Yesterday afternoon, the winds picked up from the NW, and we received just a snow flurry. Not enough to even cover the ground. This morning, from looking with our zoomable camera (not the webcam), the ice pushed some about two miles out. In close, it seemed stable.  We had a low temperature of 0 this morning, and it’s forecasted to be in the single digits tonight.  Tomorrow I will check ice conditions inside Spider Island to see if we will re-open for portable traffic with ATVs for the weekend for Perch and Northern Pike.  It will be in the report.

I mentioned MNDNR’s proposed regulation change for Mille Lacs this coming season yesterday. I also said I felt that the management policies for the lake have “reversed” over the years, with the reason being treaty management enacted by the Supreme Court in the early 2000s.  I’m not commenting about this to trash the parties involved, just to bring up the changes over the last 50 years I have been involved with the Lake and its fishery.

As an example of some of the changes before the court decision, in 1992 Mille lacs anglers experienced the largest harvest of Walleye ever recorded during that summer.  Anglers took an estimated 1 million plus pounds.  Before that period starting in the 1980’s a group of resorters, business and anglers formed the Mille Lac Lake Advisory Assn.  It had built up a large membership; we had monthly meetings that sometimes had as many as 100 people in attendance. And a large following of Anglers from all over the State. At every meeting, we had DNR personnel from fisheries in attendance. Some of their top brass at the time, even the DNR commissioner himself, showed up at some of them.  We were the first to encourage the catch and release of Walleye in the State (and in the nation).  Proposed and DNR adopted one over 20″ in the bag limit, which was then six—just a few of what we accomplished during that time.

During a meeting that summer of 92, the MLLAA showed concern that so many Walleye were being harvested and wanted their opinion on whether it should be “throttled” back.  At that time, Dennis Schupp was the Large Lake Specialist for Mille Lac’s response was: “Let the fishermen fish.”. He reasoned that the lake was overpopulated and the baitfish supply couldn’t provide enough for the number of Walleye in Mille Lacs that summer. As the Walleye population decreases, the baitfish balance will catch up, and the bite will slow. Also, there was no danger of “fishing” the lake out, as some feared.  It turned out he was right.  The bite tapered off by winter; the following spring, the Walleye had a good spawn and recovered. Did all the conservation promoted by the MLLAA during the 80s contribute to the increase of the Walleye population leading up to the summer of 92?  We’ll never know.

More tomorrow.  Keep a Tight Line!

Eddy