Walleye RE-opener….

Whos anxios for the re opening of walleye season ?

I cant wait to get out and drag some lead .

Meh…

I will bet all the tea in China it doesn’t reopen. From everything I heard over the weekend.

I hope you are wrong Sticker as I will be up there Friday morning. But all signs point to you being right. I wonder when they will make an official announcement?

sticker wrote:

I will bet all the tea in China it doesn’t reopen. From everything I heard over the weekend.

Thats been my opinion all along but I can still hope

I assume when/if the continuation of the closure goes official it will be announced at http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/

You would think they would make an announcement by now. The current plan is to open it in less than 4 days for walleyes and live bait. Personally I would like to know as it changes my plans and I am sure others.

Based on the current treaty/harvest quota restrictions, considering that we are already over the quota and continuing to add to our overage every day based on mortality calculated against accidental catches, I personally don’t think that it is in our (resorts, anglers, etc.) best interests to open it again. The more that we go over the more public opinion will be that we are overharvesting (Whether truthful or not that will be the narrative) and the more leverage GLIFWC will be able to continue to exert during future quota “negotiations.”

Will

(For what it’s worth our MN DNR believed that we could harvest significantly more fish this year but they were stonewalled into the lower number during negotiations based on our overage last year. I can only forsee any overage this year becoming and even larger issue during these “negotiations” next year if we continue to allow fishing.)

I agree Will. We have already had 2 bad years, if we start borrowing from next years quota again, next year will be the same thing. There are 3 weeks left, just leave it shut down.

sticker wrote:

I agree Will. We have already had 2 bad years, if we start borrowing from next years quota again, next year will be the same thing.

Well in a way…we already have. This additional 11,000 lbs is or will be “paid back” in the future. The frustration here is that this additional 11,000 lbs was being dipped into to reopen on 8/11 and now it seems likely we will have burned through that before the 8/11 reopen date arrives.
I too have resigned that it should stay closed now and I think most of the resorts and businesses have already swallowed that bitter pill. Let’s hope it is not a poison pill for some. John Odle at Rocky Reef has had all 5 of his cabins vacant most every weekend since the shutdown began when normally he would be filled.
Anyway, this is from the DNR press release regarding the “conservation reserve.”…

That agreement allows the state to use a built-in buffer – the 11,000 pounds difference between the conservation cap of 75,000 pounds and the combined harvest quota of 64,000 pounds – in an attempt to allow catch-and-release walleye fishing through Labor Day, following the mid-summer closure.

“The latest creel survey data shows that state anglers reached their quota of 44,800 pounds of walleye caught from Mille Lacs in early July. Even though state anglers already have caught their quota of fish, the DNR is dipping into the allowed conservation reserve in order to reopen the season on Aug. 11.“

Some theoretical thinking for you.

So if the conservation reserve is met without reopening the walleye season, then what’s to stop the mortality from increasing well beyond the ultimate quota?

What happens then?

Would the tribes move to have all fishing shut down? Seems like a possible move if they were truly concerned about the health of the walleye population.

biggill wrote:

Some theoretical thinking for you.

So if the conservation reserve is met without reopening the walleye season, then what’s to stop the mortality from increasing well beyond the ultimate quota?

What happens then?

Would the tribes move to have all fishing shut down? Seems like a possible move if they were truly concerned about the health of the walleye population.

It seems to me they’re pretty much making it up as they go.

Exactly.

Will Roseberg wrote:

Based on the current treaty/harvest quota restrictions, considering that we are already over the quota and continuing to add to our overage every day based on mortality calculated against accidental catches, I personally don’t think that it is in our (resorts, anglers, etc.) best interests to open it again. The more that we go over the more public opinion will be that we are overharvesting (Whether truthful or not that will be the narrative) and the more leverage GLIFWC will be able to continue to exert during future quota “negotiations.”

Will

(For what it’s worth our MN DNR believed that we could harvest significantly more fish this year but they were stonewalled into the lower number during negotiations based on our overage last year. I can only forsee any overage this year becoming and even larger issue during these “negotiations” next year if we continue to allow fishing.)

This really chaps my Arse! Indians get to keep their quota every year, but we are billed for 44800 pounds of walleye that they claim faced hooking mortality related death. If they (DNR & Tribes) feel that these numbers are correct, why can’t we keep our 44800 pounds of fish they are convinced die of hooking mortality? According to my small mind, do we not have laws against wanton waste?? DNR??
That loud crash you heard was me falling off my soap box.

Just had a thought, if we are being “billed” for fish from hooking mortality, why didn’t they just let us keep one? We’ve harvested 45K lbs without putting a knife to a single fish. If they are dying after being caught, just let us keep one or two and help out the economy. And if not, shut EVERYTHING down to save the fishery.

