From the input meeting

[BradHawthorne]

Nothing is set in stone yet but here are some of the things talked about tonight.

6 fish limit on Smallmouth with a keep slot in the upper teens while still protecting those fish over 20"

2 fish limit on Walleye, 18-20" possibly. With a posible increase to 4 fish later in the season.

[Ryan_V]

I can easily live with slots and limits like this, but my question is.... is this enough to turn the lake around at this point in the game?

[northender]

I read this on Walleye Central by Fellegy "Quote of the meeting from the DNR was "we're rolling the dice". They show no intentions of making attempts to end the netting scenario. They continue to offer solutions that further restrict the sport fishing in order to accomodate the gill-nets. Basiclly...the same approach that has been the case for the entire gill-netting era. No sign of trying to build up the fishery--just to keep sport angling under the harvest quota while gill-nets are allowed to kill 35-40 tons of walleyes of all sizes. Amazing...

Yes....they make our case. Now we will allow them, in a formal setting, in the hot seat, to justify their lack of concern of the gill-nets. Their lack of effort and attempts to do away with the nets--at least during the spawn. Their lack of effort to manage the resource, per the law, in the best interests of the general public"

[Scott M]

The DNR has no control over tribal netting. Read questions and answers on Mille Lacs Lake Management

[Redlineracer12]

6 fish limit on Smallmouth with a keep slot in the upper teens while still protecting those fish over 20"

I like this part for sure.

[MaxGoldman]

I like this part for sure.

X2

[northender]

The DNR has no control over tribal netting. Read questions and answers on Mille Lacs Lake Management

The DNR could go back to court, according to the court orders, and argue that the methods, timing and amounts and reasons behind the tribal harvest is wrong for the well-being of the lake. But they say it is not a conservation issue? No basis to argue against the netting, even though all the regs they put in place are directly put there because of the netting? That's what they say. Or are they getting told to not make waves? That's also what they say.

[Walleyehooker]

Gonna be a great smallie and musky lake once those pesky walleyes are gone. Heck might even see some crappies to. Wonder what lake the natives will tap next?

[Riverratpete]

Open up the Smallies and Nordern slots..leave them nasty fish that fight like a boot alone for a while.

[river rat316]

Gonna be a great smallie and musky lake once those pesky walleyes are gone. Heck might even see some crappies to. Wonder what lake the natives will tap next?

Seems to me there is alot of blame to go around on this, the non tribe take is always way larger than the tribe take, but we don't want to think about that do we? I agree the timing on the netting sucks, but would it make anyone that much happier if it happened in the fall? I am pretty sure their would still be alot of people complaining. There is common ground here, all parties involved want to see the lake flourish, take out the nuts from both sides and let the more level headed come to an agreement.

[smackem33]

Just the fact that all the slots revolve around the netting is the thing that sucks

[Walleyehooker]

Well its pretty clear that netting and angleing will kill a lake just like it did on red lake. My problem with netting is the natives put 0 dollars into the lake and the economy.Then they sell them for a lot less than it costs to replace them. On the other hand anglers spend millions and create jobs and pay taxes.

[river rat316]

I hear ya, I partly rely on the anglers money to feed my family, the one thing I wish they would do is allow the DNR to milk the catch, I feel it would make a huge difference in the recovery if they would allow this and the DNR would bring the fingerlings back in the fall.

The one thing I can tell you is the netting is not going to stop, and the nuts on the non tribe side just make it worse and harden that fact, there is nuts on both sides of the fence on this one, and if they would just shut up and let sane people come to a conclusion it would help everyone.

[Walleyehooker]

They say milking or geting eggs out of neted fish wont work well and most hatcheries get eggs from bigger fish.

I dont even fish the lake much anymore for more reasons than just the netting and Im not sure why I even post about it as its like beating a dead horse.

As long as the elder natives are around things wont change as they are very set in their ways and they wont give up netting at any price and the out of town/state natives just dont give a .....

One good thing with a lot less boat traffic up there it might be a more peaceful place to fish and you might get better service at the resorts like back in the days when it was the mom and pop resorts.

Ok I wasted enough of my life here. lol

[JP Z]

But at least they would be doing SOMETHING with the eggs and the like. The possibility of stocking Mille Lacs needs to come up. Either from the fish that are netted or from other sources. Of course for that to happen I would hope both parties would offer to pay 50% of the bill each.

[bigsam]

They need to shut the whole f-ing thing down completely like they did on Red. Push the reset button, if you will. Yeah, the resorts take a hit, but, they will go out of business if the lake dies off completely anyway, right?

Oh, and to heck with a nearly 150-year old treaty. The lake can't take the pressure anymore.

