will mille lacs regs ever be set?

[jimh874]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted on Sun, Jan. 11, 2004

OUTDOORS NOTEBOOK: Mille Lacs rule changes weighed
BY CHRIS NISKANEN
Pioneer Press

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials are strongly considering revamping Lake Mille Lacs walleye regulations after last year's record-low harvest.

The angler take was only 66,500 pounds, while the Chippewa harvest was 70,536 pounds.

"When you combine the band and the angler kill, it's the lowest walleye harvest on record,'' said Jack Wingate, DNR fisheries manager.

Anglers were eligible to take 442,000 pounds.

The low angler harvest was the result of an abundant population of perch, a key food for walleye, which kept catch rates low. Harvest restrictions also played a role. Rules required anglers to throw back walleyes from 17 to 28 inches long, with one trophy over 28 inches allowed. The bag limit was four fish.

Although the DNR pushed to keep future regulations stable, the low angler harvest has DNR managers rethinking the strategy. They plan to meet with representatives of eight Chippewa bands Jan. 21-22 to talk about the fishery and convene with a citizens advisory group in early February to talk about new rules, which will be announced shortly after the latter meeting.

Wingate said there's a large population of walleyes over 20 inches in Mille Lacs, but there are relatively few between 14 and 20 inches. Given the abundance of large walleyes, the new regulation likely will target more walleyes that are 20 inches or larger, he said.

Among the possible options, according to Wingate:

• The DNR could narrow the 17- to 28-inch protective slot limit, meaning fewer large fish would be protected. The 17-inch minimum would be raised or the 28-inch maximum lowered, Wingate said.

• The season could start with a narrow harvest slot limit. The rule would change to a narrow protective slot limit after the night fishing ban expires in June.

"We're talking about some harvest of large fish, but we don't want to go whole hog because we have to keep our spawning biomass up,'' Wingate said, referring to the DNR's preference to keep intact stocks of large female fish.

Wingate said there's a dearth of walleye under 20 inches for three reasons: There were poor classes in 2000 and 2001, the fish that survived were cannibalized by other walleyes, and anglers have targeted that segment of fish in recent years. Wingate said managers also want to protect the large 2002 class, which is currently 7 to 10 inches long and will be catchable size next fall.

There were other notable figures from the past Mille Lacs walleye season:

• It was the first time the band's walleye harvest exceeded angler harvest since co-management of the lake began in the 1990s.

• Of the anglers' walleye kill, 35,000 pounds were taken home, while close to 32,000 pounds were the result of hooking mortality after the fish were released.

• Anglers released about 500,000 pounds of walleyes.

• The 2003 angler harvest was 307,000 pounds less than the 2002 harvest. The 2002 season was a record, with 3.5 million pounds of walleyes boated.

thought i would share
jim

[muskiejoe]

I just got back from fishing Mille Lacs this weekend. I am done with this lake. What a joke. They really managed to mess that lake up. A zillion small perch, and walleye year classes that are totally wiped out. I will never forget 2 summers ago going out to fish muskies in the middle of July and counting 256 floating walleyes on the way out from the boat landing. It made me sick to my stomach. I feel bad for those whose living is dependent on this lake.

[Jeremy Donabauer]

Less traffic for me.

[Scott Steil]

The lake as it sits right now is setting up for great fishing in two years. I believe the perch fishing will be unbelievable in two years. You will see a nice improvement next year and in two year is should be nothing short of great.

As for the walleye fishing. If you like to catch big fish, the lake is still in great shape. The biggest problem is the fact that they targeted the same year class for too many years and now we have a big "gap" in fish size. There is a great year class of small fish and those fish will be noticed this spring no doubt.

The biggest problem is going to be how do they allow harvest of some bigger fish without going overboard. I don't have the answer but I have some ideas.

------------------
Mille Lacs Guide Service
(320)293-3287
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[Beckman]

I was listening to Bear Facts and Fish Tales on KSTP last night and they had Sternberg on there spreading his knowledge about the way things should be up there. Well I went back and glanced over his report that the resort owners had him write up a couple years ago, I also looked at this link: http://www.perm.org/pdfs/LetterNR.pdf I didn't put much stock into his report back then and it didn't take me long to realize again that he was dead wrong about what was happening with Mille Lacs. Still this is the guy people want to believe rather than the DNR? I thought he said there was never going to be enough forage in the lake as long as there were all these big fish? I'm sorry but you lose alot of credibility as a biologist when you are that wrong.

I'm not saying it will hurt too much to allow that a few big fish be taken out of the lake now, but I don't think it is necessary to restore more balance either. If we would have allowed this back in the bite of the century like Sternberg wanted the lake would be in major trouble now. At least now we have the spawning biomass still in place and can look forward to some possible good year classes in the future... including all those 10 inchers that are showing up now.