Here’s my question: if all these thousands of pounds of fish are dying, where are they? Why aren’t the shores lined with dead fish stinking up the windy side of the lake? You’re telling me that this many fish are dying. Not I see no evidence of it. They’re just guessing.

Francis K wrote:

Meh…

As I hate that word to the chore of my being the response of said word says alot. Complaining about something does nothing. Stop making others to do the work for you.

Tim J wrote:

Just had a thought, if we are being “billed” for fish from hooking mortality, why didn’t they just let us keep one? We’ve harvested 45K lbs without putting a knife to a single fish. If they are dying after being caught, just let us keep one or two and help out the economy. And if not, shut EVERYTHING down to save the fishery.

Yes, this dichotomy continues to manifest. As we sit here each hour/day, the DNR clicker counter continues to tally additional mortality “harvest?” counting upwards as the walleye season is totally shut down. No walleye fishing allowed whatsoever, yet the #’s continues to grow further subtracting from future quota allowances. Walleye fishing totally shut down yet the “ghost” walleye harvest continues?
Now how bizarre has this become.
Shut down fishing entirely? No big Bassmaster tournament in September? Forbid any and all boats on the lake without sails?

Perhaps being premature in panic, very soon we shall hear something from DNR on if it will reopen or not…

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

No big Bassmaster tournament in September?

Not a chance. They’ll never risk losing that golden child.

My guess. There’ll be a lot of barking immediately after the tournament. You watch.

Oh, shut it down. Too many walleyes still being caught and killed.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:</div>
No big Bassmaster tournament in September?

Not a chance. They’ll never risk losing that golden child.

My guess. There’ll be a lot of barking immediately after the tournament. You watch.

Oh, shut it down. Too many <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes still being caught and killed.

They only can whine about it for this year. Mille Lacs is not on the Bassmaster schedule in 2018.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:</div>
No big Bassmaster tournament in September?

Not a chance. They’ll never risk losing that golden child.

My guess. There’ll be a lot of barking immediately after the tournament. You watch.

Oh, shut it down. Too many <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleyes still being caught and killed.

They only can whine about it for this year. Mille Lacs is not on the Bassmaster schedule in 2018.

It wasn’t announced to be on the schedule until February of this year. They won’t announce anything until around that time next year.

So at what point should a family (of walleye elitists) planning to head to Mille Lacs cancel their plans for this weekend? We are 69.5 hrs out at this point from the lake opening.

To be honest, I am no elitist at all, and we are going no matter what and will have a blast fishing for whatever we are allowed too. Or at worst we will stay up there and hit one of the other close lakes.

But…. if I was an elitist set on fishing eyes on the Big Pond this weekend. This delayed announcement from the DNR would torque me.

It’s politics. I would assume Gov Goofy would need to sign off on the decision. After getting his balls squeezed in a vice the day they shut it down, I highly doubt he would allow a continued closure.

-J.

Evan Pheneger wrote:

But…. if I was an elitist set on fishing eyes on the Big Pond this weekend. This delayed announcement from the DNR would torque me.

Well, I am not a “Walleye Elitist” but I have the speculation that they (the DNR) is still tallying the mortality count for July 15-31. I don’t think they have been out in boats canvassing the lake counting every floater and then doing their calculus.
A far more accurate method is by using the various formulas and modeling and using the the latest and most sophisticated technology available.

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that pic is great Andy, its a DNR Mille Lacs Meme waiting to happen!

Here you go :)…its on the Facebook internets now too.

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Evan Pheneger wrote:

Here you go :)…its on the Facebook internets now too.

That is Awesome!!!!

Evan Pheneger wrote:

So at what point should a family (of walleye elitists) planning to head to Mille Lacs cancel their plans for this weekend? We are 69.5 hrs out at this point from the lake opening.

To be honest, I am no elitist at all, and we are going no matter what and will have a blast fishing for whatever we are allowed too. Or at worst we will stay up there and hit one of the other close lakes.

But…. if I was an elitist set on fishing eyes on the Big Pond this weekend. This delayed announcement from the DNR would torque me.

The lake will re-open… As Jon referenced there would be too much egg on people’s faces to not do so.

It’s just that I personally think it’s a bad idea. Given the choice I would much prefer to see it open back up after labor day once the water temps are down and the mortality rate is next to nothing.

Evan Pheneger wrote:

Here you go :)…its on the Facebook internets now too.

Oh…classic. Well done. BTW, I just “friend requested” you on FB so I could see the post there too. Once I see it, I can then share it.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

BTW, I just “friend requested” you on FB so I could see the post there too. Once I see it, I can then share it.

Did we just become best FB friends?!?!

It was shared on my MN Fishing page. I will share it to your timeline…I think our relationship may be moving a lil fast

I would hope at this point if they haven’t announced a continued closing that they won’t, but I kind of wish they would. I really don’t want to borrow more quota from next year