Nice work – Sounds like fun!

The gong show continues……..I hope they do right their wrong! However, sadly a lot of reservations were already changed!

Mille Lacs stakeholders voice unrest over live-bait ban
Goal is to keep Mille Lacs open, but merchants are fearing deeper losses.
By Tony Kennedy Star Tribune APRIL 2, 2016 — 7:33PM

Department of Natural Resources officials are talking internally about unrest in the Mille Lacs community over a first-ever regulation that would ban the use of live bait this year for walleye fishing on the big lake.

Two members of the Mille Lacs Fisheries Advisory Committee told the Star Tribune on Friday that they and other members of the committee have talked to Gov. Mark Dayton and DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr about dropping the live bait ban. Most people accept this year’s catch-and-release mandate for Mille Lacs walleyes, they said, but the added restriction against live bait would keep too many families from visiting the lake.

“Very few people support it,” said Steve Johnson, an advisory committee member and owner of Johnson’s Portside Bait & Liquor store in Isle.

DNR spokesman Chris Niskanen said the agency hasn’t changed its position but may soon discuss the live bait restriction with the advisory committee. The 17-member group, appointed by Landwehr last fall, includes local business owners, professional anglers and local government officials.

Brad Parsons, the DNR’s central region fisheries manager, said the pushback on the live bait ban has prompted discussions inside the DNR, but no changes. The new regulations were established just two weeks ago to address a multifaceted problem with the survival rates of young walleye. The walleye season opens statewide May 14.

“In no way can I say whether it will be changed,” Parsons said. “We are going to talk more about it.”

Dropping the artificial bait mandate would significantly raise the risk of an early shutdown of walleye fishing on Mille Lacs this year, something the local business community is set against. But Johnson said the negatives of the no-live-bait rule outweigh the chance of a potentially earlier closure of fishing.

Even if the artificial-only rule were to stick, there’s no guarantee the lake wouldn’t be shut down in midseason, he said.

The first midseason shutdown of walleye fishing on Mille Lacs came last year when the DNR announced that the state had overstepped its walleye harvest quota of 28,600 pounds. The allocation was established under a joint fisheries management structure with Chippewa bands, and this year’s quotas are the same as in 2015. They are meant to protect walleyes needed for regenerating the lake.

Even though state anglers won’t be able to keep walleyes they catch on Mille Lacs this year, fish deaths resulting from hooking will count against the allocation. The DNR has said exclusive use of artificial bait will slow hooking mortality by 55 percent.

“Keep in mind the goal is to keep the lake open,” Niskanen said.

Dean Hanson, co-chair of the advisory committee and owner of Agate Bay Resort, said a number of his customers have canceled their reservations, citing the live bait ban.

“There’s a large group of people who find it unacceptable,” Hanson said.

The objectors include families accustomed to having their children bobber-fish for walleyes using worms or minnows. Many of those customers aren’t interested in transitioning to artificial bait, Johnson said.

Some panfish anglers, too, won’t visit Mille Lacs this season if they can’t use live bait. The regulation states that Mille Lacs anglers may not possess any bait that is live, dead, frozen or processed. Anglers targeting northern pike and muskies may possess and use sucker minnows longer than 8 inches.

Johnson said the new regulation, if left in place, would wipe out $2 million a year in local sales of live bait and related fishing tackle.

Johnson and Hanson said they aired their complaints in a recent conference call with Dayton and Landwehr. Joining them on the call were other members of the advisory committee, but Johnson stressed that the committee has not taken an official stance.

Niskanen said the governor’s “key interest” is maintaining open communications with the community and keeping the area’s economy viable and vibrant.

Pro angler Tom Neustrom, another member of the Mille Lacs advisory committee, said part of the unrest stems from surprise. While the DNR had discussed the hooking mortality benefits of using artificial bait, it did not discuss the possibility of a catch-and-release season coupled with only artificial bait, Neustrom said.

“I think we have to take a look at this,” he said.

