New Mille Lacs regs effective June 4

[Jeff Zernov]

A insider has leaked that the MN DNR will announce a new slot for Mille Lacs to go into effect on June 4. The slot will be 16 to 18 inches with none over 28. Apparently the sportfishing harvest is ahead of the co-managment plan and the DNR wants to further limit the sportfishing harvest.
It is time for all sport-fishermen to unite. Call the Govenor, request that he join forces with the Govenors of Wisconsin and Michigan and petition the President to "change his will in regards to treaty rights". The treaty that has established the nation within a nation rights of the Indians is still "at the will of the President". If he changes his will the treaty can change.
Don't look for any negative spin on this from the media-they have all been bought off. The casino represent too many advertising dollars and part of the advertising contracts specifically addresses avoiding editorial comment on Indian rights.
Let's return to "One nation under God"

[Hans]

The Armenian judges gave this a 9.8 on the Olympic Troll-O-Meter, but they were over-ruled by the umpires in instant replay, who award it a 2.6.
The Armenian judges lodged a formal protest!

It was sufficiently trollish, of course, but way too obvious. It was poorly written, poorly executed, and was so incredibly lame as to lack the true drawing power of a really masterful troll. Maybe as high as a 3.1 for the intense stupidity of the premise, but a 9.8? Never!

The Armenian judges tear their hair out, throw their balalaikas down in dismay, and perform the traditional Armenian Dismay Chant! They demand a recount!

Hans
--
Hans' Second Law of Thermodenial: "In any closed mind the amount of ignorance remains constant or increases."

[mike]

None over 28"??? Tournament fishing will be absolutely a joke . . .!

I really enjoy the quality fishing this lake has and do release almost everything I catch but this would be too restrictive.

[TBO/MN]

I wwwwaaaaaaaaayyyy!!! agree with you.

Good Fishin'
TBO/MN

[800proX]

what an idiot.

may you wind up in a nest of angry indians!

jeff

[JKJ]

Hey 800proX,

Your a hypocrite!

[drizz]

With the tough bite going on and such a small numer of slot fish being caught, I don't know how they could be taking too many. But as far as the reg. changes, nothing would surprise me all that much.

[Suzuki]

If you want to catch walleyes- fish Mille Lacs
If you want to eat walleyes- fish somewhere else

I'm not saying I like it. That's just the reality of it.
Otherwise, smallies and muskies fry up nice too (sarcasm-kinda)

[JKJ]

The Minn DNR website just got the update.....

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish_and_wildlife/regulations/fishing/0601millelacs.html

[Glenn Rengo]

This e-mail just came to me from Bill Lundeen at Lundeen's Bait Castle in Onamia, MN......

Early this morning (5-31-2001) I spoke to Tom Jones - Mn. DNR Biologist from Aitkin Fisheries. Tom has indicated that the Mille Lacs slot limit (currently -The minimum size for walleyes is 16 inches - all walleyes LESS than 16" or LARGER than 20" must be immediately released, except that 1 OVER 28" may be kept. Possession limit 6) WILL BE CHANGED! According to Mr. Jones, The new slot which will go into effect sometime next week will be: The minimum size for walleyes is 16 inches - all walleyes LESS than 16" or LARGER than 18" must be immediately released. No trophy harvest will be allowed. The new regulations will be posted at the landings, and once again we will have stickers explaining the changes at our store.

[Alec]

Will the Herricks cancel the Wacker or can they? They will probably let the teams keep up to 12 fish. I have a hard time believing that the harvest was so high so far this year. Everybody I have talked to have said that it is talking 5 to 6 fish on average in order to catch one in the 16"-20" slot.

[AquaMan]

That is the hardest size to catch on Mille Lacs and when that rule goes into effect, you can bet the fisherman will go elsewhere. 16"-18" are keepers eith zero over 28"???? Good luck and, for those that loved to fish Mille Lacs, sorry to hear this change. This rule effectively eliminates this lake for any meat hunters.

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.·´¯° --- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

Eric@crowncomputerinc.com

[mmillelacs]

My heart goes out to the already struggling resorts whose customers, I'm afraid, will now stay away in droves. AND, I'm sorry, but the reason for these regulations just chaps my hide. It's not about conservation, it's about political correctness.
Joe Alexander, come back, were sorry.

[observer]

The bed was made a long time back, now it's time to sleep in it.Quit the whining, suck it up, and just be glad the state doesn't shut the lake down altogether.The DNR stated that 1/3 of the seasons harvest, or thereabouts, has already been caught in the month of May.It's not rocket science, folks, when there is a limit to the current seasons harvest.Nobody can say the MN DNR didn't warn us. Correction:The new regs. go into effect on June 5, not June 4.

