gimruis wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>JEREMY wrote:</div>
I could understand if a tree line divided you from another part of your field and it saved you time. A few years back a tree line that divided my uncles field from the neighbors was taken out. It was like 400 yards long and connected 2 woods. There was huge trees in there. Had to cost 10s of thousands of dollars to have it all cleared out. Max gain for each property owner about 2 corn rows probably. In none of their lifetimes would there ever be finacial gain from it. Dont understand why.

Clearing trees and draining wetlands for crop production isn’t anything new. My uncle who farms always says “when the price goes down, you plant more. When it goes up… you plant more.”

That’s the problem. When prices are down people think they need to plant more acres to make more money, then when prices are up they need to plant more acres to make more money. It’s a false dichotomy

Producers are brainwashed into thinking about production. You need to think about profit per acre. It doesn’t matter if you produce more if you make less money doing so. Some of these tile projects won’t pay for themselves for 100 years. Allot of the practices that you see on a daily basis just don’t make economic (or environmental) sense. That’s why subsidies provided 40% of producers income in 2020. The business model is broken.

Take tillage for example. It increase wind and water erosion, you have to touch your field more, it increases the application of herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, increases compaction, and decreases water infiltration yet everyone does it.

Regenerative agriculture is becoming more popular, slowly, and is much better for the environment/wildlife. It’s also more profitable. I’ve met and worked with a few people practicing it and they are working less and making money hand over fist. They’re doing so well they don’t even purchase crop insurance, let alone get any subsidies. If anyone is interested in learning more you can watch some Gabe Brown videos on youtube or buy his book “Dirt to Soil”. He’s the best source on the subject in the midwest (in my opinion)

If you just have money lying around in a savings account that you don’t need for over a year, then yes, I think it’s a great idea. I-bonds compound semi-annually so after the first 6 months of 7.12% the interest is added to your principle and you earn interest on that amount.

Even if inflation goes down in the following 6 months to, say, 3.5%, that’s still better then a savings account. The key is to keep it in there until inflation decreases to the point that it’s no longer an attractive investment then you cash them in.

Like BigCrappie stated, you can only invest 10k max on treasury direct online. I believe you can actually put 15k in if you buy 5k of physical bonds (which you can do with your tax rebate, if you have one). I think physical bonds are a pain so I just invested virtually and stayed under the 10k cap.

It’s about as safe of an investment as you can get. It’s true that the stock market has averaged better returns. However, that’s over the long term. You can have multiple years in a row of low to negative growth, then one huge year of growth. If you miss out on that one year you can lose money. That’s why time in the market is very important, so you don’t miss the huge gains.

buckybadger wrote:

Only 1-2 more years until guys are “hammering Mille Lacs jumbo perch” …that with a tail pinch and some rounding hit 9 1/4″

^To be honest, I hope the perch fishery catches on and becomes a staple of Mille Lacs. IF (and I am not saying it has) the walleye population drops more over time and some of the other predators moderate, that place has the makings of being a perch machine…more than it ever has been. The clearing waters and increased weed growth at depth don’t seem to bother the perch and some of the classes coming out recently are impressive despite all the predation.

I wouldn’t be against it. I miss the 90’s. The perch fishing was fantastic and I totally took it for granted. You could go into Eddies boat harbor in the fall and there would be thousands of perch swimming everywhere. I’m not sure if I ever went a day ice fishing in the 90’s where I wouldn’t catch at least a few keeper perch.

I wouldn’t hold my breath though. There’s been large year classes of perch just like this in the last 15 years and they seem to get cropped off by the time they are jumbo’s.

gimruis wrote:

No, I didn’t see a photo of it. I saw the real fish when he brought it home to eat it. So did my Father. He had a 5 gallon bucket and the tail of it was hanging over the top. I asked him how big it was and he showed me on The Judge.

If you personally saw it measured on a bump board I’m more apt to believe it. I’m still convinced that the talk of crappies over 14.5 inches in that lake is overhyped. I’ve probably heard over 50 guys talk about 17-18 inch crappies in that lake yet not a single one ever personally caught one, and no one can ever present a photo or a mount. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone is referencing the same 2-3 fish.

gimruis wrote:

The <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappie thing in Mille Lacs is really a mystery. I have heard rumors of enormous slabs in the southern bays and backwaters after ice out. In 2011 my Grandfather caught a couple back in Isle Bay that were 15 and 18 inches. He didn’t think an 18 inch <em class=”ido-tag-em”>crappie was anything special either.

Did you see a picture? I’ve heard about the elusive 17-18 inch crappie on Mille Lacs all my life and I’ve never seen any evidence they ever exist. I’ve never seen a mount or a photo. I’ve seen thousands of crappies in that lake, and I’ve never seen one over 15 inches. In fact, I’ve only seen 1 over 14.5 inches and it was a 15 incher I personally caught.

I’ve heard many people talk about 17 inch crappies yet no one can ever provide any evidence. What I have witnessed is someone catches a 14.5 inch crappie on Mille Lacs and think it’s a 16 or 17 incher. That’s very common. I’m not saying they don’t exist, but until I see a photo or a mount, or I catch one myself, I don’t believe it.