[oilandwater]

"Oh, and to heck with a nearly 150-year old treaty. The lake can't take the pressure anymore."

bigsam, this doesn't work any better than you saying, "To heck with my 25-year-old mortgage, I can't afford it anymore". Treaty = contract = upheld by federal courts. Add to that the tribes recent 'efforts' to show that they are acting in consideration of conservation, and we're stuck with their 'defensible stance'. As much of a poo-sandwich as it is, this one's going to be balanced on us...

[pushbutton]

Pooh sammie....lol. Oilandwater summed it up nicely. Cry, complain, scream ...really loud .....if you want to, but that does not change the reality of the situation. The Sconnie bands are really good at playing this game, and until you can figure out a way to overturn a supreme court decision over treaty and sovereignty rights....not a particular variety of fish.... this is going to be the status quo. You don't have to like it, but you better get used to it. And like Oilandwater points out it is up to us to figure out the best way to utilize our share. Simply blaming the other side is really not a good management plan.....eating the maximum amount of walleye as we can every year, might not be the best approach either.

[smackem33]

The treaty doesn't say they HAVE to net during spawn if they gave a dam at all they would net in the fall

[northender]

The treaty doesn't say they HAVE to net during spawn if they gave a dam at all they would net in the fall

EXACTLY! And the intent of the treaty was to insure the Tribes could survive and eat. At the time, that menat "harvest rights". Now what is the real reasoning allowing this "harvest"?

[Sportland_Bait]

6 fish limit on Smallmouth with a keep slot in the upper teens while still protecting those fish over 20"

To me this looks like a recipe for big bass tourneys every weekend on Mille Lacs. If they open it up a little more we might even get the big circuits to come here.

Jason Erlandson

[John Mickish]

To me this looks like a recipe for big bass tourneys every weekend on Mille Lacs. If they open it up a little more we might even get the big circuits to come here.

Jason Erlandson

If Minnesota can ever get rid of that no cull rule I'm sure one of them would come here.

[river rat316]

No cull if you have a limit, doesn't affect tournies since they are a 5 fish limit

[bassin]

I doubt its enough to get more bass tourneys up there. 17" and up fish are still protected. You arent going to win anything with 16 3/4" smallmouth. You will get beat by 18lb-20lbs of largemouth every time.

[John Mickish]

No cull if you have a limit, doesn't affect tournies since they are a 5 fish limit

That depends on the COs interpretation. I fish alot of tourneys around the state, and for whatever reason it can varry from CO to CO.

[workin4bait]

No cull if you have a limit, doesn't affect tournies since they are a 5 fish limit

On page 33 of the 2012 Mn.fishing regs. under the heading Mille Lacs Lake it states "Fished reduced to possession may not be culled or live-well sorted." So river rat316 can you explain how tournies get around this legally?

Workin'

[gizmoguy]

AS far as walleyes go. 2 fisherman = 8 fish in the boat. Weigh your top 5.

[Kyhl]

Yeah, I was thinking that the 2 fish limit for walleyes will end tournys on Mille Lacs for the near future.

Under the new regs, what do they weigh, two fish? No culling when you hit your fourth so you fish with two in the live well and decide what to do with each new third.

I doubt the tours will be interested in a tourny with a two fish bag limit.

[John Mickish]

The "tours" will not come to Mille Lacs, well AIM may in the future if they are around, but the major live weigh in tours won't. The NTC/MWC last year really showed how bad a tournament lake Mille Lacs is. Slot lakes do not put on a good show.

The small local clubs will still have their events on the lake, they will just have to weigh in 4 fish.

I know alot locals don't like events being held on "their" lake, but in reality, the event will pull less fish out of the lake over the same timeframe than the people not fishing in the event.

It is my opinion that on Mille Lacs there will be more fish kept by people that already have a limit in their freezer than will kept from any tournament on that same day this year.

[bassfshin24]

I dont agree with the limit on smallies at all. Maybe keep a couple fish but not 6 per person! The second they open a limit of smallies tons of people will start pulling them out of the lake. Mille Lacs is probably in the top 5 best smallmouth lakes in the nation and if something like this happens I guarentee you it will hurt the population. This same exact thing happened on Lake Sharpe in SD. This part of the Missouri River turned into one of the best smallie fishery in the mid-west until they opened up a harvest for the smallies and from their the the fishery went downhill. It's still a decent place to fish for smallies but not what it use to be. I've heard numerous stories of walleye guys catching smallies and just killing them and throwing them on the bank just because. I think people need to just deal with the fact that the walleye problem is 95% caused by people, not other species of fish!