[David Anderson]

Tell that to the people that make their lively hood on the lake. How sure is the DNR on their numbers. Personally I believe the hot bite is based on the poor forage base and large population of fish. Look at the PWT results, a 28" fish weighing 6.5 pounds. The 20"+ fish that I've released this year for the most part were skinny as #####. I will live with the regs, I release most of mine anyway. In 1992 we took a million pounds out of the lake. I believe we have the same situation today. Doesn't appear that 1992 destroyed anything.

I will live with the regs, I release most of mine anyway, and realistically I have no choice. As a resorter or a bait shop owner on the lake, the prospect of every 18"+ fish dying of old age has got to be extremely frustrating, and for what, a $100,000 worth of fish at the wholesale level. Sorry, those people are my friends and I'll whine if I ##### so choose to.

[David Anderson]

My apologies to everyone, I didn't think those words too bad, I will do better next time.

[Johnnierat]

I want to know how the media "has been bought."

[mmillelacs]

Grand casinos inc. Need I say more?

[observer]

Turn the clock back almost 10 years ago when the whole issue was on the table before the state of MN. MN dropped the ball, they could have taken care of it back then, and they didn't.This issue has been hashed over thousands of times on many forums,so no point to start it again.The bed was made at that time long ago, and now we all get to sleep in it. We are reaping what the state of MN, the fisherfolks, business owners, and PERM wanted back then.I feel sorry for no one.The whining is pathetic.Period.

[Box]

I still feel sorry for people affected, because it is rotten to see things decline. I hope the resorters can get through it ok.

...but... I have to agree with you that there was a group of people who fought a battle that could have been taken care of by nipping it in the bud (pardon the pun) a long time ago, rather than taking to an extreme that cannot now be turned back. Rather short-sighted, IMHO.

It is a shame, and hopefully things can have a way of turning around.

Box
(I don't fish Mille Lacs a lot, so certainly cannot call myself one of the regulars. But I have followed the stories on the radio and in the papers and on message boards.)

[Steve]

Way to go state of Minnesota,what a joke this should have been taken care of years ago.BAN THE CASINOS!!!!!!!!

[Wacked]

As far as the Wave Wacker is concerned the rules will still be the same for everybody.But under the new state laws for Mille Lacs I've lost my desire to fish the tournament and lake Mille Lacs in general.This is a slap in the face to all non-indian anglers and sportsman.

[800proX]

get a life JKJ.

why is the DNR not posting this on their site, where has anyone else (besides Rengo) heard or read this for sure. not calling anyone a liar, but just would like to read it myself.

jeff

[$$$$$$$$]

Advertising Dollars!!Seperate laws for individual races,ain"t America grand :-(

[800proX]

i stand corrected, thanx for putting me in my place.

i guess i will have to get the filet knife working in the boat then, haha.

what a shame for all the resort owners, i feel for the huge loss they will all suffer.

jeff

[Hawgeye]

I had a weekend planned for fishing at Mille Lacs this July. I just called and cancelled my room reservations. I will not be spending any of my money in that area! Nor will I waste any money on the casinos. I think I will stick with where I have been successful! I don't take many fish but will when the freezer is low and want a good meal. Too restrictive slots eliminate the near guarantee of a meal! I can catch walleyes a lot closer to home and can keep some if I want to.

[They're Sneaky]

The Casino folks are doing more than taking our Fish on Mille lacs. They are also buying up land and businesses and putting it in trust which removes it from the tax base. This raises everyone elses taxes.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how long before the Grand Casino folks start levying taxes..I assure you they can..just look at Yankton SD. Guess what happens to the non-Indians who live there then. They don't want no poor white trash or any other race around them. They just want your Casino money!!!

We need to support the current Mille Lacs Lake businesses and NOT stay way!!!!

Get up there and fish and STAY AWAY from the CASINO. Encourage others to do the same. Also get a hold of your politicians who don't want to touch this one and push em. Especially Jesse.

[EAGLE EYES]

A simple solution: ban all non-tribal members from working for the casinos in any way, shape or form. In a matter a short coming the casinos would be out of biz. They would be trashed, dirty and would'nt get too many Indians to stay there and work. It's almost all white folks runnin' the show right now! This may sound very prejudice, but it's a fact! Without the tribe to please, the Mille lacs area would be back at peace. Just like it was before the first day of Grand Casino! EE

[jc]

N/M

[JKJ]

Hey proX,

What I'm saying is you come down on posters like me for name calling and turn around and do it yourself!! How Hypocriticle!

Just admit your as big an a-hole as myself!

[800proX]

i stand corrected, thanx for putting me in my place.

i guess i will have to get the filet knife working in the boat then, haha.

what a shame for all the resort owners, i feel for the huge loss they will all suffer.

jeff

[Fedup2]

Seems to me we should quit giving the indians our money. Boycott the casinos. The next time you go to a restaurant to order walleye ask where it came from. If the source is indian, leave, or at least express to them that you will not spend you money to be discriminated against. Why is it that when a minority is discriminated against the ***** hits the fan, but if a white person is discriminated against it's ok. What ever happened to two wrongs don't make a right.

