Al Linders comments on Pic of S.M. Bass

[ikatcher]

Anybody see Al Linders comments on The Angling Edge Facebook page about a photo of 15 S.M. Bass on a board? It is a picture from a west side resort launch trip. He basically said the photo was not necessary and he is really taking a beating from most people. It got me thinking about all the issues on Mil Lacs. I know the resorts are hurting but it seems to me the resorts that run launch trips are a big part of the problems. How many walleyes are taken out of the lake each year by these resorts? I know not many this year, but in years past??? Now they have targeted S.M.? It just seems to me making a living on "our natural resources" and then blaming the netting and/or the DNR policies seems a little hypocritical when launch trips go from early morning to late into the night with 20,30 and even more fisherman on these trips. Just my opinion.

[leech~~]

Well, look at the history of the lake a bit. The resorts and launch's have been out their for what 80-100 years? Well before my old self. And their was still plenty of fish to keep everyone happy and the area was a boon of business for vacationers, resorts, Ice fishers, Bait shops, on and on. Once the netting started most of all that is gone! There seemed to be enough fish for all and now it's a dead. There is example after example out there for everyone to see. Red lake is back, but it will break again if they keep up the netting the way they have!

[northender]

Anybody see Al Linders comments on The Angling Edge Facebook page about a photo of 15 S.M. Bass on a board? It is a picture from a west side resort launch trip. He basically said the photo was not necessary and he is really taking a beating from most people. It got me thinking about all the issues on Mil Lacs. I know the resorts are hurting but it seems to me the resorts that run launch trips are a big part of the problems. How many walleyes are taken out of the lake each year by these resorts? I know not many this year, but in years past??? Now they have targeted S.M.? It just seems to me making a living on "our natural resources" and then blaming the netting and/or the DNR policies seems a little hypocritical when launch trips go from early morning to late into the night with 20,30 and even more fisherman on these trips. Just my opinion.

Years back there were 3 times the number of launches "using" the lake. So what? A handful of launches versus 100's and some days 1000's of private angler boats?

Many 1000's of people in MN. live off of natural resources, directly or indirectly ( beer delivery truck drivers, waitresses, clerks working in the sporting dept. at Fleet Farm etc.) So run them all off?

Angler harvest has not changed over the years in totality compared to before the courts ordered the DNR to accommodate treaty harvest. Don't blame something or somebody that has been in place for a century. Blame the obvious change that has only been in place 15 years.

[laker1]

On a normal year the small boat operator takes far more walleye than launches. Nothing wrong for taking a few smallmouth bass and keeping them on a walleye lake. All lakes are different.

Yes I am not for pictures of big stringers of fish,that was for bygone years.

Also sometimes people on launches really don't want the fish once getting to shore. Than it would be a waste. Same as a small boat.

[leechlake]

while I know that times have changed I have an In Fisherman walleye book and on the cover is Ron and Al Lindner with a stringer of all 28" plus walleyes caught on Gull Lake in the Fall. There are 10-12 walleyes on the stringer. Yes times have changed.

[DTro]

I would argue that a small boat is taking more fish out of the lake on an average year than a launch, how do you figure that?

Not sure why people are getting so whipped up about Al’s comments. He (along with others) fought hard to change the attitudes of fishermen in so that we don’t see these big stringer shots and meat piles of fish (Bass in particular). I’m sure when he sees a picture like that he thinks, “oh boy here we go again”.

I don’t blame the launches for taking advantage of the opened bag by the MNDNR and I don’t blame the people for keeping those fish and certainly nothing wrong with eating Bass, they taste good. However, I totally agree with Al when he asks, “Is this necessary?”. No I don’t think it is either.

But those that have WALLEYE tunnel vision think they are doing the world a favor by promoting a bass kill so that their lake can recover and once again be nothing more than WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE **mouth breathe, drool, mouth breathe*** WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE

[wormdunker]

I would argue that a small boat is taking more fish out of the lake on an average year than a launch, how do you figure that?

Not sure why people are getting so whipped up about Al’s comments. He (along with others) fought hard to change the attitudes of fishermen in so that we don’t see these big stringer shots and meat piles of fish (Bass in particular). I’m sure when he sees a picture like that he thinks, “oh boy here we go again”.

I don’t blame the launches for taking advantage of the opened bag by the MNDNR and I don’t blame the people for keeping those fish and certainly nothing wrong with eating Bass, they taste good. However, I totally agree with Al when he asks, “Is this necessary?”. No I don’t think it is either.

But those that have WALLEYE tunnel vision think they are doing the world a favor by promoting a bass kill so that their lake can recover and once again be nothing more than WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE **mouth breathe, drool, mouth breathe*** WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE

If I might add that people are saying All and Ron used to do it....good for the goose not good for the Gander type statements. The linders have continually shown remorse for their ignorance of years past. I have heard them state they made mistakes time after time. They regret having kept the fish they did. Their efforts to promote catch and release or minimal harvest are on record adn commendable.

