Anyone out for Perch still?

[lindy rig]

Webcams all look pretty empty. Is anybody walking out?

[Sculpin]

You can still ATV out of there. There are some perch being taken on the west side, and the north west end. ATV travel is possible in many/most areas, but check ahead. There was a truck out on the July Bar yesterday, amazing.

[monstermoose78]

I heard some good reports from the north end break from sand to softer bottom

[lindy rig]

Thanks for the updates. I supposed most of those locations are too far to walk out. Was hoping to hear that you could find them shallower. We are relatively new on the NE corner and would be nice to just walk out in 10' or so like we did on Leech a couple weekends ago.

[monstermoose78]

you can walk out to the first break easy and some of the flats are within walking distance

[mjk]

Just read this:

Today I thought with the strong NW winds the ice was going to move. But from what I seen it didn’t move much so it will be awhile yet. Our access is closed for the year obviously and we are getting things ready at the rental house for the Opener.

The DNR hasn’t released the regs for the upcoming season at Mille Lacs yet, and if I were them I would be ashamed to. It is very upsetting to see the premier Walleye Lake in this State run to the ground so to speak in the last 15 years, and to have a State government and it’s Governor Dayton turn into spineless politicians and let this resource be practically destroyed. Everyone knows what is going on here and why it happened. And they can’t say that because the source of the lobby money they receive will be cut off. Yet what happened in Wisconsin’s Lakes , Upper and Lower Red lake, or the comeback of Lake of the Woods when the “netters” were bought out isn’t good enough evidence for our DNR biologists. They search for every other reason possible to avoid the obvious, and keep their jobs……Even the big Twin Cities journalists won’t talk about that because guess who spends major money advertising in their papers….

Well, it just won’t be Mille Lacs much longer. Rumors are that Lake Vermillion will be netted next because they can’t get enough Walleyes from Mille Lacs. Another treaty will be tested and our State of Minnesota and it’s government more than likely will stand aside and let that happen. Maybe some day after all the big Walleye lakes are wiped out, people in this State will wake up and see what they let happen to our great fisheries and vote for someone that will do something about it.

I’m not arguing against treaty rights or the right to harvest. I’m saying leave the fish alone when they are spawning……period!! And if our DNR says it doesn’t make a difference on the spawning outcome with what the Bands do during the spawning time, open it up for angling and quit having a closing and opening of Walleye season statewide!

Fishing will improve on Mille Lacs in the coming years and hopefully get back to some degree of what it once was. But if the State lets the Bands harvest in the spring as it does now… I honestly believe this will happen again…and not just on Mille Lacs……

Something has got to change…… Keep a Tight Line!!

Eddy

[Sculpin]

Hats off to Eddy, a spot on and very solid analysis. The Fond Du Lac Band is indeed going to net Vermillion. One of their positions will also be no restriction on mesh size in the gillnets. Brian Borkholder, fisheries biologist for the FDL band was also quoted as saying (Outdoor News, 3/3/15) that any muskies caught, that could not be released, will be used for the elderly nutrition program. A larger net mesh size will also allow for fish of many sizes to be caught, so there will be less pressure on any particular group. WOW