What a Sh***Y event

[JJ]

http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2016/09/22/mille-lacs-best-trophy-smallmouth-lake-world/

For comparison sake, consider the results at the 2015 season-ending Bassmaster Elite event at Sturgeon Bay (Lake Michigan) in Wisconsin. This event also featured 50 of the best bass anglers, and Sturgeon Bay is well-known for big smallies. The anglers could keep a limit of 5 bass, and here were the results:

4 anglers brought in limits weighing 20 pounds or more on day No. 1
A limit weighing 19 pounds was good for 5th place on day No. 1
40th place on the first day was 6 pounds, 2 ounces
After 3 days of fishing, the winning weight (15 fish) was 53 pounds, 4 ounces. Only 2 anglers broke the 50-pound mark after the 3 days.

Consider the 2016 event held on Mille Lacs Lake (5-bass limit):

23 anglers brought in limits weighing 20 pounds or more on day No. 1
A limit weighing 19 pounds was good for 33rd place on day No. 1
40th place on the first day was 16 pounds, 14 ounces
After 3 days of fishing, the winning weight (15 fish) was 76 pounds, 5 ounces. An astonishing 41 anglers – out of 50 – broke the 50-pound mark for the event!

I’m sure you won’t be seeing any bump in traffic next year…

Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus

[WalleyeChaser]

Holy crap! Now those are some pig smallies

[TightLine]

The exposure from the event has been great and I’m looking forward to the rebuild of the tourism industry.

Brandon Zumwalt
Attorney, Dad and Fisherman-sometimes all at the same time.

[MARINEMASTER]

Thanks jj. Great comparison. Now maybe this will turn some of the non believers into believers that this lake is truly a jem, and that we need to protect all of it. Not just the walleyes.

Young Guns Fishing League Founder & President
"Lets Fish It.."

[sundie23]

Just talked to a guy today that has a place on the lake by Onamia. He says it is constant bass boats already since the turny…. No need to wait till next year for reaults of this

[uninc4709]

[Walleye346]

Seen more boats on the pond this week then the rest of the month combined.

One of the boats was the Mille Lacs Co. Sheriff taking in the buoys marking rocks and reefs. Might have been a good year to leave them in a little longer. Somebody wasn’t thinking so good. If I was on the tourism board I would be pissed, just can’t catch a break.

[SpoonbillSlayer]

Glad to see business is picking up a little for the area. It does show that C&R works.

I’m curious, is there a quota for bass or does neither side really care about them? Wonder if that will change now.

[leechlaker]

No quota for bass, and why would there be? The AOY event showed the value of catch-and-release fishing in developing a trophy fishery that will draw tourists and locals alike.

Imagine if walleye anglers adopted even a little of that same mentality.

[big_fish_guy]

MNdnr will find some way to f#$#k this up

IBOT #286

If guns kill people, can I blame my pen for my mistakes?

[Ret-ro]

Huh? I’m all for balance of all species in the lake, but Bass and walleyes are apples and oranges. Bass are not sought out for their table fair. Secondly, the lake has been basically a catch & release fishery for walleyes for the last four years. 2012 was the last year you could keep a limit of four and they had to be under 17″. A couple subsequent years had a 2″ slot in which fish of that size were a very very small percentage of the population. Catch & release walleye fishing is as strong as ever, but walleyes are highly prized for consumption. Managing the population to supply consumable fish and maintaining the breeding stock is a challenge. It seems that management doesn’t have that figured out yet.

leechlaker wrote:
No quota for bass, and why would there be? The AOY event showed the value of catch-and-release fishing in developing a trophy fishery that will draw tourists and locals alike.

Imagine if walleye anglers adopted even a little of that same mentality.

LSF Staff http://www.lakestatefishing.com

[rogersno1]

There needs to be some harvest or they will over populate and stunt. Wonder what all these bass are eating…young of the year fish maybe.

[Ripjiggen]

+1 Ret-ro well stated.

[MasterGopherHunter]

rogersno1 wrote:
There needs to be some harvest or they will over populate and stunt. Wonder what all these bass are eating…young of the year fish maybe.

Yes, some, but crawfish dominates most of their diet. Walleyes are by far the largest consumers of young of the year walleyes.

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1504930/millelacs-predator-slideshow.pdf

https://www.d.umn.edu/biology/documents/Ahrenstorff2_000.pdf

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[Oldstar]

Ret-ro is right on!

Smallies=fun

Walleyes=food

You can’t even compare the management of the 2. I do find it interesting that the die hard bass crowd is so worried about harvest and it is almost non-existent. I seem to remember seeing like 1,000 pounds or something like that last year. And for those of you who have not been around the lake long. remember in the 90’s when there were multiple 7+ pounders reported and even an 8 weighed. You don’t see them much anymore (50 best bass anglers in the world couldn’t get one in 3 days). With less population there was more sumo hogs around. Charters keeping a few and maybe a trophy taken home occasionally is not going to effect the lake one bit, it may even help it.

[Author]

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