Strong catch, warm weather push Mille Lacs walleye fishery toward state quota

john23 wrote:

The talk about a special session to provide some kind of economic relief to the resorts had me thinking … maybe the state could buy out the treaty rights? Does anyone know if this possibiltiy has ever been discussed?

This was almost reality back in 1990, but the Mn legislature rejected the settlement. This was the deal that Bud Grant had negotiated with the tribes. There has been a lot written on the topic. Here is a brief summary. There is more info on the PERM site.

http://www.messagemedia.co/millelacs/news/tribal/mille-lacs-treaty-case-was-one-of-many/article_02a08522-90a0-11e2-ac13-001a4bcf6878.html

Timeline:

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/aboutdnr/laws_treaties/1854/litigation.html

-J.

actually, assuming that netting is the culprit in walleye decline requires more assumptions than changing climate, for instance. It is necessary to have competing hypothesis that predict equally well, which is where netting as the culprit falls short.

lancew wrote:

actually, assuming that netting is the culprit in walleye decline requires more assumptions than changing climate, for instance. It is necessary to have competing hypothesis that predict equally well, which is where netting as the culprit falls short.

Because of netting om Mille lacs the DNR implemented harvest slots to manage poundage. All other Minnesota lake slots are protested slot limits to manage increase harvest. Take away the nets, get rid of harvest slots and the lake will do just fine, thank you. Read the report I attached. It was clearly predicted the harvest slot would result in too many big fish in the lake. That indeed happened and resulted in canibalism of yoy walleye. This is the real reason walleye were not reaching year 2 age. Not global warming!

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

I highly doubt Dayton will address tribal netting. My guess is the words will never appear in any of his statements or orders. Right now they still call it a “Population Problem”. Dayton and the entire DFL are pretty much bought and paid for by the tribes. They will not address netting as the real issue here on Mille Lacs.

-J.

I 100% agree with you except for what is in bold. You have to have some sort of proof to say such a thing. (Not saying it didn’t happen but…). Dayton is a rich man and has aspirations of an office higher than Governor. No way he’s chancing getting caught taking Indian money (IMO…). RR

It’s no secret that the Minnesota tribes (And tribes across the US) contribute heavily to the DFL and DFL candidates running for office.

Google >>> tribal political donations to minnesota democrats

The DFL will never turn their back on that money!

-J.

Jon Jordan wrote:

It’s no secret that the Minnesota tribes (And tribes across the US) contribute heavily to the DFL and DFL candidates running for office.

Google >>> tribal political donations to minnesota democrats

The DFL will never turn their back on that money!

-J.

Ah…I took it as ‘under the table’ money…RR

Jon Jordan wrote:

It’s no secret that the Minnesota tribes (And tribes across the US) contribute heavily to the DFL and DFL candidates running for office.

Google >>> tribal political donations to minnesota democrats

The DFL will never turn their back on that money!

-J.

Not entirely true. Yes tribal contributions ounce heavily outweighed to democrates since the Perpich deal 20 years ago. Now with gaming on the line contributions to both parties have been equal with still a nod to democrats favor.

Google; minesota political tribal contributions.

Jon Jordan wrote:

I would love to know the number too. But here is your truth. Many of us who have lake property and are up there during the netting see it all the time. Going on 15 or more years now. Tribal boats loaded with walleye to the point of almost sinking. Arrive at multiple access points where no one is there to record the catch. No DNR, no tribal officials. It’s on their honor to report the poundage. This happens 24 hours a day for weeks on end after the ice out. Pick up truck loads disappear down the road and then repeated over and over and over….. These fish are not being allocated to the tribal poundage. If they were, the netting would be over in 1-3 days. All we are saying is “DNR -DO YOUR JOB!” I for one do not believe they are.

What is more frustrating is the DNR will not even acknowledge this is happening. Even after we send in Video. The news media won’t touch the topic either. They brand us land owners are racist and ignore the facts. The whole situation is a mess with a capitol M!

