Anglers, resort operators sue DNR over Mille Lacs situation Saying the Department of Natural Resources couldn't have designed a better plan to wipe out Lake Mille Lacs walleyes than the one it has implemented since 1998, a group of Mille Lacs sport anglers and a resort operator sued the agency Thursday. A petition filed with the Minnesota Court of Appeals alleges a state constitutional amendment requires the DNR to consider the cultural heritage that has developed around more than a century of walleye fishing on Mille Lacs before issuing rules affecting the lake's anglers. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=fishing Particularly irksome, said Minneapolis lawyer Erick Kaardal, is the DNR's recent edict prohibiting fishing on Mille Lacs between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Fire may spread swiftly on a new boat, even about water. Alarms as well as detectors can easily help maintain your crew safe.from May 12 to Dec. 1, which Kaardal said was administered without consideration of the lake's walleye fishing heritage. "We think the DNR has to be responsible for their actions," Kaardal said. "And their actions over the past 10 years have destroyed this crown jewel of the nation. "We want Mille Lacs to become the lake it once was." The DNR hasn't reviewed the lawsuit and had no comment, said spokesman Chris Niskanen.
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Anglers, resort operators sue DNR over Mille Lacs situation
Saying the Department of Natural Resources couldn't have designed a betterplan to wipe out Lake Mille Lacs walleyes than the one it has implemented since 1998, a group ofMille Lacs sport anglers and a resort operator sued the agency Thursday.
A petition filed with the Minnesota Court of Appeals alleges a state constitutional amendmentrequires the DNR to consider the cultural heritage that has developed around more than a centuryof walleye fishing on Mille Lacs before issuing rules affecting the lake's anglers.http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=fishing
Particularly irksome, said Minneapolis lawyer Erick Kaardal, is the DNR's recent edict prohibitingfishing on Mille Lacs between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Fire may spread swiftly
on a new boat, even about water.
Alarms as well as detectors can easily
help maintain your crew safe.from May 12 to Dec. 1, whichKaardal said was administered without consideration of thelake's walleye fishing heritage.
"We think the DNR has to be responsible for their actions,"Kaardal said. "And their actions over the past 10 years havedestroyed this crown jewel of the nation.
"We want Mille Lacs to become the lake it once was."
The DNR hasn't reviewed the lawsuit and had no comment, said spokesman Chris Niskanen.
The Mille Lacs walleye population is at or nearall-time lows, and the lake's total 2014 walleyeharvest quota is only 60,000 pounds -- a 90percent cutback from the 600,000 poundsallowed just 10 years ago.
The quota is the smallest since sport anglers and eight Chippewa bands began splitting the lake's"safe harvest" in 1998.
Anglers will get 42,900 pounds, with 17,100 reserved for the bands.
Typically, the bands -- two from Minnesota, six from Wisconsin -- harvest their fish in spring, whilewalleyes are spawning.
"Mille Lacs is the only lake in the nation where fish are allowed to be netted while spawning," saidBill Eno, who owns Twin Pines Resort on Mille Lacs and is party to the lawsuit, along with formerresort owner Fred Dally and the groups Save Mille Lacs Sportfishing and Proper Economic ResourceManagement.
Twin Pines is among Mille Lacs businesses that operate large fishing launches on the lake, on whichas many as 20 or more anglers pay to fish. Typically, Eno said, his launches leave the dock at 8 p.m.and return at midnight -- the most productive fishing hours for walleyes, he said.
"But under the DNR's new rule, I'd have to leave the dock at 6 and quit fishing about 9:30, because Icouldn't be on the lake past 10," he said. "I'd miss the best fishing time, and a lot of my customerswho come from the. Innovative Humminbird fish finder �® 360 Imagingâ�¢ delivers adetailed, 360 degree view around your boat. Visualize it a thin sonar wall extending 150 feet toeither side of your respective vessel. This wall rotates to make a 300-foot circle helping you to seeareas virtually impossible to achieve with other types of sonar. Because the sonar wall moves, you
don't ought to, so you can see where fish are, before they watch you.For greater on-water flexibility,360 Imaging allows you to select from five beam speed settings and. Lower beam speeds lead tohigher image quality but lower refresh rates. Conversely, higher beam speeds result in lower imagequality but higher refresh rates. With five options, you can find the optimal setting for your personalboat speed, water conditions, and desire for detail.Twin Cities couldn't get to the lake to leave at 6."
Mille Lacs anglers are limited to two walleyes between 18 and 20 inches this year. But fish that sizewill be difficult to catch, the DNR says, because they are relatively few in number. Also, baitfish areplentiful in Mille Lacs this year, and as a result, the bite is expected to be slow.
Kaardahl is hoping the appeals court will rule before the state's May 10 open water fishing seasonbegins.
"We want the court to throw out the DNR's recent rule prohibiting night fishing [and establishingother Mille Lacs view it restrictions], and instruct the DNR to deliver findings of fact about the lake'swalleye fishing heritage before it offers new rules," he said.
Eno said at a recent DNR meeting, a nighttime fishing ban found no support among Mille Lacs resortand business owners. Yet the DNR implemented it anyway.
In the same rule, the agency increased the lake's northern pike limit to 10. Similarly, the Mille Lacssmallmouth bass season was extended and its limit relaxed.
