Mille Lacs ice fishing: Still uncertain, but Dayton says he'll insist on it

Only in Minnesota can the politics of walleye fishing follow the governor on a trip to a middle school.

After a school visit Thursday, Gov. Mark Dayton told reporters Lake Mille Lacs needs ice fishing this winter.

"It's crucial that there be a season," he said, "that it be as generous in terms of limits and opportunities as possible."

Dayton said he will insist that the state Department of Natural Resources allow ice fishing for walleye on Mille Lacs Lake this winter. The ice fishing season is crucial for many resorts and businesses around the lake, especially after the open-water walleye season was cut short this year.

Dayton's Thursday declaration appears to undercut previous statements from the DNR that the agency wouldn't be able to decide whether to allow ice fishing until later this year. But Dayton said he met with DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr this week and said he wants to be engaged in making that decision.

"It's crucial that we have a good winter fishing season for Mille Lacs and I will insist that there be one," he said Thursday.

Later a reporter asked for the governor to clarify that he meant the walleye season on Mille Lacs, and Dayton said yes.

But in late August, Landwehr said there was nothing the agency could do to accelerate the process to decide on ice fishing on Mille Lacs this winter.

"We really can't," he said. "I understand that's a problem for their businesses, because people are booking ice fishing trips in October and November. We base our whole annual regulations on the assessment that we do in September."

This month the DNR will set 52 nets around Mille Lacs to capture walleye. Biologists will collect data that they'll then use to assess the status of the lake's walleye population. Most of the fish taken in gill nets are killed, but the DNR says only a small portion of the lake's fish population is sampled.

Then the DNR will consult with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and other Indian tribes that have treaty rights to harvest walleye from Mille Lacs. The state and the bands together will determine a sustainable harvest, or quota, of fish to catch next year — including the ice fishing season. After that meeing in mid-October, Landwehr said, the state will make a decision on ice fishing.

"That all happens in September, October, and we simply can't speed that up because it's all dependent on the netting that has to take place from mid to the end of September," he said.

Landwehr couldn't be reached for comment on the governor's statement.

But Jim Zorn, executive administrator of the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, said it's premature to say the state will allow ice fishing.

"To begin fishing before you even know what a quota is, in normal years, you can assume there's going to be enough fish to go around, you'd be fine," Zorn said. "But this year, it might be a risky business. We're in a situation now where I think everyone's going to wait with bated breath to see whether or not there would be enough walleye to even have a fishing season, for both the state and the tribes."

Mille Lacs' walleye fishery population has plummeted to a 30-year low. Biologists are perplexed by what's driving the decline. For what scientists believe could be a variety of reasons, many young walleye aren't surviving to become big, catchable fish.

The Mille Lacs Band has already said it will forego netting for walleye next spring. Zorn said the tribes and the state need to focus on managing the lake for the long term.

"Let's get the bioligsts looking at the data, and we'll cross the bridges about what's available for next year when we have that data," he said.

On Mille Lacs, though, resort owners like George Nitti, who runs Hunters Point Resort, are thrilled by Dayton's announcement.

"I think that the news puts smiles on everybody's face, that has been worried about the closure of the winter season," Nitti said.

Ice fishing is actually the biggest season for Nitti and many other resort owners. He said it makes up three-fourths of his business. When the lake freezes over, he said, Mille Lacs turns into a small city on ice.

"At night, when it's just starting to get dark, and the sun's going down, and you watch the cars come off lake, you'll be amazed — it looks like 494 traffic when everybody's either coming into the Cities or going out of the Cities," he said.

But other resort owners, like Tina Chapman, are more wary of Dayton's statement.

"He's saying he's insisting, it doesn't mean that it's happened yet," she said. "When it happens, then I can say it's good news."

Chapman said she hopes to get official word quickly, so resort owners can start preparing for what they hope is another busy ice fishing season.

MPR News reporter Tom Scheck contributed to this report.