-J.

It is also the rule that once any species hits it’s quota, all netting stops. There has been many documented evidence of netters throwing back northerns caught to assure this doesn’t affect the walleye take and yet the DNR does absolutely nothing about it.

Sternberg stated in his article

•Set length limits that will help keep the population in balance. If there is a shortage of
16- to 18-inchers, for instance, it makes no biological sense to impose a harvest slot
that targets those fish while prohibiting harvest of an over-abundant size class. The
input group should have the chance to choose from several DNR proposals, but not to
pick a slot that ignores population balance.

The DNR did the complete opposite. They imposed harvest slots for the fish that were short in numbers.

Gonfishn, so you’ve seen a total of 4 dead walleyes this summer, so the lake should be shut down.

I suppose that you blame “tournaments” for the majority of fished killed on the lake every yr too?

When I got to the lake today, I had a 23 inch walleye washed up on the beach, that’s the 2nd fish I’ve had on a 130′ of eastern shoreline since spring of 2014. The other was an 18″ smallie. You must have a dead fish magnet on in your boat, and on your beach.

Sartell Eye Guy wrote:

Gonfishn, so you’ve seen a total of 4 dead walleyes this summer, so the lake should be shut down.

I suppose that you blame “tournaments” for the majority of fished killed on the lake every yr too?

When I got to the lake today, I had a 23 inch walleye washed up on the beach, that’s the 2nd fish I’ve had on a 130′ of eastern shoreline since spring of 2014. The other was an 18″ smallie. You must have a dead fish magnet on in your boat, and on your beach.

I don’t know where on the Eastern shore your beach is located, but it must fairly protected. I was up there last weekend, and there are plenty of dead fish floating around. The 10-14 inch walleyes that people are hauling up from 25’+ are the future of the lake. A good percentage of those fish are not making it.

You must be high (or a launch operator) if you are going to deny that a lot of walleyes don’t get killed by the launches. 1-2 people on a launch cannot handle 15-20 people fishing. Those fish flop around on the deck for too long before they are eventually released. Sure, we are on the East side and only get to see what the launches on that side of the lake do. However, the handling of fish is generally poor each time we happen to be around one.

I am not sure why you picked an ax to grind with the post from Gonfishn. From a conservation standpoint, shutting down the lake is probably the right thing to do. Do you disagree? I think everyone is so pissed off because the DNR and State Government have allowed things to get to this point.

-Drew

I just spent another weekend at Mille Lacs and I sill don’t see all these walleyes floating. The 3 days of strong west winds should have sent some to the east side, but they aren’t here.

Sartel Eye,

”
Gonfishn, so you’ve seen a total of 4 dead walleyes this summer, so the lake should be shut down.

Not sure where your getting the 4 eye total form, but it does not matter. I didn’t start seeing any floaters until the week of the 4th and the following weekend. But starting the week of the 4th, on the East side around where I was fishing, there were a lot of dead fish. Mostly tullibees but some eyes in the mix also.

My point on thinking the lake needed to be shut down was to protect the 2013 and 2014 classes. These were being caught an opening day and in mass now. With all these being caught, a lot for sure are no making it. Even if your not seeing them all float.

The number of fish floating on the lake this year is small compared to what I have seen in years past.

Are there some fish being killed due to hooking mortality? Yes, of course. Is it anywhere close to what the DNRs algorithms are showing… I have very serious doubts. I know that members of the input committee back home also have very serious doubts as to what are the assumptions used for calculating hooking mortality (# of boats, estimated size of fish, I’ve even heard rumors that water temps used were taken by a creel surveyors in resort harbors where it’s going to be much hotter) A little transparency by the DNR on how they calculate there numbers would go a long way.

Will

I will be watching closely now that we are into August, typically our hottest month. Since no one is allowed to walleye fish there won’t be any dead walleyes floating right? I bet there will be some and I bet a bunch more tulibee will dye if the water temps get high. Some how they will spin it that it’s still hook mortality.