Gill Nets Under The Ice

[Fisheyes925]

I heard that there are 100 gill nets that got stuck under the ice up on the north end that the tribes cant retrieve after the ice pack shifted. Is anybody else aware of this? Who is monitoring how many dead walleyes will be in the nets when the natives do finally get to pick them?

[updecreek]

This does not sound good thats where the big ones are.

100 nets slot limit I joining milelacs lake band of no walleye.

[Shack]

I would say rumor at this point. If it is fact, the DNR would be all over it, but I feel since the ice had shifted, this was something that was thought of and then turned into a possibility.

Updecreek,

Not to side track this thread, but is that a morel mushroom in you avatar? If so, that thing is huge. The biggest I even seen.

Thanks

[AceintheHole]

Make me sick to even think about it. What a waste of big walleyes.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

That just makes me sick. What a waste.

Shouldn't there be some sort of regulation that these folks can't put nets out until the ice is completely gone?

[SFBOY]

its got to be pretty tricky when fishing with a floating ice pack wandering all over the place. i wouldnt want to be out there setting hand sewn nets in home made canoes; that's dangerous. they should really think about upgrading to nylon nets and a power boat with hydraulics, but i guess that might not be considered traditional fishing.

[rmrakt]

Not a rumor. I've seen pics of the natives in their modern canoes trying to work their way thru the icebergs on the NW side. The native wardens are aware of the issues and agreed there were nets not accounted for....all the dead walleye is supposed to account against the quota. With the weather forecast predicting strong east winds how could they leave the nets out there.......

[tedl]

Thats not good!! Would it be unrealistic to have ice divers cut the nets free?

rmrakt, not trying to be a SA but what is a modern canoe, kevlar or what?

[rmrakt]

re- rmrakt, not trying to be a SA but what is a modern canoe, kevlar or what?

I was being a SA!

MODERN CANOE-

High powered fishing boats with expensive electronics and mapping software with 100ft gill nets vs. the birch bark canoes and spears their ancestors used at the inception of this treaty.....

[DHanson]

 Originally Posted By: shackbash

I would say rumor at this point. If it is fact, the DNR would be all over it, but I feel since the ice had shifted, this was something that was thought of and then turned into a possibility.

Shack this is not a rumor. This has been going on for the last couple days. That is, the gill nets have been trapped underneath the ice for a couple days and are still trapped at this point. We are talking about a lot of dead fish here. The lake current can potentially push these nets all over the lake and so it will take a long time to find them all. Any fish that comes in contact with a gill net is basically dead by either being trapped in the net or tangeled in the net. The only thing they are unsure about at this point is exactly how many nets are still out there....the estimated numbers are up to 100 gill nets. A very sad situation. Very irresponsible and disrespectful on the natives part.

And as far as being out there in canoes....you are way off my friend. Try 20 ft. lunds and other brands of boats similar in size.

[eyepatrol]

DHanson....he was being sarcastic about the canoes.

[Team Otter]

There is an article in the Mille Lacs Messenger about this very topic. I encourage all of you to read it being that it is available on-line. Personally, I have to agree with Steve Fellegy on this. Placing nets on ML when the ice is shifting should not have been at the top of their list.

[tedl]

 Originally Posted By: rmrakt

re- rmrakt, not trying to be a SA but what is a modern canoe, kevlar or what?

I was being a SA!

MODERN CANOE-

High powered fishing boats with expensive electronics and mapping software with 100ft gill nets vs. the birch bark canoes and spears their ancestors used at the inception of this treaty.....

Thats what I thought, but was not sure. I guess I'm a little out of touch living up here in canoe country

[Surface Tension]

Friday, May 02, 2008

5/2/2008 12:05:00 PM Email this article • Print this article

Nets stuck in ice on west side of Mille Lacs

13 nets unaccounted for, GLIFWC says

by Vivian Clark

Messenger Staff Writer

When nets were set on Tuesday, April 29, Garrison Bay was free of ice.

The Fond Du Lac Band brought a backhoe to clear ice from the Cedar Creek access on May 1.

Tribal members set over 100 nets in south Garrison Bay on Tuesday night, April 29. A large sheet of ice that had been several miles out moved in to shore by Wednesday morning, trapping nets in the ice.

As of Friday, May 2, 10 nets were yet to be recovered from Garrison Bay and 3 had not been retrieved from the north side, according to Fred Maulson, chief of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Wally Labarge and his boys make netting a family event every year. They are members of the Lac Du Flambeau tribe from Wisconsin.

