Thread: Mille Lacs Lake

Thanks Matt, great read.

Very nice fish!!!!! Man I wanna head north soooo bad!

awesome

Originally Posted by Lawnmowerman43

Nice fishes, them folks up there make fun of the way I talk,

Yup me too lol. First thing they always say after I said something was, "Huh?"

Wow them is some great Brownies Matt! Hope ya didn't get too cold up there, 50 in the morning sounds so good right now

Originally Posted by captcall

Yup me too lol. First thing they always say after I said something was, "Huh?"

Yeah they would come up to me and say will you talk to my friend for me so they can hear the way you talk. Heck, I aint really that kountry sounding I don't reckon

Originally Posted by D10

Jeff - great question with a complicated answer. The first half day of the confrence focused on Mille Lacs. I recommend calling the Minnesota fisheries biologists to get the full story. But since you asked, I will give you my take on it. Mille Lacs has been undergoing physio chemical changes for the last decade or so (maybe even earlier). This is due to several confounding factors. Some of the confounding factors are invasive species (zebra mussels, Chinese mystery snail, Eurasia milfoil, spiny water flea), improved angler technology, and increasing water Temps (climate change). When all of these things happen in a relatively short time frame, systems change. The zebra mussels have caused the water clarity to increase, reducing the optical refuge that Walleye need. The clearer water also allows the Eurasia milfoil to take off. The spiny water flea has completely eliminated some of the native plankton community in the lake. This effects the food chain from the bottom up. The zebra mussels are also starting to cover up some of the mayfly substrate in the lake. The clearer, warmer water is more conducive to Smallmouth Bass than Walleye. All of these things have lead to a decline in the Walleye population. Due to the declining Walleye population, the local politics of the area gets pretty heated. It sounds like you are familiar with the politics and this lake. I don't want to say to much about it because it isn't one of my lakes, or even in Arkansas. The bottom line is the decline is due mainly to non-political issues. Again, I am just speaking from 4 hours of presentations and no real hands on experience. I recommend calling the good biologists in Minnesota. They have collected tons of data on Mille Lacs and I'm sure they would be happy to discuss things with you. Hopefully my memory served me well for this answer and I'm not too far off base.

It's all unfortunate, but is what it is. I appreciate your perspective on this! Thank you for your response. With regards to the political side of this, we as fishermen may not like all this, but the SCOTUS has spoken and we need to learn to adapt and move on. There are a whole bunch of walleyes in many other waters and we are free to go and find them and have a whole bunch of fun doing it!