Harvest Quota Cut in Half

[braves57]

So Tribal take last year was around 80,000 lbs, and the total for this year is being set at 71,xxx lbs. That's not really cutting the take in half like the almighty press likes to report. I sure wish they would tell all the facts!

ALL fluff! No real changes. "They" will continue to kill the fishery.

[gregg52]

It's the nets and the slot. Those 2 factors are almost 100% of the reason and everyone knows it.

Why do people think that netting doesn't hurt anything? Take a look at some of the fisheries in Wisconsin that have been netted for years. Most of them are junk or have such restrictive limits, they are mainly a catch and release fishery.

You can't target all the male fish in the lake for 20 years or whatever it has been and expect the numbers of them to stay up. The nets are sized to take all smaller fish, and so is the slot. Boy this is rocket science.

Ya its a shame they have ruined the best reproducing walleye lake in the world

to bad MOTHER Narture couldnt talk she would explain to all these smart guys

[TUMBLEWEED]

The lake has been going downhill for years. Lots of blame

to go around. I also feel the slot limit alone has damaged the

walleye fishery to an extent, and possibly the musky numbers too.

No real chance of getting the netters off the lake anyway...

Let's face it,the average fisherman wants to eat fish plain and simple.

I'd like to see a solution like that used by California to

control the abalone harvest. They issue a certain number of tags

to people, who want to harvest abalone from certain waters.

They have a minimum slot size only I believe.

For instance, their could be landowner preference (higher tag numbers)

Resort owners could also be given a certain amount of guest tags.

Regular fisherman would still have X amount of tags, that could be used

during open and hard water seasons. If you used up your Millelacs tags,

you are done for the season on MilleLacs.

Lose the slots, they kill more fish than they save. (IMO)

Control the numbers taken, by tags and other controls.

We need a new approach!!

[Willy]

Ya its a shame they have ruined the best reproducing walleye lake in the world

to bad MOTHER Narture couldnt talk she would explain to all these smart guys

She is talking. Problem is those in charge aren't listening.

[John Mickish]

How come nobody is looking in the mirror?

We can look at every person that took a legal small fish out of the lake as part of the problem. We have known for years that the keeper fish where getting fewer and fewer, yet we still take one when we catch one. I'm not innocent here by any stretch.

Look at the quotas. We non netters are just as guilty as the netters, it's just easier to blame someone else than to blame ourselves. The netters target the male fish during the spawn, we target them for the other 9 months.

[thatoneguy]

Quote:

Look at the quotas. We non netters are just as guilty as the netters, it's just easier to blame someone else than to blame ourselves.

Bingo.

[gregg52]

its kinda that all the years before the nets the lake was in great shape

catching all those small fish

[northender]

How come nobody is looking in the mirror?

We can look at every person that took a legal small fish out of the lake as part of the problem. We have known for years that the keeper fish where getting fewer and fewer, yet we still take one when we catch one. I'm not innocent here by any stretch.

Look at the quotas. We non netters are just as guilty as the netters, it's just easier to blame someone else than to blame ourselves. The netters target the male fish during the spawn, we target them for the other 9 months.

So for many decades John, sport anglers fished and took the same general amount of fish ( in pounds) they do now and were not a problem. What really, John, has changed in the past 13 years? The numbers do not lie. Sport anglers are not taking more now than years ago. And never was there a problem, right? But the netting forced the slot limits that forced the sport anglers to create a mess within the population of fish. Get it? The nets are the sole basis of the crash and only major change to the system dating back decades. Right? Yes, the sport anglers are part of the problem. Ask yourself why now and not for the rest of DNR Mille Lacs history? Open your mind and see the biology based facts.

