Regulations
designed to protect the fish needed to rebuild Mille Lacs Lake’s
walleye population will require that walleye anglers use only artificial
bait and immediately release all walleye when Minnesota’s 2016 fishing
season opens Saturday, May 14.
“A
catch-and-release walleye season allows us to protect future spawners
yet acknowledges the desire that fishing remain open,” said Don Pereira,
fisheries chief for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “Not
allowing harvest is a difficult decision but it provides our best
option.”
From
May 14 to Thursday, Dec. 1, anglers targeting walleye must use
artificial bait and immediately release all walleye caught. Anglers
targeting northern pike and muskellunge may possess and use sucker
minnows longer than 8 inches but all other anglers must not possess any
other bait that is live, dead, frozen or processed.
Other changed regulations for the 2016 season on Mille Lacs include:
- Walleye: Night closure beginning Monday, May 16, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and continuing through Dec. 1. Muskellunge anglers may fish at night but all baits, live or artificial, in possession must be at least 8 inches long.
- Northern pike: Five fish with only one longer than 40 inches. All northern 30-40 inches long must be immediately released.
- Bass: Four fish with only one longer than 21 inches. All fish 17-21 inches long must be immediately released.
“These
new regulations reflect the DNR’s commitment to continue providing
world-class fishing at one of Minnesota’s premier vacation
destinations,” Pereira said.
Last
year on Mille Lacs, walleye anglers could use live bait and keep one
walleye 19-21 inches long or longer than 28 inches. Walleye fishing
closed in August when fishing pressure, the number of fish caught and
temperatures combined to push the state over its 28,600 pound walleye
limit. Fishing re-opened on Dec. 1, 2015, with a walleye limit of one
18-20 inches or one longer than 28 inches.
This
year’s safe walleye harvest level established by the DNR and Great
Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission remains at 40,000 pounds,
with 28,600 allocated to state anglers and 11,400 to tribal anglers.
Allowing fishing beyond those limits puts the walleye population at risk
and a federal court decision requires that walleye fishing be
suspended.
“The
possibility of closing Mille Lacs to walleye fishing is greater this
year than it was last,” Pereira said. “Even with our catch-and-release
approach, the risk remains considerable.”
Concern
stems from the additional pressure that hooking mortality – an estimate
of the number of fish that die after being caught and returned to the
water – has on walleye harvest. Hooking mortality rates also increase as
water temperatures warm. Both factors are at play in Mille Lacs this
year.
The
DNR expects more small- and intermediate-sized fish to be caught,
including fish hatched in 2013 that biologists are counting on to
rebuild Mille Lacs’ walleye population. These immature fish, which are
approaching a more catchable but comparatively small size of 14 inches
and longer, need to be protected so they can spawn. Ice is opening on
lakes earlier this year, increasing the likelihood that water
temperatures will warm faster and sooner.
“A
low level of allowed harvest doesn’t necessarily mean slow walleye
fishing,” Pereira said. “As we saw last year, factors can combine to
alter estimates and require adjustments. We believe that allowing no
walleye harvest through catch-and-release is a reasonable yet cautious
response based on in-depth analysis and citizen input from the Mille
Lacs advisory committee.”
As
part of a more comprehensive study to better understand and estimate
hooking mortality, the DNR will collect a variety of fishing information
on Mille Lacs this summer. Temperature sensors will be placed in
different parts of the lake at different depths to more accurately
record temperatures where walleye congregate. Information on fishing
methods and catches will be collected, too. Part of the information
collection aspect of the research program will allow Mille Lacs’ fishing
launches to be exempt from the live bait restriction.
“Anglers
fish close together on launches, making it extremely difficult to
safely cast artificial lures rather than dropping baited lines into the
water,” Pereira said. “Since the DNR needs more data to refine its
hooking mortality standards, asking launches to provide this data will
allow a traditional, popular and enjoyable method of fishing on Mille
Lacs to continue.”
Launch
operators receiving a permit can use live bait provided they agree to
participate in efforts to collect data from fishing trips, launch
customers and cooperate with the hooking mortality study. Their permits
would be suspended if walleye fishing on Mille Lacs has to be closed.
Bass regulations compromise
Anglers
can keep four bass in any combination of largemouth and smallmouth,
down from last year’s limit of six fish. The new regulations add a
requirement that all fish 17-21 inches be immediately released, and the
length restriction for the largest fish an angler may keep increased
from 18 to 21 inches.
The
early harvest offered on Mille Lacs also was eliminated, requiring that
– like the rest of the state – all bass caught during the first two
weeks of the season be immediately released.
Mille
Lacs’ exemption to the statewide fall closure of the smallmouth bass
season remains, meaning that anglers may keep smallmouth bass they catch
on Mille Lacs through Feb. 28, 2017.
DNR
changed the regulation to balance bass angling groups’ call for
stricter regulations to protect Mille Lacs Lake’s world-class smallmouth
fishery with the desire and need to provide anglers opportunities to
harvest fish.
“Bass
regulations are a compromise,” Pereira said. “Last year’s regulations
were biologically sound but it was important that DNR also factor in the
emerging social aspects in this year’s regulations.”
The ability to exempt large bass tournaments from the size regulation and bag limits remains.
Northern pike regulations change
Mille
Lacs anglers can keep five northern pike, only one of which can be
longer than 40 inches. All fish 30-40 inches must be immediately
released.
The
five-fish limit was initially enacted last December. The protected slot
limit replaces the provision that allowed anglers to keep only one fish
longer than 30 inches.
The
earn-a-trophy provision that required anglers to harvest two smaller
pike before one larger one was eliminated for the 2016 open water
season.
More information about Mille Lacs is available on the DNR website at www.mndnr.gov/millelacslake.
