The ice definitely made it’s move this past week. In some areas around the lake it really piled. Fortunately for most there was not major damage to homes as the ice was pretty crumbly as it piled up. Not like the thicker sheets that had moved in some areas the week before. Some ice piles were halfway or more up the trees in some spots. For awhile Hennepin Island this past week was approx. 10 times or more it’s real size with ice all around it. There is ice in the NW corner of the lake, but with the wind switching today back to the NW I doubt if it will make it back here before it’s gone. It’s pretty much slush now.
The Mille Lacs Band and other Bands that participate in the 1837 Treaty harvest started setting and picking Walleye nets. There will be spotlights along the shoreline from those that are spearing Walleyes. More than likely this next week the majority of their harvest will take place.
For over twenty years this has been happening and it would be interesting to know and estimated number of “lost” eggs due to harvesting during the spawn and how it might have affected the numbers that survived. They always say the female Walleye harvest during the spawn is “insignificant”, but is it? With the baitfish supply so vulnerable these days, with increased water clarity, zebra mussels, and the rise of the the Smallmouth Bass population, Perch have become one of the major baitfish sources. Look at how Perch Fishing has changed over the years. 10″-12″ Perch were common 10-20 years ago, now a 6″-8″ is the norm. They just don’t make it that far. Walleye fry help feed themselves as they grow with their abundance and by taking some of the eggs away every spawning season there is obviously less that hatch into fry and that means less food. (Walleye fry are a baitfish for a period of time, simply put, big fish eat little fish…). Has that been a part of the decline of Walleye population also? That’s a biological question that the MNDNR and Bands avoid and will have a “political” answer if asked because of “treaty rights”. That seems to matter more than the resource….
And so it goes
Eddy