First off let me say that I’m not trying to start a flaming war in this topic. But I’m not sure I get your “call to action”. So we attend the meeting, what are you going to say? ‘I don’t want gates or inspections and want complete unfettered access to any lake in the state?’ Anderson is right in his article, those days are long gone. Other than inspections and gates, I haven’t heard of any other proposals to prevent the spread of invasives. If there are any other options, then those should be brought up at these meetings and investigated. With all due respect, what do you propose to keep the invasives out of the non-infected lakes that doesn’t include what’s already being done?

There a lot of recreational boaters (i.e. not fishermen) out there who could care less about this issue and without inspections would be spreading this stuff around from lake to lake. The DNR says it would cost $50 – $100 million per year to implement state-wide. What if the DNR raised the fishing license fee by $50 per license (2 million licenses which may be high x $50 additional fee = $100 million) to cover inspections? That would get rid of the gate problem by having a full time staff at each boat landing. That won’t fly with the sportsmen of this state. The DNR tied to raise the license fee a couple bucks to cover inflation and there was a big stink about that.

What other options are out there? Without options, it’s just complaining isn’t it?

Glad you haven’t had issues. If you fill your tank very regularly and burn it up fairly fast you probbaly won’t have an issue.

I’ve had enough with everything from lawn mowers, chain saws to watching friends sitting at the dock trying to get their motors to start that I made the switch and never had an issue after that. Everytime I took one of the engines in for service the first question out of the mechanics mouth was what type of gas I was running.

Just an opinion on what his issue could be.

Grouse,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Public lakes shouldn’t be privatized by anyone! However, I read the original posters gripe was with the inspection process and less with the fact that the lake was gated. Until a better system comes along, I think that inspections and gates or landing attendants are what we’re going to have to live with if this will ever be controlled.

Not sensationalism, just my experience. Ask a marine mechanic what their thoughts are. The marine mechanics here in the Cities charge over $100/hr and will be happy to fix your motor for you.

Call me the dissenting opinion on this issue but I think inspections are good. I fish Mille Lacs extensively and the zebra mussel invasion is terrible. Every time you try to fish anywhere near the bottom two feet of the lake you will get zebra mussels clinging to your bottom bouncers and fish hooks. There isn’t a walleye around that will bite on bait with a pack of zebra mussels hanging on the hook. We have practically given up fishing using a bottom bouncers on Mille Lacs.
Face it, the spread of invasive species needs to be stopped. The argument that a fisherman can’t take 5 minutes for an inspection seems just to be ludicrous. There are a lot of states that have MANDATORY roadside inspections. It will only be a matter of time before the courts and DNR are conducting inspections on I94 and I35 on weekends.
What would you rather do, give up a few minutes of your day to have an inspection or let the invasives take over the lake, kill the fish and end fishing?

Jared,

First off, never, ever run regular gas in an outboard or any small engine. The ethanol level in the fuel will absorb water and gum an engine in a week or two. Always use non-ethanol gas. I’ll drive 20 miles to get non-ethanol gas. The bright guys in St. Paul want to up the ethanol in the gas which will only make matters worse for small engines. This applies to any small engine you have. Adding a fuel stabilizer will help although with the higher ethanol values in the gas today, there is a limit on how long you can store gas. I’ve stored non-ethanol gas with a double dose of Stabil in it over the winter without a problem. I have buddies who bought regular gas one weekend and by the next weekend have had issues. The quality of gas varies widely around the state also. Best bet is to never store gas over winter or for a prolonged time and always use a stabilizer.
If you can’t find a station with non-ethanol gas, go on the internet and do a Google search. The MN Street Rod Association has a list of gas stations for their members to use. The list is free.

Good luck