I don’t spend a lot of time posting stuff on this site or on my Facebook site that is solely based on my opinion. Unfortunately the recent decisions made by the DNR has left me frustrated enough to share my thoughts. The norm for me is to find a solution and fix the issue if I don’t like something. (Don’t whine, change it.) The issue typically does not deserve my time if I have no control over the final outcome.
I unfortunately do not have any control of what happens on Mille Lacs, but in this case I can’t help myself from sharing my thoughts. Mille Lacs will not thrive again until people start to face the brutal reality. I don’t for a second pretend to have the knowledge possessed by the DNR or the professionals working to solve the issue. I certainly don’t know or fully understand all the contributing factors that have caused the significant crash in the walleye population. What I do know is that some common sense needs to be brought back into the equation. People need to stop worrying about political correctness, face the brutal reality, and do his/her part to help rebuild one of the best resources in the country.
It starts with getting the nets out of the Lake. Please stop reading this if you think this issue is about race. It isn’t! We could debate all day about politics, beliefs, and opinions related to these rights. I am not interested in a debate, I am interested in common sense. The netting all but destroyed Red Lake, prior to the years and years of interventions to rebuild it. It has nothing to do with who is taking the fish, but more so it has to do with the devastation and lasting impact the netting has on the lake. Past history tells us what will ultimately happen to the system. Common sense tells us that no one should be allowed to take thousands upon thousands of fish out of the system during the spawn.
It does not stop with just removing the nets. We ALL need to do our part. I wholeheartedly support the decision made by the DNR to have a catch and release only season. Enjoy your friends and family, enjoy the resource, enjoy the sport of fishing and stop worrying about keeping the fish. There are 9,999 other lakes in this state in which you can put together a stringer of fish for a fish fry.
Each and every angler must also do his/her part in educating people. We all need to learn proper fishing etiquette to reduce the amount of hooking mortality that goes on. Please take the time to learn how to protect this valuable resource. We all need to be diligent when it comes to properly handling fish, correct hook removal, quick transitions back into the water, and appropriate releases. It is also our responsibility to stay educated as it relates to invasive species. We all need to do our part to minimize the amount in which they are spread.
As much as I agree with catch and release, I could not be more adamantly opposed to the lake being limited to artificial bait. I sincerely believe this decision will do more harm to the local economy than it will good for the lake. The average angler will pass Mille Lacs to go fish on Winnie, LOTW, or Red where they can use the fishing technique of their choice. Common sense again should tell us that the good that could come from this does not out weigh the bad. You will literally see several local businesses close their door as a result of this decision.
A little common sense could go a long ways……………..
Tight Lines

Awesome! Thanks for sharing! I had another buddy share a very similar report. It is great to hear positive news about my favorite lake!

Our contingent offer is signed on a new place, so another price reduction went up on our current property as of today. We spent a lot of time researching comparable properties and prices when we originally put this on the market. Please share this post with your Facebook Friends.
You will be hard pressed to find a property with city sewer, natural gas, and a brand new pole shed for this price. We couldn’t, and so we priced it to sell at $105,400. The price has been reduced by $13,000, and the sewer assessment of $5,000 has been paid in full. ($18,000.00 reduction). Most properties priced this low will have a septic system you will need to mess with, no garage or a 1 car garage, propane or electric heat, or something that needs to be immediately replaced. This place is ready to stay in as soon as I hand you the keys.
With the adjustments we have made we would only ask for serious buyers.
There is certainly room in the pole shed to store two large boats if you should decide to purchase with another family member or a co-angler.

1. Another price reduction. Asking price now down to $92,400.
2. $5,000.00 sewer assessment has been paid in full. Taxes annually dropped from $2,028 to $1,345.
3. City Sewer
4. Natural Gas
5. Roof = New when we purchased 5 years ago (8 years or less)
6. Hot Water Heater = 3 years or less (we put a new one in)
7. Well Pressure Tank = New
8. Pole Shed 24 by 30 – 2 years old – Fully wired with opener.
9. Neighborhood launch – 2 blocks down the road.
10. Golf course with Bar and Grill across the street.