That being said, I wouldn’t waste my time targeting crappies. Even if you know where to catch them, it’s a crap shoot. They also aren’t as big as everyone thinks they are. If you want action and you’re committed to Mille Lacs, pick a southern bay and target pike. The amount of big pike in that lake is extraordinary and it’s a very underutilized fishery. Lots of fish in that 28-36 inch class with fish upwards and over 40 inches. Put out tip ups with sucker minnows, and if you want allot of action, drill holes and jig for all the 6-8 inch perch your heart desires.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I have said this many many times.
You are making a huge mistake if you don’t move shallow and fish after dark.
It is not only a day bite lake. That is the biggest myth about that lake. You don’t fish the same 28 ft of water in the dark as you do in the day time. You move shallow and catch big girls all night long.

Man….I have not experienced this. LOW is a huge lake, so I’m sure the night fishing is better in some areas….like the NW angle and in Canadian waters where the water is clearer. However, I’ve mainly fished the west end out of Warroad and have never had a consistent bite at night.

My friend had a sleeper shack out of Swift or the Estates in Warroad in 14-18 feet of water. We’d sleep in his shack all the time with rattle reels and we would jig until well after dark on days we didn’t sleep out there. I have fished out there over 20 nights in my lifetime, and the only consistent night action I’ve ever had was in 32 feet of water out of Baudette. That year the lake was very calm when it froze and the water was clearer. Everyone reported a night bite that year.

Is there a single lake in that area that actually has a reasonable amount of natural reproduction? I’m gonna say no. They all rely on artificial stocking and I’m fairly sure that most lakes/rivers other than the big ones with sustained natural reproduction have stocking to keep them going. Heck, even Upper Red was stocked at one point.
[/quote]

There isn’t a ton of natural reproduction in southern MN. Lake Shetek and Lake Sarah have decent natural reproduction but they are also heavily stocked. However, there is allot of lakes in the northern half of the state that rely solely on natural reproduction. Even small lakes. The only reason Red lake was ever stocked was because it was severely over-fished and the walleye population crashed. (side note on the URL walleye crash. Walleyes and Crappies compete, so once the walleyes were diminished that gave crappies the chance to flourish until the walleyes came back)

One of the main reasons southern MN doesn’t have much natural reproduction is because of the land use. All of that siltation from agriculture covers up the bottom substrate. There’s lakes that have 8 feet of silt covering the bottom! Not all of those lakes historically had never ending mud bottoms. Allot of that is runoff from farm fields. If you drive around southern MN in the winter look in the road ditches. They are all black with soil that blew off the surrounding fields because everyone tills everything into oblivion. All that runs into our lakes as well. Walleyes really struggle to spawn when their preferred spawning habitat is covered in silt.

If you actually look into walleye numbers and catch rates on some of the lakes that are stocked you would be appalled. The DNR should probably end stocking on 20% of the lakes they currently stock. The problem is, once you start stocking a lake the public won’t allow you to stop, even if it’s pointless. You can go to some of these lakes and talk to the cabin owners and they will all tell you the same story about Joe fisherman 10 years ago that caught two walleyes. They are all telling the same story. Dumping a bunch of walleyes in a lake that can’t support them doesn’t make fishing better. It’s just a waste of money. BUT people don’t know enough about aquatic ecosystems to realize that. A good proportion of our stocking is just theater.

LOW is great fishing for numbers and size of fish. It might not be the best lake every year, but it’s always consistent. There’s many good resorts, you just have to do a little research.

It’s a day bite lake, which is super nice, so sleeper houses are not necessary. You can just stay at a resort in a cabin and fish during the day out of one of their houses (bomber) or out of portables. If you do not have sleds, you’ll be limited to where you can go with portables. All of the resorts have bombers that they use to move their day houses and bring people out. It’s the way to go.

You should definitely NOT go in February. I’ve fished LOW many times and a good friend of mine lives in Warroad. I’ve fished LOW many many times in February and it’s the worst month to fish the lake. We’ve taken his sleds all over the entire lake, even to the NW angle in February, and the fishing is still tough. In fact, I stopped going up there completely that month even though I have a free place to stay, with sleds I can use. It’s not worth it.

I would go in March or in late December/early January. The walleye fishing closes April 14th this year and I’ve had years where I’m driving my truck on the ice the last day of the season. Mid-March is a slam dunk bet that the resorts will still have their houses out.

BigWerm wrote:

I thought Frostbite was owned by Alex Peric, Aaron Wiebe and a few other Canadians?

I got those guys mixed up with another prominent youtuber.

eyeguy507 wrote:

UPRL……anything works there. Those eyes will eat anything with a minnow on it……anything as long as it fits in their mouth.

Millelacs

Plain hook and minnow. That water is so clear you can probably see 30 feet down. Sure you can jig em up when they are aggressive but plain hook will win for numbers every time.

While I agree on your URL suggestion, and I agree that a plain hook catches allot of walleyes on Mille Lacs, I disagree that a set line outproduces a jigging spoon on Mille Lacs.

