The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).....
They cannot find a "smoking gun" to determine why the walleye population on Mille Lacs has gone down in their net counts. Huh? Below is my response to the news story. I included the DNR reps that contributed to the story. Needless to say, I did not receive any responses.
Original Story in the StarTribune. http://www.startribune.com/outdoors/story/1478810.html
Credit where credit is due. Creative writing, A+. Fiction A+.
I wish these stories were not sugarcoated. If you or anyone else wants to see an example of a smoking gun of the past, see Red Lake. Walleyes were nearly extinct from that lake because of netting. When will we learn our lesson?
My parents owned a resort on Mille Lacs for 20 years. We sold before the historic Supreme Court decision where they proved they know nothing about Minnesota Lakes or the impact their decision would have on a perfect resource such as Mille Lacs.
Slip in a comment about unseasonal temperature. Sure, why not just blame global warming, everyone else is. I remember summers where the summer walleye fish kill was so great we had to clean our beach 2 times a day, yet our fishing did not suffer the next year. Net counts were not down. Limits were not reduced. Slots were not created.
Mille Lacs resort owners did everything to bring Mille Lacs Lake after the "Home of the Quarter Pounder" jokes. The 20" limit. The spring night fishing ban. These were ideas by resort groups and leaders to make Mille Lacs a fruitful, never having been stocked lake. All of that progress is gone now.
Tradition? OK. Spear fish like 1837 with a wooden stick in a canoe. I am not being insensitive, I believe the Native Americans were victims. Making their rights come back with 2000 technologies and nets is the cause for this loss of walleye. Now, the resort owners, dependent on fishing have to find a new way to make money. Best of luck.
My mother proved the shenanigans and hidden agenda of the MN DNR 21 years ago. Doug, you can find an article in your Star Tribune archives about her success vs. MN DNR. Her name was Barbara Orr. We wanted to build a harbor. Corps of Engineers gave us a permit as our due diligence was in good order. MN DNR fought us. They claimed "roughfish studies" in letters to us delaying their decision hoping that tying it up in red tape would force us to give up. In the hearing we paid for, we proved that MN DNR only sent those letters to us. There were no studies. There was only lies. After we won and our our harbor was built, we agreed to testing for roughfish annually. The test results only yielded 1 bullhead in 10 years and countless walleye that used the harbor as a spawning area.
Perhaps leaders have changed, perhaps Rick was not at the DNR then. What confidence should I have that this story is truthful? Truth is, I do not. I think everyone knows why Mille Lacs is hurting today. Let's tell the truth.
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