Ready to move in.
1. Electric fire place can stay.
2. Flat screen tv can stay. (32 inch)
3. Outdoor Storage shed can stay

I want to thank all those that already came to look at the property. We have found a new property that is absolutely perfect for our family, so we are making some adjustments to get ours sold. I adamantly believe we could sell for our current asking price (if we were more patient), but we are motivated to make this a quick and easy process.
We are ensuring the assessment for the sewer will be taking care of and removed from the taxes. We are in the process now of getting it paid off and removed. This will about $682.00 off of the property tax amount annually. This will make your taxes approximately $1346 per year as opposed to $2028 per year. You will acquire the property free of any assessments.
We also have dropped our asking price to $99,400.
Our loss is your gain. The only reason we are selling is because our family has expanded, and so we are motivated to find a bit more space. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

http://glar.millelacsrealty.com/listing.cfm?ln=4627456&mls=4627456#SuperSizedImages-Container

Here is the link to what the agent posted. We are motivated to sell, so it is priced to move. Please compare price and quality on similar properties in the area.

Won’t last long. Come and get it.

Right handed and left eye dominant for me as well. As a young kid I found myself shooting right handed and I would literally look across the gun to use my left eye. Needless to say, I was not a very good shot.

As I aged I realized why I was a poor shot. I have shot left handed for the last 20 years and am a pretty good shot.

We spent 3.5 days up there after the MTT Tourney. Fishing was absolutely outstanding. It is one special place and I would guess you would be hard pressed to find a bad time to go.

I wrote a lengthy report at http://www.teamshrimpy.com from our time on the water.
I hope it helps if you are headed up that way.

Tight Lines

Yup — We are there as well….

Great job will! Sounds like you had a great weekend!

Very sad to see the lack of boats. Fewest I have seen on opener in 10 years for sure.

We tossed out the corks on the West side. We ended up with 11 eyes. We were on the rocks in about 16 FOW. Leeches and Shiners

Most all were 10 to 15 inches. A good sign

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I had 53 to 56 on the west side.

Game on. We will be there.

Thank you

Rest in Peace. Thougths and prayers.

Congrats to Bobber and Josh!

That was a monster and very fun to watch.

Yeah – Bummer.

I was given bad info. or something happened.

My apologies.

Nice job Will & James! Great to hear some encouraging comments and positive reports about the big pond.

Thanks for all the insight. We are actually on the same page with you. If the wind will allow a decent boat ride, we may just boat all the way up.

Thanks for the response….Keep em coming.

Gathering info like this makes all the difference in the world in planning a good trip.

This is a great time of year up there because you can take fish on jigs, blades, or crankbaits.

We found our best bite pulling cranks on lead in 30 -35 fow. Our best crank was a golden auburn scatter minnow but we also took fish on shad style baits. WIth the cold front we seemed to have better success running about 1.7 to 1.8 mph.

The jig bite was slower for us compared to years past. However, if you find a good school they will strap on the feedbag. This bite will only improve and will soon be in full force on that south shore. We found water temps between 61 and 65.

It won’t take long for that south bite but for now I would head north and dial them in.

Good Luck & Have Fun!

Congrats guys — Absolutely awesome.

A big congrats to Dan and Rod Pfeifer as well. These guys had the hammer down all season. As Jon Mentioned they took home the Lindy Team of the year, The father son team, and Third at the Championships. Awesome Season guys! None of these accomplishments are easy tasks.

The end of the season was frustrating for us. We found ourselves in 4th after the first day of the 2 day on Mille Lacs. We found ourselves in second after the first day of the Championships. In both cases we choked on day two. LOL
Frustrating to say the least but the beat goes on.

I guess that is fishing No one got hurt, nothing got broke that can’t be fixed, and we had fun. It also keeps us motivated for next year.

Enjoy that Skeeter Bob and Josh

Another season in the books….

We will be up…….Looking forward to it.

Awesome fish! Congrats!

Thanks for sharing! Fishing that format in the 2 day MTT event this weekend.

Fished a lot of tourney’s but never the catch and release format. Should be a lot of fun!

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing better.

Thoughts and prayers are with you.

Awesome — Thanks for sharing.