Lets not leave the resort owners high and dry. Go to the resorts and fish the many good lakes around mille lacs. This way they wont go out of buisiness and sell to the indians. I don't have anything against the indian people, just their belief that they should have special rights.

Lets stick together, boycott (minorities allways do), write you congressman at the state and federal level, write the governor and the president.

PO'ed

[800proX]

It takes a lot for me to get really worked up, but this has. I am sorry that in the 1850's lives were lost, as they were to the British, against ourselves, the germans, Japanese, Vietnamese, and on and on. But the MN DNR is way off on this one, They have ZERO chance of even coming close to that quota (310K lbs) now that it is a C and R lake. Who the ##### is going to spend that kind of gas money to only find less then 10% of the lake legal to keep?!?! This is nothing new to us Minnesotans, if something is enjoyable, it will be taken away. Since the Lottery hit the state, all I have heard on TV is how much tax dollars are going to the Natural Resources, well then why have I not seen better Rosster hunting, ducks and geese are no better, deer are on their own...my point is that we should see an appreciable increase, not the same or worse when they have an extra 18 million over the last 10 years. I will be spending my Sunday writing to every congressman, the gov, DNR, tribal members, I can instead of wasting my time on the Big Pond. I will be in the Wave Wackers and truly feel for all the businesses around the lake. What a shame.

Why not reduce the bag limit to allow at least a meal to be kept? This just shows that the "tribe" has not yet met their quota and want to continue netting. Looks like the down riggers might be coming out and...oooooppppppppsssssss!!!!!

jeff

[Spinner]

Without DNR Management, Mille Lacs would be another Red Lake. Rather than look at how these regulations effect the current economics of resort owners, let's look at the long-term effects.

For those of you with children, wouldn't it be great to bring them up there for the next 20 years and get into some nice walleyes or would you prefer the alternative?

How many resorts folded when Red Lake shut down? If the same were to happen at Mille Lacs, you might as well shut down every resort on the lake.

Given the poor funding of the DNR, I can only hope they can obtain more funds to better regulate this awesome lake. I for one would pay $50 for an individual license. Funding will be an essential issue within 5 years...more than it is now!!

For those of you that want to get into some walleyes, myself included, get out to Oahe. Possession limit is 42. Now that we have some fish in our freezer, we can head up to Mille Lacs for some catch/photo/release.

I'll step down from my soapbox now.

[800proX]

big difference spinner, 90% Red Lake is controlled by the tribe, and the netted over 500,000 lbs of fish when they were told not to, and they netted it dry. this is not the case in Mille Lacs. In the huge year of 92 and over 1 million lbs were harvested (it was like bumper boats on the lake) no signifigant decrease was felt after that. I am not saying we need a million pounds, and I also take my 12 year old daughter to fish, but it has in effect turned one of the best walleye lakes into Catch and Release. The DNR is not underfunded, why then hire 30 new officers like they are doing. This is an example of the tail waggin the dog, cart before the horse, etc...

jeff

[srj]

Thanks, Jeff Zernov, for the original post. Like most issues, not everyone agrees. But if everyone posting to this site and others like it, also e-mailed, phoned or wrote there concerns and opinions to the decision makers, it COULD make a difference. Jesse, (IMHO), cares little about our fisheries--or most other outdoorpersons issues. But there are many politicians who are concerned about fishing, hunting, etc. Let them know how YOU feel--remember, they work for us--let's insure they know what we want.

[Jeff Zernov]

When I was involved in the "ban the camera" issue surrounding the Aqua-Vu I would try and mention the impact of Tribal netting vs the impact of Aqua-Vu. I had two TV producter and two radio program-hosts tell me specifically that station managment has a policy restricting the discussion of tribal issue as part of their advertising contracts. This is also true with the local newspapers, look at the casino ad's, just follow the money.

[Mattman]

Yes, Mille Lacs is different than Red, but every year they inch closer and closer to being a Red. If restrictions for sports anglers become so tight that none come to fish the lake, they have effictively turned it in to a Tribe lake.

[Spinner]

800proX,

My point, let's keep this a lake we can bring out children to so they have an opportunity to lock into some decent walleyes. If there are no regulations, then this lake will be fished out.

Given that we have children, we need to focus on the future. Nothing better for me than seeing my 4 or 6 year old catch a nice fish. The look on their face beats catching a limit of walleyes any day!

I make comparison to Red from an economic standpoint. No fish, no fisherman, no money into local economy, businesses fold. Any business is a risk. The ones on Mille Lacs are volatile to the fishery.

