This morning I was out on the lake at 6:00 am and it was cold!  But with the wind we had the  day before I had a lot of things to attend to.  By the end of the day things were looking better.

Fishing for those out there was typical high pressure , Lots of Perch, slow Walleye bite. With the warm-up coming tomorrow, and the cool down on Sunday, this weekend looks like it is going to be some good fishing, ( or catching), for those that come up. in my experience over the years you don’t see many times there is such drastic changes from high barometer to low barometer back to back in a couple days. I can almost bet that it will be one of the better weekends so far this year.  Maybe not so good for us that keep the roads open for everyone, but we will make sure everyone will be ok.

The TWP/Lybacks Tournament for Feb 22nd. filled up today, and I’m waiting to see if we can expand it.  I really thought there wasn’t going to be much interest with the way the year has gone so far, but I was wrong.  If we can, we will allow more entrants.  I will let you know as soon as I know more next week.  It will be 100% payback no matter how many people we have.  Thank for you for your support!!   it means alot to Cindy and me….It’s been a tough year for us with all that it has been like up here with poor ice conditions.lots of snow, and not the best fishing..,But It’s so nice to see that despite all of it there are customers that care about what we do out there for them.

Keep a Tight Line!!    ( Like the movie  “Postman”….things are getting better!)

Eddy

Today the wind went nuts out on the ice.  With only an inch and a half of snow,   30 mile an hour plus winds  pretty much made whiteout conditions out there.  Thankfully we didn’t get 10 inches of it,  That is one good thing about cold weather.

Fishing was spotty for the few that braved it.  Some decent Perch were in the mud in 30 plus feet of water, and small Walleyes were caught on areas of 16 feet.  But nothing too impressive. I’m beginning to think that the shallower rocks are going to be  the place to be for Walleyes at night, and for Northerns during the day. Still are lots of baitfish in shallow.

I was very disappointed with our new DNR Fisheries Chief so far after reading his comments about Mille Lacs.  His ideas of more studies to “really know” what is going one to me is an poor excuse at best. For those that don’t know, Mille Lacs has been the most studied lake in the State for the the last 20 plus years and we are still in decline…so I’m not impressed with his statements. His idea of a “new committee” is good though, especially to get fisheries people from Canada to participate.  There is so much knowledge out there from them that maybe they can get advice from past experiences instead of waiting to study Mille Lacs more for a few more years.

I honestly believe that there are changes that can be made now instead of later. The MN DNR could make changes based on examples from other lakes in the State with smallmouth bass, and with the Canadian’s experiences with the changes of some of their lakes when the bass took over.  I’m not a “bass hater”, but there were NOT the populations of small and large mouth bass in the lake 20 years ago as there is now.

Also the Mille Lacs and Wisconsin Bands need to step up change their way of harvesting too.  Even if the MN DNR says reproduction rates are “sufficient” despite netting and spearing during the spawning time for Walleyes.  Anytime spawning areas are disturbed the reproduction rates will drop compared to if they weren’t disturbed, and that alone might help the survival rate for Walleyes after the one year mark that they are talking about by having that excess from an undisturbed spawning period. That is why our own MN DNR closes some areas in the State during opening of the Walleye season in the spring and have done so many years…. So why is Mille Lacs “OK” if they do?  “Treaty rights” or not is doesn’t have to be done that way, and if they cared both the Bands and the MN DNR wouldn’t let it happen!!  it wouldn’t hurt to try……..

Keep a Tight Line!

Eddy

Not much happening on the lake today.  Only a few fishermen out there. Not much to report.

Spent time on establishing more roads on the Banana Reef with hopes to move more house that direction this week depending on the weather conditions.  Sounds like NW winds again tomorrow,,Which means more drifting…….it will never stop it seems.

Remember the TWP/Lybacks Tournament sign-up starts Thursday and this year is limited to 90.  $50.00/person.  Those far away get your check in the mail and call Thursday a.m.

Keep a Tight Line!

Eddy