[bturck]

I believe this has been posed before but my feeling is it could work. I'm referring to a length limit, lets say 44 inches in possession. Two 22's and you're done, or any combination would get you get to, again lets say 44 inches. I personally feel that allowing the taking of the larger fish would still be selective and would eliminate some of the heavy pressure on the 17" and under. The four fish limit could still be maintained, but once you hit the inch limit its over. Just a thought. Bill

[Roosterslayer05]

I think a good idea could be to have 4 fish 17 inches or under and one between 20-22 inches. There would be some harvest of that massive year class of 20-22 inch fish but not over harvest plus you would be able to eat fish once in awhile, a 20-22 inch walleye is enough for one person. So it would be the same as now but you could keep one fish between 20-22 inches

[Scott Steil]

A total inch system that bturk suggested wouldn't work. We would reach our harvest way to quick. It is going to have to be limited to one bigger fish for a shorter period of time. The pounds add up fast when you start allowing harvest of fish over 20 inches. I don't have time to get into all the possibibities, but is not going to include allowing the harvest of more than one fish over 20 I don't believe.

------------------
Mille Lacs Guide Service
(320)293-3287
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[bigeyes]

Scott, I actually believe that there is an ample amount of slot fish in the lake. I think they are there I am just not sure why they are not showing up?

Here is my line of thinking from personal experience and reading results of fishing contests. Last year I caught exactly 8 slot fish from opener to Freeze up and all but 1 were in the fall fishing phase. Many people fish this lake much more than me, but I don't think my 8 fish caused any gap. I try to talk to everybody at the landings and I seldom saw a slot fish. If you look to see how the tournments did last year most of them (many very good anglers) usually did register any slots or very few.

Scott I know you target slot fish often and spend lots of time on the water I am sure you did as well or better than almost anybody on the lake last year for slot fish and what would you estimate your catch number was? Even if you caught a few hundred(which would be outstanding) that would not cause a gap.

My point is If ain't catching them and for the most part the Tourney guys are not catching them and even a guy like yourself who is likely one of Milly's best slot guys is not hammering them then anglers must not be causing the gap or there is no gap.

Your on the water much more than me so I would like to hear what you think of this rational? I just don't see enough being caught to cause a gap. My only guess is that they are just too well forage fed to be hungry for what we got?

[Scott Steil]

Bigeyes, I am not saying they are not there, I am saying they are a small representation of the population in the lake. Just look back 3 years and see what size fish have been targeted with the slot. Last year I caught maybe 100 slot fish. However, most were released. The year before we caught hundreds of slot fish. That was the year the bite was so good and there was a lot of Harvest that year of 14-16 inch fish. Everyone was getting fish that year.

It is also my understanding that the survival rate of fish from the 2000 & 2001 year classes was minimal, as they were preyed upon pretty hard when the Perch population crashed in 2001.

So what does this all mean, well, we are really missing two year classes in the lake, and the ones that made it have been targeted by anglers for the last 2 or even 3 years because of the slot.

We do have a really strong 2002 year class and anyone with an underwater camera can tell that. These fish are not being preyed upon with the boom in the perch population. Plus, with all the YOY perch this year the 2002 year class can and will grow fast. They will soon fill the void left by the 2000 & 2001 year classes.

Hopefully that makes sense

------------------
Mille Lacs Guide Service
(320)293-3287
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[Beckman]

It makes sense to me Scott. I believe there are some slot fish there, just not as many as most years, mainly because of natural reasons and not because they are getting hammered on by anglers. The up and coming year class is going to be alot of fun for people who like to keep fish. You have to remember probably every fish in the lake under 25 inches was at one time or another a 'targeted' slot fish destined for somebody's livewell if caught. Lots of those fish have survived so that gives me reason to believe that alot of these 10 inches will make it to 20 inches as well, even if they get hammered on when they are big enough to keep.

[wallye]

Did anyone notice when DNR (Jack Wingate)describes why there is low numbers of "slot"
size walleye in Mille Lacs, nothing is mentioned about the Native Americans netting and spearing spawning fish, as having any effect on numbers.
How long can we all continue to target the same size fish and not have any effects on balance of population?
Does anyone work for the DNR that has any small amount of common sense?

[rmh2o]

I just dont see how you can manage a lake with the amount of fishing pressure Mille Lacs gets based on a quota.I think they have already proved that.All they are doing now is targeting the small fish and the bigger fish are getting bigger.I fish the lake almost every weekend and I am seeing less and less fish under 20 inches.

[Scott Steil]

No one is disputing that there is a huge gap in year classes left in the lake. There is an ample supply of fish over 19 inches. However, from 13-18 inches there is a huge void. These fish have been repeatedly targeted by the slot. There is a great class of 9-11 inchers from 2002. These fish will fill a major void in the next couple years but will continue to be targets as part of the current slot I would imagine.

The biggest hurdle will be trying to figure out how to allow SOME harvest of bigger fish without overdoing it or reaching the allowable harvest to quickly.

The current management of Mille Lacs is not ideal but there is not a lot we can do about it. The good thing is there is plenty of forage in the lake to support the walleye population and with all the predator fish in the lake, you can bet the perch fishing will be excellent in the next couple years.

------------------
Mille Lacs Guide Service
(320)293-3287
www.millelacsguideservice.com

[bigeyes]

Yeah your probably right, a large portion of the class may have been canabilized during the "starving phase", but I really do not believe as anglers we have been able to cause much of a gap at least not during this last year. I still believe they are present in decent numbers. Wish I had some test netting info to affirm or deny this, but I don't.