I grew up fishing the lake and lived on it for a few years. Day in and day out I catch more fish on a jigging spoon then a set line during an ice fishing season. The key is what type of spoon and your jigging cadence.

For URL really anything will work. They seem to like rattles on that lake if they are aggressive.

Mille Lacs- No rattles ever. You’ll get guys that claim to catch fish on a buckshot but a buckshot is the worst spoon I’ve ever used on Mille Lacs. It’s way too aggressive. I have caught a few fish on less aggressive rattling flutter spoons like the lindy rattl’n flyer but you’re better off just keeping a rattle spoon off your line. Swedish pimples, northland moxxie minow, and Lindy frostee spoons work well to name a few. Small size and natural colors are the key. If you buy a diner bell for Mille Lacs you can’t go wrong with perch. Anything in silver is good as well.

Remember guys…This is a new fishing company started by a youtuber. Allot of these youtubers became popular overnight because they were at the forefront of a “new” industry. They then realized to monetize their product, they needed to sell merchandise. Merchandise is what makes them the real money.

What they do is gain a following then re-brand tackle with their name on it. Allot of this stuff is already out there. You should expect problems compared to dealing with a more established brand, like Northland.

I’ve watched some of his videos and I actually lived for a period down the street from him when he lived on Mille Lacs. I didn’t know the guy personally, but I talked to his old man a few times. That being said, I know every spot he fishes on Mille Lacs because I can tell where he is based on the background. None of his spots are great, and he doesn’t catch any more fish than the average, decent, Mille Lacs fisherman.

My advice; If you want a teaser on your flutter spoon add an extra teaser that comes with a swedish pimple to the o-ring. That’s all the teaser is on this lure, it’s just in the middle of the spoon. I’m sure the spoon catches fish, but most flutter spoons on Mille Lacs catch fish. In fact, swedish pimples have probably caught more walleyes on Mille Lacs than any other spoon and still do.

BigWerm wrote:

Per the attached article the DNR’s Chief Hooking Mortality Specialist estimates 5% of all caught and released fish die post release on Mille Lacs. He also (somewhat counterintuitively) says that 12% of fish caught on a circle hook die, whereas 27% caught with a J-hook die. All of these numbers seem GREATLY overexaggerated in my experience, so I emailed Commissioner Strommen the following questions: Can you explain the difference in 5% effective mortality rate (this is what’s used to shut the season down) vs 12%/27% in Tom Jones’ study? Can I receive a copy of the study, or the methods behind the study? And why is Hooking Mortality used as the primary management tool on ML, but not used everywhere else? I’ll post the DNR’s response if/when I receive one.

So you’re getting all worked up over a Mille Lacs messenger article? I’ve been in the Mille Lacs messenger three times. One time they misquoted me. Another time they got my name wrong, and another time they put someone else’s name under my photo. You ever think there might be some typos, misquotes, or inaccurate information there?

You then go on to quote your personal experiences with “hooking mortality”. So…do you have a pen out in the lake that you throw every walleye that you catch then monitor them for a week or two? I didn’t think so. Fish sometimes die from hooking mortality days later. Just because that fish “swam away real good” doesn’t mean that fish survived.

Why did you contact the DNR commissioner? Don’t you think it would have been allot more productive to contact Tom Jones, the actual person who completed the study? Perhaps Tom could provide you with his study, or a copy of the data. Perhaps Tom is more qualified to talk about his study than the commissioner.

BigWerm wrote:

Personal experience and a background in statistics. On the personal side I couldn’t tell you the last time a fish I caught on Mille Lacs died. Additionally if 27%/12%/5% of fish caught died, there would be a flotilla of <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes all summer long floating to shore. Even at 5% after a busy weekend there would dead eye’s everywhere. Not to mention that the recruitment and biomass #’s would show an entirely different trend than what is happening.

What’s your background in statistics that makes you such an expert? I don’t know anyone that has a background in statistics that would take a few percentages from a local publication and jump to a bunch of conclusions. You haven’t even seen the actual data.

Further, you have no way of knowing that none of the fish you caught died. You have no procedure to measure that. If you’ve caught allot of walleyes on Mille Lacs in the last few years and you fished in the months of July and August out on the mud flats it’s almost statistically impossible that none of the fish you caught died. Again, just because you watched a fish swim away doesn’t mean anything. Some fish that float away end up reviving themselves and living, some fish that swim off vigorously die.

Anyone that has been on Mille Lacs during a good bite in July and August has seen the flotilla of dead walleyes. If people are fishing on the lake it’s pretty hard to miss. I lived on the lake for two summers and saw dead walleyes all the time. Remember that animals eat those fish, and the warmer and deeper the water, the higher the mortality. You wouldn’t expect to see many (or any) dead walleyes on opener. You’d expect to see them when the water is warm, there’s allot of people fishing, and they are out on the mud flats.

Allot of it is private landowners. If you know the rules you’d be appalled at the amount of illegial aquatic vegetation removal that is happening. It’s usually not the lake associations.