Mille Lacs Sticker

[Whiskeywalleyes]

Could this possibly be an option?
To fish Mille Lacs you need to purchase an extra 10$ sticker on your boat for a year.
Have the DNR regulate this but yet have a private firm impose this deal.
The money can go towards new walleye fingerlings and new baitfish place into this lake.
Us anglers need to be pro-active..
would this work?
I know we all hate more regulations, but if we had a private group collect the funds so us anglers knows that the money purchase towards a stickers would be strictly directed into Lake Mille Lacs.I would pay10 bucks for my future kids to be able to fish like we have in the past..
10 for a individual boat.
30 for a charter.
and 500 fine to DNR if you don't have a sticker.
It would all generate money, very similar to Salmon stickers, extra permits such as ocean fishing.
Could this be a new direction for Mille Lacs?

[Guest]

Whiskey, I agree on your point some sort of reg. should be put on the lake I think thats a good Idea. Also more boat landings would be good or just some over flow parking. Are the boat landings always crowded? or is it just because the fish are biting? But the sticker is a good idea. If it all goes to the benifit of the lake, but wouldn't it take time to stock the lake with bait fish? also they should do something like that on other lakes as well? But for Rec. boaters and other groups you will find conflicts this would have to be regulated by the DNR? or Private inspectors? Who would monator the sticker? You would need major support from all anglers for that to fly! But YOU got my Vote! Brettskee

[Hoovey]

Some friends of mine were discussing a similar idea. They discussed having to purchase a Mille Lacs permit in order to fish the lake. The money generated from the permit would go to the tribal interests and in exchange the tribes would agree to a limited harvest (not several hundred thousand pounds) and let the DNR go back to managing the lake exclusively. Thus allowing more angler harvest and a more balanced ecosystem in the lake. Sounds good to me but I'm not sure it would fly with the tribes.

[Borch]

Money is not gonna fix this problem. Unless the Mille Lacs Band will accept payment in exchange for their harvest. With the ruling I don't know if we can do an end around the judgement even with the band's permission.

As far as stocking Mille Lacs. It's sorta like trying to stock pheasants in South Dakota. Who's gonna waste their money on that when mother nature will eventually fix the problem if you let her. Anything we add will be a drop in the bucket compared to what the lake will do itself.

Plus I just hate the idea of setting precendence of paying for permits to fish public waters. What happens when Leech has a down year, then Winni, then Lake of the Woods. I've already got that ugly boat liscense sticker on my boat. I'd hate to be required to add 10-15 more as the dnr finds this to be another means to get more money out of us. The DNR has a history of fighting any outside control of it's funding. Unless it's legislated it won't happen.

Personally, I against it(Like you haven't figured that out by now).

[Grabs]

I would have to agree with Borch, throwing more money and permits at this already complicated and confusing problem will only make things more complicated and confusing. We can't fix a problem by slapping a band-aid on it, we need to focus on the root cause of the problem, first determine if there is a problem, most of us believe there is, and go after the solution at the root of the problem instead a short-term solution. The treaty is here for the long-term unless some higher authority decides otherwise, and until then we should be looking at long-term solutions not short term permits and stocking the lake with bait fish.

Just my 2 cents.

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[This message has been edited by Grabs (edited 07-09-2002).]

[weekendjunkie]

im not real familiar with the treaty and what it limits and allows. but, to let a PRIVATE company become involved in public fishing? think aboiut that. 1. board of directors...say 50k apiece?sound fair?... secretary? whats she make? how much does paperwork cost? we cant cover our costs to manage this fishery on $10 so we have deemed that you will now pay $20 or $30. why not $100 or a $1000. do you see where im goin with this?

[This message has been edited by weekendjunkie (edited 07-09-2002).]

[Guest]

I also am NOT in favor of imposing water specific fees, The DNR has more than enough money to do a proper population survey, and set bag limits accordingly. They are just not doing it, and it is their fault, not the guy who wants to go out and catch some fish. I see the whole thing as a failed attempt to create a world class C&R fishery, not to mention the treaty settlement.

[Guest]

I think a special permit/sticker could quickly open up a huge new can of worms between the tribal authority and the DNR?

I would bet they would wish a cut of the funds or renegotiations of the catch ratio formula for tribal netting, because by federal law they have ownership of a % of the fishing rights?

???

A private sportsman’s coalition selling a sticker to raise funds used to help the lake may be viewed as separate from any state or federal legal obligations, and less likely to be viewed as a threat by the tribal authority?

???

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Backwater Eddy..><,sUMo,>

Backwater Guiding
"Ed on the RED"
(701)-281-2300

[email protected]

http://home.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/index.html

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 07-10-2002).]

[huskminn]

I have to agree with the others here who believe that money is not the problem with the Mille Lacs fishery.

As a point of clarification, the allotted tribal take is not several hundred thousand pounds....it's 100,000 lbs. this year. I haven't heard the numbers on what the bands netted this spring, but in years past, they haven't come close to taking their entire allotment. It is the sport anglers that have an allotment of several hundred thousand pounds.

The DNR's tagging study currently underway may or may not result in a change of their management plan. Incidentally, there was no fuss at all when they reqeusted the funding for that study.

Mille Lacs doesn't need to be stocked with anything.....it will eventually fix itself. We may not all like how it fixes itself, but there's not much we can do about that.

There are private coalitions and organizations comprised of resort owners and, I presume, sport anglers. PERM is one of them. The bands do view them as a threat, because they are organized efforts to change the status quo on the lake. The DNR doesn't particularly like them, either, because PERM continually challenges the DNR's numbers on fish population and sustainable harvest percentages. Granted, PERM is protecting its member's own interests, but, as we all know, somewhere there in the middle of the situation is the truth.

I don't really know where you should send your $10 to help the lake. You might be better off keeping it in your account so you can afford to drive a little farther down the road in a couple of years when Mille Lacs is in the recovery room.

[Guest]

Those of us old enough to remember can tell you the DNR had its hands full with the old Leech Lake "stamp" (later "non-restricted licence") program. As a matter of fact, wardens would ask that anglers produce a Minnesota license, but did not enforce the non-restricted provision. Also, vendors would talk anglers out of paying the extra $$ when making the license purchase.

The program, if used, would have to be for all anglers (not just boat owners) on Mille Lacs, but it would be fraught with difficulty.

[Fish-on]

I'm glad to hear you are thinking and tying to come up with solutions. We all need to do that. A sticker like you proposed would be treating the symptom and not the disease that causes the symptom. We need to get away from this allotment mess altogether. Having a sticker would simply further complicate things, and wouldn't really solve anything... seems like putting a bandaid on the broken leg to me. We just need to go back to managing the lake through sound biological principles with an eye toward good natural resources stewardship. How we can do that, is anyone's guess....

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Bernie Barringer's 10,000 Lakes Guide Service
http://fishingminnesota.com/bernie
Call toll free 800-890-FISH (3474)
[email protected]

[Guest]

I think that stocking is definately not needed, Mille lacs is a walleye factory with poor management. Trying to harvest out the slot is what is responsible for the large skinny fish we are catching now. I say let it go back to what it was, a large lake capable of producing lots of average size fish and an excellent perch fishery. Stop stocking the muskie as well. $0.02