Minnesota plans to liberalize walleye harvest in Mille Lacs Lake starting Aug. 16 under a proposed rule change that would allow a daily bag limit of two fish per licensed angler during harvest slot 18 to 20 inches.
State fisheries chief Brad Parsons proposed the move at a Monday meeting of the Mille Lacs Lake Fisheries Advisory Committee in Isle, Minn. It’s not official yet, he said, but that’s where the Department of Natural Resources is headed.
“It’s not a done, done, done deal,” he said, but Parsons is confident the change will be made.
Since opening day of this year’s inland walleye fishing season, Mille Lacs anglers have only been allowed to target walleyes on a catch-and-release basis. The season-long plan — designed to keep the state within its 2024 harvest quota of 91,550 pounds — switched Aug. 16 to a bag limit of one walleye between 21-23 inches.
The idea to relax the Aug. 16 bag limit to two walleye within the friendlier harvest gap of 18-20 inches was pulled by the DNR because of the missed harvest. At this point in the season, the DNR expects more than half of its safe allowable harvest quota. Instead, the year-to-date yield is just 26% of the total, Parsons said.
Mille Lacs fishing guide Tony Roach, a member of the advisory committee, said the proposed two-walleye bag limit will have an immediate, positive impact on his bookings starting Aug. 16. Another plus for anglers this fall in Mille Lacs is the change that allows for night fishing, possibly beginning Sept. 1. The DNR plans to announce the changes in an upcoming news release. One aspect of the proposed new rule would allow anglers to keep one walleye over 28 inches as part of their two-fish limit.
Parsons said the weather and walleye catch rates for the 2024 season did not play out as fisheries managers had hoped. For starters, meteorologists predict a hot, dry summer — a variable expected to result in significant walleye mortality during the catch-and-release season. Incidental deaths of caught-and-released fish count against the state’s harvest quota. When temperatures are high, mortality rates increase.
Parsons said the DNR is correct in predicting a strong walleye bite with high catch rates for the first six weeks of the season. But suddenly – and perhaps because the amount of forage fish jumped in the lake – catch rates dropped sharply in late June and early July, he said. High catch rates increase so-called hooking mortality during the catch-and-release season.
Additionally, the DNR assumed that fishing pressure would decrease 10% year-over-year by 2024. Instead, fishing pressure fell by 25%.
“Fishing pressure is one-third what we projected,” he said.
Some people at the meeting criticized Parsons and his fisheries staff for being too conservative and overestimating this year’s walleye harvest. The catch-and-release restriction has had a chilling effect on area businesses, they said.
“You guys screwed up,” said Steve Johnson, owner of Johnson’s Portside Bait & Liquor on the Isle.
Parsons said the DNR can’t ease walleye catch limits before Aug. 16 because of advance notice rules governing co-management of Mille Lacs shared between the state and eight Ojibwe bands that retain rights. hunting and fishing. Parties meet annually to set safe allowable harvest limits for long-term conservation.
Parsons told the group he favors longer harvest limits that would be set and monitored over several years. He also said the DNR needs to set contingency plans at the beginning of each season that will allow for the relaxation of regulations earlier than mid-August if the walleye harvest falls short of projections.