Further, based on todays fishing technology combined with the worlds ever growing comfort level with technology we need to be more selective than ever. Yesteryear guys would buy a graph to show them the depth....never used the full cpability because technology was intimidating. Todays electronics and gear in general is so easy to use anyone can grasp it. Heck we can watch the fish eat due to technology and none of us are intimdated by it.

[RumRiverRat]

[bigsam]

The funny thing was that he deemed it a "slaughter". It was a stupid remark and post on his part, given the volume of stringer photos we have all seen of himself and his brother back in the '70s. Those walleyes were almost always over 20".

[BrdHunter01]

However, I totally agree with Al when he asks, “Is this necessary?”. No I don’t think it is either.

But those that have WALLEYE tunnel vision think they are doing the world a favor by promoting a bass kill so that their lake can recover and once again be nothing more than WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE **mouth breathe, drool, mouth breathe*** WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE WALLEYE

Why is this not necessary? 3 bass a piece, well within their legal limit, is not a whole lot of meat. Completely reasonable if you ask me.

Hate to inform you of the obvious, but WALLEYE is king in this state and specifically Mille Lacs. That must be extremely hard for you to grasp given your posts regarding issues on Mille Lacs.

[Getanet]

I did a quick check of the Fbook page in question and it seems Al's issue is more with photos like this being published in the newspaper than people actually keeping the fish.

With that said, by nearly every account the resorts around Mille Lacs are struggling and I doubt Twin Pines is upset with the publicity.

In terms of minimal harvest, can't you keep 6 smallies on Mille Lacs? If so, it looks like each person only kept half a limit.

[DTro]

I agree with him that its not necessary to promote a killing off of one game fish species so the other can flourish by continually posting meat shots.

[ClownColor]

Everyones at a different time in their lives regarding fishing. Most all of us went throught the "keep anyhting phase", and eventually, after you've caught plenty of fish,moved on to mostly catch and release. I'm guessing these people probably wet a line once or twice a year...keep all the fish you want if thats all you fish. I probably kill more fish that I have released then they kept.

and whats wrong with a pic? Why do you think we fish? food and bragin. nothing else. Whens the last time you pounded the fish and didn't tell anyone...and for Al to say he doesn't like pics in nerwspapers..."if" he said this, someone should knock him out. Apperantly his "shows" are ok for posting pics for eeryone to see but somebody else cant post pics of their success?.

[PurpleFloyd]

Well, look at the history of the lake a bit. The resorts and launch's have been out their for what 80-100 years? Well before my old self. And their was still plenty of fish to keep everyone happy and the area was a boon of business for vacationers, resorts, Ice fishers, Bait shops, on and on. Once the netting started most of all that is gone! There seemed to be enough fish for all and now it's a dead. There is example after example out there for everyone to see. Red lake is back, but it will break again if they keep up the netting the way they have!

Did those launches 100 years ago have trolling g motors linked to GPS with side scan,structure scan, brain scan and a lucky mood rock? Tech today let's us harvest fish at times and in places we couldn't in the past.

[bassin]

"walleye is king in this state". Yep, so better kill every other fish in the state. The issue with the photo and everything related to any other species of fish other than walleye in Mile Lacs is the blame game. I just heard guys this past weekend at the launch complaining about the smallmouth and how its their fault for the lack of walleye. Even with the recent prey study which showed what most of us already knew....bass eat crawfish...people still want to have the kill a smallie save a walleye attitude.

[Nhamm]

Quote:

WAS THIS PHOTO NECESSARY?

This is from a local paper. I thought photos like this were a thing of the past. How disappointing it is to see this on one of the premier smallmouth lakes in North America.

Al

Sounds like he wants to promote the SMB fishery. On his shows it comes through to me as he prefers catching smallies over eyes.

I'm just happy to see some big shot say something politically incorrect, nowadays its stay neutral cause you dont want to PO any sponsors or business. Guys got an opinion, and is rich enough and respected enough to not give a dump, good for him.

[FowlSki]

I do blame the Mille Lacs walleye situation on one species, perch... specifically the lack of perch making baby walleyes target #1 for big walleyes. Now the perch have had a great hatch and the small walleyes are coming back. The big walleyes are tougher to catch now because they are full on perch. When the perch population was way down the walleyes (skinny ones I might add) were easy to catch because they were hungry, so hungry they were eating all the baby walleyes.

I talked with a couple guides/resort owners who come from families that have been fishing Mille Lacs for decades. When the walleye size distribution topic first started to surface they told me it was a issue with the forage, specifically the perch. They said the perch population dictates the population, bite and size structure of Mille Lacs walleye. They said over the years (a lot of years) they have seen the walleye/perch deal go in cycles. They never mentioned nets or slots in our conversation even once. Now the perch population is back and the baby walleyes are coming back. It looks to me like they were right. I wonder if the DNR ever considered talking to the old timers instead of doing studies, studying the studies, changing the regs etc etc..

Mother Nature has her cycles. No need for knee jerk reactions like killing all the smallies, pike and muskie to save the beloved walleye.

[bassin]

Al wants to protect it. Like SOME of us do. And he mentioned on his show once that everybody thought his favorite fish was smallmouth. But he said it is in fact walleye that is his favorite.