"The ice started moving about 3 a.m.," Labarge said. He started pulling his nets at 3 a.m.. This year has been slow for Labarge as he pointed to the four walleye he took out of his last net.

Each net is assigned a number, and the numbers are recorded by observers including tribal members, Minnesota DNR and GLIFWC personnel.

Steve Lawrence of the Minnesota DNR fisheries staff said, "What people don't understand is that the netters are watched very carefully."

The nets are tagged with numbers and recorded by name. "We know exactly how many nets are out there," GLIFWC fishery biologist Nick Milroy said. "They have to account for every net."

Nets are to be recovered by noon following the night they were set. If the nets are not brought in by then, the netters are issued a citation.

If conservation officers need to go into the water to recover the nets an additional citation would be issued.

"The numbers are totalled daily to make sure everything is within the (harvest) quota," Milroy said.

Any net not accounted for by noon is counted as the daily average from the day before and applied against the quota.

The 13 unrecovered nets are currently under investigation. No citations have been issued as of yet, Maulson said.

While he said it is sad to see it happen that way, the nets that are stuck will probably remain stuck until the ice melts or wind shifts again. Daily averages will be applied to those nets and recorded against the harvest quota.

The first 50 fish that are brought in are measured, sexed, weighed and recorded. After the initial 50, the remaining fish are counted and weighed.

Nobody at the Garrison access was happy about the ice moving inland over night.

Local angler Steve Fellegy said he wasn't surprised.

"This was the dumbest thing I have ever heard," Fellegy said. "Whoever made the decision to allow them to set the nets in the first place should be ashamed. Everybody knew this was going to happen. They have been predicting the wind for days."

Fellegy was under the impression that the majority of nets set the night before were trapped under the ice.

He asked Labarge, who had recovered all his nets, what he was going to do with the fish if they couldn't recover them before the fish died. "Who is going to eat them then? You?" Fellegy said.

By Thursday morning, netting activity had shifted to the east side of the lake. A front end loader was brought in to Cedar Creek near Isle by the Fond Du Lac Band to clear piles of ice to open that landing to netters.

For more on this story, check back to this page for updates or see the May 7 issue of the Mille Lacs Messenger.

[TrophyEyes]

So if any of us did something like this or killed a whole bunch of walleye by taking pictures too long or culling or whatever, don't we loose our fishing/hunting privlidges? Can't someone be heald responsible. Treaty or not this is a waste and should not be tallorated. I don't have a clue about the rules they have to abide by, but they should find every net and every fish that is in them should count towards their limit. If that effects the rest of the tribes fishing, then it does. Maybe then someone would be heald accountable. I also think that if it is over their quota, then they should be punished next year.

[DHanson]

 Originally Posted By: eyepatrol

DHanson....he was being sarcastic about the canoes.

I understand that, but this is something that I do not find funny or something to joke about one bit. The Mille Lacs Messenger states 13 nets were lost? Well....the Mille Lacs Messenger has been known to be on the natives side on a lot of issues. I believe there were more than 13 nets unaccounted for. 13 gill nets is still a huge deal! That can kill a lot of fish and will continue to kill fish until they find them. It could also kill any bird or living thing for that matter that comes in contact with the gill net, aka "kill" net. Do you really believe that the natives went out to retrieve their nets at 3am? How would they know the ice is shifting at 3am in the dark, and wouldn't they be sleeping at 3 am? This story seems a little fishy to me. Also, why was the MN DNR not interviewed and questioned about this ordeal? The natives should also be given citations for the missing nets and fined.

[Scott M]

I don't really agree with charging band members an "average" of their recovered nets. Those unrecovered nets are still fishing and catching fish.

And, the wind was forecast for some time. Bad decision making unless you were going to babysit those net sets for icebergs.

Still, the tribe needs to get this done before May 10. There would be way too much drama if state anglers and band net fishers collided.

[Shack]

 Quote:

Still, the tribe needs to get this done before May 10. There would be way too much drama if state anglers and band net fishers collided.

Ya, never thought of that. Could come close.

I guess it is fact and I know now. This is bad, but we will see whats brought up in those nets when they are found. I know some are hoping for the worse to make an example, but I am hoping for the best so this is not a factor for opening fishing and the future of the lake. I am planning to possibley make ML my open lake this year (for the first time in a awhile).