Of the 30 walleyes, I caught last year, 6 fall into the 16"-18" slot...not a bad ratio. I will continue to fish Mille Lacs regardless of the slot limit.

[tideye]

I respectfully disagree. If the indians had to catch'em hook line and sinker like the rest of us and had individual limits there would be no way the lake would be fished out, even with no slot. Who do you think fished out red lake.
jim

[KnottyBuoy]

I say we fish it out or net it out and then in a few years there will be some great crappie fishing....won't have to drive all the way to Red Lake.....! <grin>

[EAGLE EYES]

Heheheheheheh! Good one! :-) Could'nt agree more!

[The Great Guide]

Get used to it. Restrictive catch sizes and limits are the furture of fishing in Minnesota. More fishermen, better equipment, more knowledge, GPS mapping, shoreline over development, pollution from the development, fertilizer, etc are taking their toll on the fish population. When the managers knock back the limits and install slot sizes the fish bounce back almost immediately. Rainy Lake, St. Louis River and now Kabetogama are all examples of how restrictive take policies can restore a good fishery. So whine if you want to, but this is the way it's going to be if we want good size and numbers of our favroite fish.

TGG

[KnottyBuoy]

Not disagreeing with you one bit.....but we shouldn't have to compete with netting and spearing....should we? Down south the slot limits on bass are so tight they have mostly all gone catch and release.....I do fully agree it is the future of sport....

[800proX]

well i will disagree with you. to "bring back" a fishery is one thing as you mentioned, but to have a fishery at an all time high and use the theory you stated just simply does not cut it. keep your head in the sand and only stick it out when the sandblows away - yeah thats a good idea.

jeff

[mmillelacs]

I;m saddedned by the turn of events, but I will continue to fish mille lacs to show support to my friends who work on the lake. Besides, if you all stay away I;ll finally get back my little secret flat that I lost years ago after the advent of the whiffer map, lol. Seriously, I agree that contacting our legislators and encouraging them to support competition for the casino is one thing we can do, but another thing to do is to remember that Bud Grant and PERM were the good guys way back, fighting our fight.
I remember when the first proposal to allow limited tribal netting and spearing was submitted to the DNR and to Minnesota sportsmen, as an attempt to compromise with the band.
I attended a public meeting held at the Earle Brown community center in Brooklyn Center, one of many which was held across the state. There were an estimated 2000 angry people at this meeting alone, and every voice without exception, angrily demanded that there be NO compromise of any kind, and we would take it to the supreme court, if necessary. Well you know the rest. It was the good fight, the just cause, and the right course. To now villify those like the menbers of PERM and Mr. Grant is hypocrisy at its worst. I suggest to you all that we continue to take the high road, work within the system for change, and most importantly, continue to support our friends at the big lake. Lastly, there may be a ray of hope on the horizon. President Bush,then Govenor Bush, when asked a question about tribal sovereignity in the state of Texas was quoted as saying, "Sovereignity? What sovereignity? They're citizens of Texas, aren't they?"

[hehehe]

Feeling kindof silly now I bet eh Hans? hehehe


>The Armenian judges gave this a
>9.8 on the Olympic Troll-O-Meter,
>but they were over-ruled by
>the umpires in instant replay,
>who award it a 2.6.
>
>The Armenian judges lodged a formal
>protest!
>
>It was sufficiently trollish, of course,
>but way too obvious. It
>was poorly written, poorly executed,
>and was so incredibly lame
>as to lack the true
>drawing power of a really
>masterful troll. Maybe as high
>as a 3.1 for the
>intense stupidity of the premise,
>but a 9.8? Never!
>
>The Armenian judges tear their hair
>out, throw their balalaikas down
>in dismay, and perform the
>traditional Armenian Dismay Chant! They
>demand a recount!
>
>Hans
>--
>Hans' Second Law of Thermodenial: "In
>any closed mind the amount
>of ignorance remains constant or
>increases."

[JJ]

You knew this was coming, when was just the question. Either now or at the end of June when the harvest hit a certain point, this was going to happen. I just wonder when they will put a regulation in place restricting people from fishing in water over 15 feet deep, in July and August, to keep anglers from catching fish from the deeper flats, that may not be releasable. I realize this is just babbling, but it could happen. The DNR does not have enough wardens in the field now, there are still vacant stations, even with the new recruits.

[dunns]

In response to someone saying tournament fishing will be a joke. You're WRONG now it will take skill to find the perfect school of slot fish. In tournies with the one or two over rule all it took was a little luck and you could win by getting lucky and catching a hog or two. I fished all World walleye tournies the last four days. I personally listened in on a conversation about this same topic. Terry Mcoid had said it will take more skill without the possibility of a hog or two. Initially I was also thinking this would make for a poor tournament. After hearing this conversation it made me re-think to a point where I totally agree with Mr. Mcoid.
dunns