[gregg52]

[quote name='northender

So for many decades John' date=' sport anglers fished and took the same general amount of fish ( in pounds) they do now and were not a problem. What really, John, has changed in the past 13 years? The numbers do not lie. Sport anglers are not taking more now than years ago. And never was there a problem, right? But the netting forced the slot limits that forced the sport anglers to create a mess within the population of fish. Get it? The nets are the sole basis of the crash and only major change to the system dating back decades. Right? Yes, the sport anglers are part of the problem. Ask yourself why now and not for the rest of DNR Mille Lacs history? Open your mind and see the biology based facts. [/quote']

exactly

it really cant be much more black and white than that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[northender]

exactly

it really cant be much more black and white than that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[John Mickish]

So for many decades John, sport anglers fished and took the same general amount of fish ( in pounds) they do now and were not a problem. What really, John, has changed in the past 13 years? The numbers do not lie. Sport anglers are not taking more now than years ago. And never was there a problem, right? But the netting forced the slot limits that forced the sport anglers to create a mess within the population of fish. Get it? The nets are the sole basis of the crash and only major change to the system dating back decades. Right?

I'm not saying your 100% wrong, but things have changed. Fishing pressure over the last 13 years has gone up as well. The number of people ice fishing is insane compared to what it was in the 90's. There are Zebs in the lake now, and my guess is they have been there for at least 8 years.

The netting may have started the slide, but you cannot say that the non netters have been innocent. Back in the day where the slot first came to the lake, I had witnessed first hand the mistreatment of protected fish. People didn't want the slot and figured that if they couldn't have the fish, nobody would.

Technology is to blame as well. Look at the GPS units on the boats today. I can drive straight to my spot and not waste a second looking for the edge of the mud or that rockpile. My trolling motor will hold me in that exact spot or run the edge of the flat hand free as well. I can set my trolling speed at whatever and keep it within a tenth of a MPH all day long. You couldn't do that 5 years ago let alone 13. Look at the boats today. I run a 60MPH boat that is fully capable of fishing Mille Lacs in just about all but the most insane weather. 13 years ago you couldn't say that.

There are lots of things and people to blame, it not just the netters.

[ASMOLEY]

How come nobody is looking in the mirror?

We can look at every person that took a legal small fish out of the lake as part of the problem. We have known for years that the keeper fish where getting fewer and fewer, yet we still take one when we catch one. I'm not innocent here by any stretch.

Look at the quotas. We non netters are just as guilty as the netters, it's just easier to blame someone else than to blame ourselves. The netters target the male fish during the spawn, we target them for the other 9 months.

[pushbutton]

I understand what John is saying, because like him, I dont fish to take home fish. Neither of us thinks netting during the spawn is a good idea, but also are not surprised that the lake is crashing because of the amount of harvest done by BOTH sides over the last 15 years. The sport fisherman/resort lobby lost the court case and by not coming to full grips with that fact ....did hurt the fishery. Year after year there was extreme pressure to exact as much harvest possible thereby forcing the hand of the DNR to also target the smaller fish and create self imploding slots. Same with the special interest groups, pike, muskie, bass groups also called in/paid for favors to their politicians who helped further force the pressure on the lake's forage. Then add side imaging, motors the size of my car engine, huge advances in ice fishing, and 10 dollar cell phone apps that helped joe six pack be a heck of a lot better. All of this within an hour and a half of 3 million people. The lake has more people on it over the weekends than the town in which I grew up in. Now add on top of that a half dozen invasives and as John did mention in a previous post about the baitshop and poaching....it goes on all the time up there on a rather large scale. Yes, if netting did not exist, many of these things would not be as much of an issue, but it does. And just to blame that, without taking any responsibility for the other things, is, in my opinion, not fair and ridiculous.

Having said that, netting is not fair either, and for the most part how it is carried out is also ridiculous. Similar advances in technology has turned it well beyond subsistence or tradition and commercially harvesting an iconic inland body of water at these levels in the manner in which it is done, goes well beyond irresponsible. I get that the bands have a right to the fish, but to use them in this manner is very nonproductive and a non sustaining use of a resource. I do not say this to be disrespectful, and have never condoned any of the hate mongering we have seen in the past over this issue. Many times we have seen Red Lake brought up as an example of what will happen to Mille Lacs....lets hope it does hold true. Because right now it is one of the best fisheries in the world and an example of how the two sides can work together....lets just hope it does not have to crash first. Something to think about....the state's share up there ..... 80,000 lbs ......

