily the only management tool the DNR could exercise because they had to keep harvest level at or below the agreed upon safe harvest quota.
So if the safe allowable harvest allotted for state anglers of 150,000 lbs…the season could be maintained end to end. The practice then was allow the slot at 17-19″ fish, you could keep 4 when this began. If they allowed 17-26″ fish, they’d have blown the lid off the allowable quota. One 26′ fish would weigh as much as 2 or 3 17″ fish.
And one more thing, Mille Lacs naturally hatches more walleye each and every spring than all the state fish hatcheries combined. The problem is not walleyes being netted before the can spawn, they do.
The fallout out is survival to the next year.
Oh…49’rs up 20-10.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>The_Bladepuller wrote:</div>
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 possessionIf I remember right, it was some southern ruraltard that called you out…and didn’t you get fined? Rumor has it anyways…
Nope. Never been fined. Actually never been a violator.
Andy Cox, You are thinking of the cousin of Joe & Steve F. that went by ” Puddlepounder”.
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.
All I can go off of is what is publicly known. We know the Head of Fisheries Brad Parsons said the lake wouldn’t need to close last year on August 14th, and the lake closed September 1st (and was announced prior to that). So someone above Parsons, (which is only Commish Strommen or Gov Walz) arbitrarily closed the lake. Why would the Commish or Gov do such a thing? It’s obviously not in the interest of their constituents (voters for Walz, outdoorspeople for Strommen), so someone else had to lean on them. The MN Tribe’s have been the biggest political contributor to both sides of the aisle in MN for a long time, and the ML Tribe has openly stated they plan on reclaiming their traditional territory so I think it’s safe to assume it’s them.
As for what should be done (I stated it earlier), they should go 100% C&R until they think the biomass can support a 1 fish harvest YEAR round, and so on until we achieve some stability. We should eliminate commercial gill netting until the lake can sustain a harvest for everyone (tribal members could still spear their 10 fish/day until then for treaty purposes). We should open up the comanagement process to the media and/or MLFAC so we know how these decisions are made. And we need to move away from Hooking Mortality and the Quota system asap, as the Quota does not allow management based off science since you will never be able to regulate for removal of big fish bc they weigh too much.
Bigwerm – That’s a fair enough answer. I guess I really don’t have much of a dog in this fight. I have plenty of other lakes I can go harvest a few walleyes from if I want a meal or 2. As far as Mille Lacs goes now. I truly enjoy fishing it simply for the fun of fishing. Not many lakes that you can go and catch the #’s and size of both Walleyes and Smallmouth as you can on Mille Lacs these days.
Bigwerm – That’s a fair enough answer. I guess I really don’t have much of a dog in this fight. I have plenty of other lakes I can go harvest a few walleyes from if I want a meal or 2. As far as Mille Lacs goes now. I truly enjoy fishing it simply for the fun of fishing. Not many lakes that you can go and catch the #’s and size of both Walleyes and Smallmouth as you can on Mille Lacs these days.
I 100% agree, and that was why I was hounding you on what you thought the problem was. Your posts, and the DNR’s actions, make it seem like the problem at Mille Lacs is a lack of fish, which we all know is not the case. The problem, imo, is the continual bad publicity, and the DNR’s unscientific management perpetuates that. It’s a shame and we should be united against that along with this poor management affecting our access to it. They don’t listen to the businesses/MLFAC, so it’s long past time we, the everyjoe angler, start exerting some influence in this state.
I 100% agree, and that was why I was hounding you on what you thought the problem was. Your posts, and the DNR’s actions, make it seem like the problem at Mille Lacs is a lack of fish, which we all know is not the case. The problem, imo, is the continual bad publicity, and the DNR’s unscientific management perpetuates that. It’s a shame and we should be united against that along with this poor management affecting our access to it. They don’t listen to the businesses/MLFAC, so it’s long past time we, the everyjoe angler, start exerting some influence in this state.
I personally don’t think there is a lack of fish in Mille Lacs at all. If something I said made it sound that way I’m sorry. I do believe that there was a shortage of fish in the lake at one time not that long ago ( for what ever reason ) I do believe that some of the regulations that were put in place did aid in the lake rebounding like it has. I totally agree that its probably now time to change some of the regulations to start allowing some fish to be harvested all season long. I think that a good start would be getting some of larger fish out of the lake – Then again like someone else said, Biology will probably take care of that over time ( if future slots do not keep creating more and more Big fish over time.
As far as who is pulling who’s stings on the whole management issue – You are probably correct as well – And that is a total shame. I’ve said before – Sportsman do a poor job of sticking together and speaking out.
I do believe that there was a shortage of fish in the lake at one time not that long ago
In 2014 the population estimate was 249,000. The highest estimate in the last 20 years was in 2002 when there was 1.1 million. The most recent estimate completed in 2019 is 749,000. So ya, there was most likely a pretty low number only 5 years ago. The carrying capacity is probably a lot lower than it used to be too – simply not enough food for all the mouths to feed anymore.
So from 2002 until 2014 (12 years) the lake lost 850,000 fish.
From 2014 until 2019 (5 years) it gained 500,000 fish.
Ummm…………….
One way to look at it I guess. I didn’t specifically look up the individual year estimates between all the years I stated. The population could have risen or fallen quite drastically in that span.
So from 2002 until 2014 (12 years) the lake lost 850,000 fish.
From 2014 until 2019 (5 years) it gained 500,000 fish.
Ummm…………….
“Measurable” fish, the 2013 year class was and is huge, but likely not reflected in the 2014 assessment as they were too small to catch and measure. Also # of fish is misleading if we are using weight as the management tool, as one keepable fish is conservatively 2-3 lbs (21-23 inches) or 5+ lbs (28+ inches). So this year’s 87,500 POUND quota would allow for 17,500-35,000 keepable fish for the entire year…
MNFISH will lead the way.
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