Walleye Spawning in Red Lake??

[analyzer]

Thank you Polar Bear,

Outstanding.

Analyzer

[kelly-p]

Pro Crappie Guide,
I don't think you know our beavers very good. If they only dam over soft muddy bottoms why are both Big Deer River and Little Deer River blocked off by dams?
The combination of an explosion in the beaver numbers and the collapse of the Judicial Ditch system AND the DNR's refusal for 8 years to pay their share of the ditch assesment tax's has resulted in the biggest loss of wildlife habitat this area has ever seen. While fish spawning has been effected a little it has been devastating for upland game. Our deer numbers are at the lowest that my father can ever remember, and that's a long time and a lot of experience.
halad,
Remember that you can not drive across the lake anymore with out a snorkel.

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[Surface Tension]

Kelly shouldnt you be telling that to Halad's dog.

[Guest]

Beavers build dams in areas of muck, and bog.

Walleyes spawn in sand, gravel, and rock.

PCG

[kelly-p]

I'm sure the dog already knows.

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[swamptiger]

Beaver can turn a stream with a nice sand & gravel bottom into mud in short order. When they build a dam, the water velocity slows down, thus the mud doesn't get washed away.

The price for beaver is indeed too low, and as a result there are not many being trapped right now. Consequently, there is millions of dollars in damage to property and timber.

[Lowe]

Kelly- what's the judicial ditch program?

[swamptiger]

They are doing that sort of thing on a piecemeal basis, where there are real problem areas such as culvert blockages by roads, etc. that is causing problems, but other than that there is no concerted effort being made to keep the beaver population in check.

I heard the state of Louisiana is having a real problem with nutria, and have decided to pay a $4.00 per tail bounty, up to something like $4 million per year total. Hmmm... That would make trapping much more interesting.

[nunzio]

Swamptiger / Kelly;
That is the thing that I don't understand... We have all of these beaver, which have all of this water backed up, yet the ground water isn't at the same level??? I base this on the dry soil at 6 feet down, as well as a few shallow wells that have dried up in the area over the last several years!!??!! Any thoughts on this guys?? -nunzio

[huskminn]

Beaver populations have exploded in many states all over the country. There is a reason for this that has nothing to do with ditch taxes or the Triangle. They simply aren't being trapped anymore.

Short-hair fur prices are depressed and have been for years. PETA has had success on some fronts with a few states outlawing leg-hold traps and a shift in society's views towards trapping have reduced the number of would-be trappers from ever starting. Kids used to do a lot of trapping for pocket money, but you can imagine what kind of information the public school system is drilling into them about trapping.

Nutria are an exotic species that has taken over the south. Their numbers used to be controlled fairly regularly, but depressed fur prices have allowed their populations to explode, as well. The $4 bounty may allow people to actually make a small profit if they put the time into trap them.

What we need are more #3 legholds and a few Conibear's thrown in for good measure.

.....stepping down off soap box........

[swamptiger]

Somehow, the animal rights people have convinced the majority of the people that it is a bad thing to use fur. This has a lot to do with our current state of affairs when it comes to things like beaver & nutria problems, and the damage these animals do. No one advocates extermination of these pesky critters, in fact, as a trapper & outdoorsman, I enjoy them as much as anyone.

But the fact is they are sort of like rats, and their numbers must be controlled, or we will all pay the price.

nunzio:

I don't know about the water levels. Maybe the beaver dams are nature's way of helping to keep the water levels up. Like anything else in nature, there are a lot of factors at work. But I do know that if you do any flying in northern Minnesota, you will see thousands of acres of flooded ground from beaver dams.

Off my pedestal!

[This message has been edited by swamptiger (edited 05-09-2002).]

[Surface Tension]

We just need a shortage of polarfleesh and a cold as_ winter to get the fur prices up.

Halad is that dog of yours a long hair or short hair?

[halad]

Tough to get old darn surface tension acting up again. So much for sitting on the deck chairs blew away the wind here today on the south shore is something. We need some warm weather for this lake to settle down and bring the crappie into the spawning beds. The dog coco choc. lab wont even go for a walk all she wants to do is drive around in the jeep trouble is she dosent have her license yet. Hi Russ hope it works out.

[Duck'n]

O.K.
Back to what URL is known for. I am coming up on Sat. morning, what depth are most of the crappies at right now and what is the water temp??

Thanxs

[kelly-p]

It is long and complicated but here is a short recap.
The ditch system was built in the 20's and 30's to drain this area for the homesteaders.
All the land north and east of URL has ditches both north/south and east/west every 1 or 2 miles. A great big checkerboard pattern. The land owners were to pay for the ditches through their taxes but the "Depresion" hit and most of the homesteaders couldn't afford to pay their taxes to the county. As a result the County could not pay off the "Ditch Bonds" so the State of MN stepped in and paid the Bonds off getting title to the land as a result.
The ditches and the grade (dike) alongside became the transportation network in this area. Except for private people and the County the ditches have not been maintained. As the the ditches began to fill in with silt and brush the beavers moved in and the grades alongside became very long "Dams" that cut across all the old natural drainages. As a result much of the land in this area is now wetter then it has ever been before.
The County realized that something had to be done to stop the loss of wildlife habitat and the loss of timber growing in those areas so about 10 years ago the County assesed all the land owners along the ditches to help repair the ditches. The Private landowners have to pay their taxes but so far the biggest land owner (the State of MN) has not paid anything and is fighting it in court. I think the amount that the State has not paid is now about $8,000,000.00 If we as private people do not pay our taxes we lose our land don't we?
In my opinion it is absolute stupidity for the State not to want to pay. Because of the "Ditches" timber grew and wildlife flourished. The state made a lot of money selling timber stumpage and hunting licences but now refuses to give anything back.
The "ditches" are on of my pet peeves about "Govt.".

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652

[Lowe]

That's pretty interesting. I had no idea that the beavers were causing so many problems up there.

I used to trap quite a bit, and it's amazing how difficult it can be to try to "empty" an area of beaver - almost impossible, especially with the lower fur prices. About the only fool-proof method I know of is to destroy their dams in the middle of winter, using a backhoe or a piece of strategically placed dynamite :-). That leaves them high and dry, and they almost all die out. Not the nicest thing in the world to do, but effective. Any talk of something like that by the county?

[kelly-p]

Duck'n,
This may come as a complete suprise to you but the URL area is known for some things besides fish. If you are only coming up to fish you could at least tell us that you'll still respect us in the morning. We had 2 days of high wind and snow, I don't think anybody was even out there. Today looks nice tho and the forecast isn't all bad for the weekend.
halad,
It looks like you made it home through the "Triangle" AGAIN! We're proud of ya.

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Waskish Minnow Station
218-647-8652