[gregg52]

[

I'm not saying your 100% wrong, but things have changed. Fishing pressure over the last 13 years has gone up as well. The number of people ice fishing is insane compared to what it was in the 90's. There are Zebs in the lake now, and my guess is they have been there for at least 8 years.

The netting may have started the slide, but you cannot say that the non netters have been innocent. Back in the day where the slot first came to the lake, I had witnessed first hand the mistreatment of protected fish. People didn't want the slot and figured that if they couldn't have the fish, nobody would.

Technology is to blame as well. Look at the GPS units on the boats today. I can drive straight to my spot and not waste a second looking for the edge of the mud or that rockpile. My trolling motor will hold me in that exact spot or run the edge of the flat hand free as well. I can set my trolling speed at whatever and keep it within a tenth of a MPH all day long. You couldn't do that 5 years ago let alone 13. Look at the boats today. I run a 60MPH boat that is fully capable of fishing Mille Lacs in just about all but the most insane weather. 13 years ago you couldn't say that.

There are lots of things and people to blame, it not just the netters.

I knew some one would come up with this technology line

and its a poor poor excuse....any one can go to the lake and catch fish you dont need gps or I pilot those fish are so hungry any one catch them

[ERdeerhunter]

So Tribal take last year was around 80,000 lbs, and the total for this year is being set at 71,xxx lbs. That's not really cutting the take in half like the almighty press likes to report. I sure wish they would tell all the facts!

ALL fluff! No real changes. "They" will continue to kill the fishery.

There quota last year was 142,500 lbs. Quota and actual take are two different numbers, the facts are straight.

[John Mickish]

Gregg, read the post. I'm not saying technology is to blame, I said it was part of the issue. I understand that you believe that it's all the other peoples fault, but you cannot honestly believe that 100% of the fault is on the netters and the DNR management.

Lots of changes in the lake have been listed and anyone can choose to agree or not, but reality is reality, and the reality of the situation is the only people that are innocent are those that have never fished the lake.

[gregg52]

i'm blaming the nets 100%...not the dnr they were forced to do what they had to but the nets led to it all

as said before its black and white

i'm just surprised it took as long as it did

what part of reproduce do you not understand

take out spawning fish for 12yrs whats left??????????

[John Mickish]

i'm blaming the nets 100%...not the dnr they were forced to do what they had to but the nets led to it all

as said before its black and white

i'm just surprised it took as long as it did

what part of reproduce do you not understand

take out spawning fish for 12yrs whats left??????????

I understand how spawning works.

So you are saying that technology, invasives, poaching, non-netter harvest, the increase in fishing pressure and mother nature herself have had zero effect on the lake and that if there wasn't any netting going on you would be able to gaurantee that the lake would be perfect?

When the non netters traditionally take 2-3 times the amount of the same size fish as the netters do in the same year you still blame the nets.

Wow, all I can say is wow.

[northender]

This sport angler fishing pressure things is wrong.

In fact, there was more fish houses on the lake years ago than there are now per offical DNR counts. Long before the "90's".

In fact, sport anglers took as many or more than sport anglers do now even in this new era of technology per official DNR record taking.

Again, what is the key element that changed things from many decades of the same sport anglers pressure and harvest versus now?

[pushbutton]

I dont think anyone is disagreeing with you about the "key element"....sure it changed the playing field.

But, even if there were more houses back then, they were placed by triangulating between the big oak tree and the brown house...no not that brown house....that brown house. Hole hopping with with hand cranks? Similarly most of those houses were much more stationary, versus the wheelhouse calvary. For sure one thing you didn't have was all the protection for the smallmouth, muskie, pike....much less a rash of invasives. But here we are now again, both repeating ourselves....arguing coulda , shoulda, woulda. The netting happened, and probably here to stay for awhile...time to move on and figure a realistic way out of this mess. I'll be on the northend this weekend enjoying the fishing. PM me if you want to have a few drinks, cheetos, and armchair quarterback the game plan.

