Mille Lacs walleye quota met, but catch/release will continue

Updated: 5:35 p.m. | Posted: 12:53 p.m.

Anglers on Mille Lacs Lake have busted through their walleye limit this summer, but the catch-and-release walleye fishing season will remain open, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced Tuesday.

"Based on the data we've seen so far this year, keeping the season open will have minimal additional impact on the walleye population," DNR fisheries chief Don Pereira said in a statement.

Mille Lacs went to a catch-and-release walleye season this year, so anglers aren't actually keeping the fish that count as harvested. "Hooking mortality" — death that occurs after release — accounts for much, if not all, of that total.

Summer creel survey data, collected by DNR staff questioning anglers about what they catch, has shown that the catch-and-release regulations that have been in place all year have conserved the lake's future spawning population of walleye, Pereira added.

This year's walleye harvest allocation was set at 40,000 pounds — 28,600 for state-licensed anglers, and 11,400 pounds for tribal fishing.

At the end of June, the state-licensed harvest was estimated at only about 7,000 pounds. But due to increased fishing activity and high catch rates, anglers caught a lot more walleye in July. The most recent harvest estimate reached nearly 38,000 pounds — almost 10,000 pounds over the state limit.

Last year, when state-licensed anglers exceeded their quota by only about 2,000 pounds in early August, that prompted the DNR to close the walleye angling season on the famous fishing lake.

But not this year. In a statement, Gov. Mark Dayton said he directed the DNR not to close the walleye fishing season on Mille Lacs. Dayton added he "contacted tribal leaders to ask for their understanding and forbearance."

Dylan Jennings, a spokesman for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, called the state's decision not to close the fishing season "disappointing," noting that the Mille Lacs Band and others have foregone harvest on the lake this year in an effort to restore the walleye population.

"The bands will continue to stay within their set harvest quotas as they always have," Jennings said. "They had expected the state to do the same."

Dayton said closing the walleye fishing season "would devastate area businesses and communities." He added that the state's fisheries experts have assured him that continuing catch-and-release walleye fishing "will not negatively impact the health of the walleye fishery."

The DNR is especially concerned about the 2013 year-class of young walleye, a huge population that state officials hope will help rebuild the lake's struggling walleye fishery.

But DNR fisheries chief Pereira said that "current data show that only 1 percent of the 2013 fish have been impacted by hooking mortality, which is remarkably low."

Officials with the Mille Lacs Band aren't as confident of the lake's ability to withstand continued fishing this season.

State officials have been under intense pressure to improve Mille Lacs Lake's walleye numbers, while also allowing continued fishing to support the many resorts and businesses in the region that rely on anglers for their livelihood.

"We have not seen the data the state used to assess impacts on the 2013 year class," said Susan Klapel, Commissioner of Natural Resources from the Mille Lacs Band in a statement. "But our biologists believe the state's decision to exceed its share of the agreed safe harvestable limit will prolong and could negatively impact the ability to rebuild the Mille Lacs walleye population in the future."

This spring the DNR announced its decision to not allow any walleye "keepers" this year, a compromise intended to allow catch-and-release only fishing but also protect young walleyes.

The agency initially banned the use of live bait, out of fear that would increase hooking mortality. But the agency reversed course under pressure from its local advisory panel.