[ANYFISH]

I think this is terrible situation and lots of wasted fish. Although I am not a big fan of native gill netting, lets not start bashing the natives over this unfortunate, yet aviodable event. Remember we (I am included) probably killed (wasted) more pounds of walleye this past summer while fishing in boiling hot water and having to release the fish than this net issue will.

now I will sit back and take the beating.

[JumpStart73]

I think that the t.v. news should here of this situation and have it brought to the states large viewing community.

[slim1]

What do they do with all the fish? Do they sell them? If they want to do it I beleive like said earlier that they should use native equipment of the past. Seems the boats they use make it unfair.

[ChompChomp_YANK]

I dont even want to get started on this issue, but I would BET not even one hand gets slapped in this whole thing!!!

[HAppnhook]

Just like no one hand gets slapped with all of the dead and rotting fish at the bottom, in the middle of the summer due to poor fish handling practice, global warming??? and excessive pressure that we sportsman place on the resource because the fishing has been good. Time to grow up and accept an accident. Stuff happens and we dont need guys like Steve Fellegy inciting poor relations with other fishermen, be it native american, german, norwegian or anyone else. I love how our tax dollars are spent on public resources claimed by some who have decided to make their living off of it. Sounds a lot like welfare to me. If you cannot support your living off of the resources that the rest of us subsidize, it may be time to find a new job.

BE thankful for the resources we have the priviledge to share with others.

[Charley]

This is about an activiest judge's decision over 10 years ago. That didn't need to be made. There are plenty of fish to go around. 30+ yrs ago Mille Lacs was referred to as home of 1/4 pounder.

[skunked_again]

Happnhook, I don't think what you said makes any sense, with all due respect. Besides the fact that netting shouldn't be occurring AT ALL in this day in age, to make a mistake like this is unacceptable when you consider how much damage it may do to the fishery. What type of "citation" is appropriate for killing and potentially wasting hundreds of walleyes, if not more. Mille Lacs has always had lots of pressure, and lets face it, it will only get worse and worse as the population grows. Looking at the long term, is netting acceptable?

By the way, I don't know Steve Fellegy, but "guys like him" care about the resource and have every right to get angry when something like this happens.

To me, this has nothing to do with a particular group of people, it has to do with what seems right and responsible given the constraints of resources nowadays. If certain people like Steve are not there to watch over it, who will?

[eelpout1]

Nicely said Skunkie, I do not say much on here, but this is worth saying thanks , I grew up fishing on this lake , my grand father lived on Twin Bay from 1960 till his death, and he fished it for many, many more years than that. Ive seen great fishin and poor fishin, and everthing inbetween. If this net thing is true it is total disreguard for every thing that all parties invoved strive for, keeping ML fishable. Lets hope these guywith thier nets used basic common scense and pulled thier nets before the ice moved. Remember when you fish, your fishing for all involved. Net or lines, its all about common scense.

[Team_Ice_Heave]

 Originally Posted By: Surface Tension

Nets are to be recovered by noon following the night they were set. If the nets are not brought in by then, the netters are issued a citation.

If conservation officers need to go into the water to recover the nets an additional citation would be issued.

The 13 unrecovered nets are currently under investigation. No citations have been issued as of yet, Maulson said.

They better make sure there is some stiff citations for this. It's avoidable and completely unacceptable.

[HAppnhook]

We as sportsman waste far more fish per season than this one mishap will. Most people that fish Mille Lacs think that the walleye they release and that swims away is fine. Usually Not the case, especially in the summer. Yet we continually target and catch these fish, unaware of what really happens when we release them. That being, they end up dead on the bottom, (A salvage diver I spoke with was amazed at the number of walleye on the bottom last summer) People are accusing the netters of being ignorant of the possibility of ice flows, but what about the group that is ignorant of summer mortatlity. Where i have a problem is when one group, or one person continually points a finger at the other group, and says see, they are destroying the resource.

If it were me, instead of pointing the finger, I would have rounded up a group to help those other guys recover whatever they could because we all have a stake in our resources.

[ilovefishing]

talked today with my local dnr buddy said its nuts on the big pond with the nets lots of 10# fish gave him grief at least could stringer 1 for me until next weekend. just kidding i cant even eat fish since i am cursed with a fish and seafood allergy. i just love to catch and release with hopes of my 2 kids being able have fish to catch when they are older and have their own kids. hope everyone has a good opener, since i have to work. oh well

[Labby]

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