Eddy’s is one of the nicest places on the lake. Good appetizers and beer selection. Recommended.

“Doing something stupid is just plain stupid”-me

we’re being conservative, and conserving them for next year.

the MN DNR made a great call with catch and release this year. It really saved 2 and possibly 3 year classes of walleyes.
Thank You MN DNR!!!! Great work!!

It’s been spotty-
Save yourself the trouble and just go to Winnie or leech.

talk about sad. A person has to leave town because what they say is politically incorrect. If you don’t agree with me, or you have a different opinion, leave town!!

that is what I read as well. I believe your takeaway from the report to be accurate.!! Not sure why that’s controversial??

it seems there is a complete lack of understanding about the process specifically here, and the way the laws of our country work generally. There is a contract in place(the 1837 treaty), along with Consitituional law that mandates that the US govt “protect” the tribes(The United States is trustee or guardian for the tribes. This role traces to the Supreme Court’s opinion in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, in which Chief Justice John Marshall wrote that the relationship of the tribes to the United States resembles that of a “ward to its guardian.” ).
The ranting about Obama, and cash and bla bla bla only emphasizes to any elected official following these issues, that the “white americans” that are so passionate and loud are uneducated and not capable of meaningful discussion that might result in change. People will listen, if you have a solution based on legal realities.

the tribe has no reason to offer transparency, and the DNR doesn’t control this negotiation. Not sure why so called “advisory board members” would think they should have access to the negotiation between the State of MN and a sovereign tribal nation. its like people don’t understand the situation on any level at all. Get real.

its not the netting, but lets keep the fantasy alive, right? Also, lets stock it next spring! That has no basis in science either, but it makes a good headline. No netting=more walleyes! stocking=more walleyes!! yay, that’s fun.

I have a nice cabin on ML and I feel like I should be compensated. My expectation is that I will have a check in my mailbox by 5pm for 1 million dollars.
That seems like the least you can do for me. thanx

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.

You were on a hot bite.
3 boats fished all weekend here and caught 2 fish….

You’re in America. Speak American!
You guys crack me up.

Politics and more politics. Its like they don’t now anything about walleyes. When will they learn to trust the fishermen who have their pulse on the lake?? I wont fish Mille Lacs this year and very few walleyes exisit in the lake. What a sad state of affairs.

In Liam Niesons voice…..
Release the pout! Yeah, good native fish that is great eating but needs some help right now….

Based on what I’ve been hearing, “no”.
They’ve really driven that lake into the ground, and it will be years before it comes back.

Excellent post JDP. I would like to hear his thoughts on the malnourishment of existing adult walleyes in more detail. Does he have a blog?

1 fish over 20 is “slot science”. Before that, for many years, the limit never included specific sizes.

All Im saying is that Im not sure that the nets are the “silver bullet” to kill whats ailing ML. For 3 years the fish(everything except 17ish to 22ish) have been malnourished. At a time when numbers are supposedly at historic lows. I don’t have the anwers(expcept to kill all small pike:), but I think its counterproductive to focus on netting and slot as a be all, end all solutions when many other questions exist relating to the health of the lake….I’ll take my chances with fisheries biologists. As eskeleto said in nacho libre “I believe in science”.

Its hard to solve a problem when you have your mind made up before you start to examine facts. At least thats what my grandpa told me once.

the nets are a rallying point for uneducated armchair biologists, but there is no evidence to support that they are a significant part of the walleye decline on Mille lacs. Wont stop people from screaming it through.

Very well said Baby Mallard. I wish they’d do catch and release on all northerns over 30, and unlimited under 30″.

agreed. netting is one of the few controllable variables in a changing and complex puzzle. along with sportfishing, interspecies dependency, etc….
Before we hang the DNR and tribal fisheries managers, maybe its ok to acknowledge that this is a difficult problem to solve….

Im confused by the netting rant. if netting walleyes in the problem ie, too few walleyes in the lake, then how come the existing walleyes have had a problem competing for food the last few years? In theory the exising walleyes should have had an easy time getting fat because of less competition in their niche. Still the masses rave about the nets…..

for me, the late summer bite is usually an indicator of what will generally happen in fall. Not that you cant catch them, but it is looking like its going to be very tough most nights….

the lake doesn’t need more walleyes. It cant support the walleyes it has. Look at the current state of the fish. Terrible. I would assume Erik Jensen or one of the fisheries guys has some ideas, but they don’t seem to share on this board.

The will of a state politician won’t matter much in the face of established constitutional law.
http://lawlibrary.unm.edu/nrj/49/3-4/653-706.pdf
It might take a constitutional amendment to change where we’re at. Im not pro netting, BTW. I agree that ML is in real trouble, but understanding the real issues is important IMO before a solution is discovered.

is there a published copy of the petition to the court from CASST somewhere in PDF(or other format)? I would like to see the cases sited. This area of the law has been extensively litigated in the NW relating to fishing rights for Salmon.