[John Mickish]

I don't think anyone here is saying that the nets are not part of the issue, but to put 100% of the blame there is wrong.

Can you tell me where you got the official DNR fishhoue numbers and creel surveys? I'm not trying to call you out, I am curious and would like to look at them.

Thanks.

[DTro]

How many wheelhouse and insulated portables did we have back then during those counts. Times have changed.

[laportian]

FYI- Red Lake Band harvest take is like over a half million pounds. And the majority of their take is done with nets. The lake is in very good shape. Probably one of the top five walleye fisheries in the U.S.

[Willy]

It is the continual slaughter of the small male fish that has caused this. Netting and sport fishing, both target the small fish.

Also, by protecting all these larger fish for years, they have eaten themselves out of house and home. Why do you think it is so dam easy to catch fish out there? It is not even really fishing anymore as any rube can put the nails to em now days.

See, back in the day, there were just as many fish. But guess what, it was much tougher to continually put up 30-50 fish days all year. They had something to eat and it wasn't like taking candy from a baby like it is now. Hooking mortality is so high because everyone is catching boatloads of fish!

Also, I can remember Milly being an excellent perch fishery. Now it is about impossible to catch a decent number of them. This is because any perch that reach 2-3 inches get cropped off in a real hurry by all the 20-25 inch fish that are thick in the lake.

[gregg52]

you guys are still missing the point wheel houses gps i pilots

do not make the fish bite

bring all that over here on gull and see how you do

everything other than zebra's all is a result of the netting

when i use to fish over there, we had years when you had a great bite maybe a bad perch hatch that year you go the next year and could hardly catch a fish over there and i use to fish with some of the best over there it was like any other lake good bites and bad bites

now as some one said above the average 6 pack guy goes and catches 30 fish a day!!!!!!! i watched a father and son last spring bobber fishing

i'd say they caught 50 fish in 2-3 hrs plus every body else drifing across that flat was catching fish i caught fish that i knew where just put back cuz there mouth was either bleeding or very red and sore

have that father and son come over here fish gull ,north long pelican

pick a lake even winnie you wont see people catching fish like that just about year around....so ya maybe hook and line is taking alot of fish and taking a toll on the population cuz half those fish die

but why are throwing them back. i remember pre fishing touraments over there and catching maybe 25-30 fish a day but then the next day of course in the tourament couldnt buy a fish...lol mille lacs would not have the pressure it does if it was a normal balanced because the fish wouldnt be committing suicide

again BLACK AND WHITE look what it was before nets look what is has become !!!!!!!!!!

[DTro]

So did you ask the fish if their mouth was sore?

My example of wheelhouse and portables is that those houses might not get counted. The DNR didn't count fishermen, they counted permanent houses. I bet pressure is just as much or more now. Nobody can argue about all the big fish though, that is obvious.

[gregg52]

So did you ask the fish if their mouth was sore?

you are right it obvisiosly wasnt sore enough

[fowldreams]

FYI- Red Lake Band harvest take is like over a half million pounds. And the majority of their take is done with nets. The lake is in very good shape. Probably one of the top five walleye fisheries in the U.S. Quoted

We can't look at Red at any of the basis on this issue at all. Red is off limits on 2/3rds the lake to resident angling. Are we supposed to draw a imaginary line on mille lacs and there are sides on here too? This is going to be a long battle to get the lake back...

[gregg52]

i believe if they continue 1/2million lbs a year it wont last i doubt red can reproduce that fast .....this is an a guess

but pretty good one....unless they are stocking it like crazy

i dont believe any lake could sustain that kind of netting for along period of time

again just a thought

[eyesonly]

Im a half full glass Kind of guy and Im looking forward to not Driving 6 hours anymore to Catch 15 Inch Crappies for a few seasons !