Tuesday, December 10, 2013
It was great to see so many of you at the St. Paul ice fishing show. It was a good show with a lot of new products. I spent too much time at the Eskimo booth again and bought too much new gear. Sam will have to use most of it because I seldom find time to get out. Well, maybe this year.
We had eight inches of ice in the first 1/4 mile with very rough ice and 5 inches of ice beyond that with 10-13 inches of snow on it before the show. We went out again today and the first quarter mile has a good 10 inches plus, still with snow on it. After that there are areas with not much snow where we found about 7 inches of ice and a lot of areas with up to 10 inches of snow where there is about 5 1/2 to 6 inches of ice.. The ice is coming slow with the snow on top of it.
We will try to move some snow in the first 1/4 mile and try to smooth out the rough spots this week and mark our roads.
I will use this spot once again to express my frustration with the DNR. I spoke to one of the DNR's Mille Lacs people earlier this fall and was told that they do not have a five year plan for Mille Lacs and really do not have a one year plan because their study from this spring was not conclusive with the late spring. They need to study the lake more before they can conclude what is wrong or what they should do. COME ON!!!! Mille Lacs is the most studied lake in the US. He also said that the fishing results and the fishing pressure was very good this year and not much different from past years. WHAT???? My own observations and those of the creel census takers I spoke with was different.
They are not holding a meeting with the input group this fall. They chose to extend the regs themselves through the winter. They are putting all of their eggs in one basket in that the hatch this spring was good for both walleye and perch. They are hoping that they will not all be eaten by next spring. Everyone associated with the lake knows that there are too many predators in the lake and they are eating all of the little fish. Why do we need special regs for northern and small mouth that are more restrictive? We should be helping people to take more of these species and allowing some walleye harvest on fish over 20 inches. I believe that they are afraid of taking bigger fish out because then the natural reproduction may be affected but we may have to help the lake along with some stocking as we take some of the bigger walleyes out. We need a better balance of walleye year classes.
The DNR comes across as timid and uncaring. They need to act with some urgency and be leaders on this issue. They appear to be waiting for some miracle to happen to fix the problems they, along with us, have caused. When Leech and Red had issues, they acted in a decisive manner and led the way. What happened to those people? Are our leaders waiting to retire so someone else has to deal with the issues? Are they so afraid to make a mistake that no action is preferable?
Write or call the DNR and tell them it is time to act and waiting for miracles is not the answer. We want Mille Lacs isssues addressed, talked about , and action taken.