[FearNoFish]

Just think back 20 -30 years ago you could go to the big pond and catch buckets of freshwater cod, but when was the last time anyone caught a good size and more then one in a weekend. Now why are they gone maybe folks thru them on the ice cause they are ugly and slimmy. IMO they were are a good healthy food choice for growing fish and also tullibe where did they go nice fatty food to grow fat fish. Now netting, I am not for sure, but have they targeted those fish. So IMO a little bit of everything has caused the issue for the big lake. (cleaner water, netting in the spring, water quality, also the biological make-up of what is in the lake)

[leech~~]

Did those launches 100 years ago have trolling g motors linked to GPS with side scan,structure scan, brain scan and a lucky mood rock? Tech today let's us harvest fish at times and in places we couldn't in the past.

Come on Floyd we see eye to eye on a lot, but all that gets you to a spot, it doesn't make the fish bite! Nets, um not so much. They take fish everyday of all kinds, if they are feeding are not!

[BrdHunter01]

"walleye is king in this state". Yep, so better kill every other fish in the state.

Putting words in my mouth huh?

Mille Lacs has been a premiere SMB fishery for years now. Go take a gander around the lake. Go talk to the resort owners. Ask them what brings the customer's back. SMB? I don't think so. Walleye is king, whether you'd like to admit it or not.

[river rat316]

It has never been promoted as a top tier Smallie fishery though, people come from all over the country to fish the other top tier SMB fisheries, even driving past Mille Lacs to fish Chequamegon bay, if the resorts and the area chambers would promote the SMB fishery out of state it would bring more out of staters in, And you get more money from out of staters, they need new tackle, gas, all their food and lodging. 1 out of state group is worth as much dollar wise to the area as 4-5 groups making an instate trip, mainly in the food and lodging area.

[tolle141]

Successful management starts with us anglers. If you feel that there are not enough walleyes in a lake, then don't keep them or keep fewer than you typically do. If you're not happy with the size quality, then let the smaller ones grow.

You can blame the DNR as much as you want, but ultimately it comes down to the cumulative impact of all our decisions. All the DNR can do is tell you what you can and cannot keep.

[RumRiverRat]

Exactly the Walleye People created this mess along with the DNR.

So now the Walleye People are going to destroy a great bass fishery to help the Walleyes.

None of which makes any effing sense.

All over a fish that fights like a wet dish rag.

[PurpleFloyd]

Come on Floyd we see eye to eye on a lot, but all that gets you to a spot, it doesn't make the fish bite! Nets, um not so much. They take fish everyday of all kinds, if they are feeding are not!

That is what Gulp Alive is for. Man, I thought that went without saying.....

With a net you have to get it to where the fish are. With sonar you find the fish and the gulp pulls them in from near and far.

[PurpleFloyd]

All over a fish that fights like a wet dish rag.

Yes. They should just turn it into a jumbo perch factory. Better fish,easier to grow and they also make great forage for superior fish like Bass and Esox.

[laker1]

Just think back 20 -30 years ago you could go to the big pond and catch buckets of freshwater cod, but when was the last time anyone caught a good size and more then one in a weekend. Now why are they gone maybe folks thru them on the ice cause they are ugly and slimmy. IMO they were are a good healthy food choice for growing fish and also tullibe where did they go nice fatty food to grow fat fish. Now netting, I am not for sure, but have they targeted those fish. So IMO a little bit of everything has caused the issue for the big lake. (cleaner water, netting in the spring, water quality, also the biological make-up of what is in the lake)

The burbot population took a dive because of warmer summers etc. for a while. It has been documented by the DNR on Mille lacs that the burbot actually lose weight in the summers. Even the liver size is reduced as its reserves are used up in the warmer water.

That is also why on Mille lacs a 4 pound burbot is big,meanwhile leech and lake of the woods they get 10 pounds+ because deeper and cooler water much of the summer.

Burbot have been disappearing on marginal cool water lakes recently.

[Juan Grande]

Pretty much every major walleye lake in the state has had a major downswing in walleye production. Red lake during the crappie boom, Leech lake during the infamous "cormorant shootings" and now Mille Lacs. What we don't need is the unfounded finger pointing at culprits that have nothing to do with the walleye decline. The DNR pretty much declared war on smallmouth and northern pike with the new regs this season.

For those arguing that the people in that Twin Pines pic only kept two fish each, you can only keep one SMB over 18" per person and every bass on that board but one is 18+. Hopefully they had more fisherman in their party than are in that picture.

[LightningBG]

For all we know, there could have been 30 people on the launch and every group takes turns holding the pole and getting their picture taken.

[RumRiverRat]

Walleyes are an invasive species in many lakes that they have been stocked in.

There are dozens of lakes that are basically put and take fisheries.

If a fish does not naturally reproduce in a lake it has no business being there.

In the case of Mille Lacs Walleyes are the cause of all this hand wringing and belly aching.

Due to total mismanagement by the Tribes and the MN DNR Mille Lacs Walleyes are in rough shape.

Killing Smallmouth bass will do nothing to help the situation.