seasonal history

[ikeslayer]

After e-mailing the dnr about once a week for about 6 months now they finally got back to me the answer below in bold

Question:

Subject: bass season

i am just wondering why bass season north and east of Hwy 53 opens up before the rest of the state? It is confusing to me but i figure there is a reason would like to know so i can be an advocate of it and tell others. thanks for your time and for what you do

Answer :

Hi Ike,

Your question is a good one, I’ve wondered about the difference in bass seasons myself. In fact, about 10-15 years ago, I did some ‘research’ into the topic because we had an issue arise in the International Falls Management Area where I previously worked. As I recall, the difference in the season openers had to do with the geographic distribution of smallmouth and largemouth bass along with the difference in management strategies. As you may know, largemouth bass are generally found in the southern or central part of the state (south or west of Hwy 53) while smallmouth bass are generally found in the northeast part of the state (north or east of Hwy 53). Decades ago, when the regulation was established, largemouth bass were considered a prized catch and were often sought by anglers. Their growth rates were fast and they often reached large size. In contrast, the smallmouth bass, within its range in the northeast, were numerous but grew slowly and was generally considered an unwanted species that competed with more desirable species such as walleye and lake trout. So the management strategy at the time was to increase harvest on smallmouth bass (hence the longer season) in the northeast in attempt to keep their numbers in check. Largemouth bass were afforded more protection within their range which led to the later opener south and west of Hwy 53.

Interestingly, over time, people become accustomed to regulations and traditions and businesses develop around them. If you notice in the regulation booklet there are two lakes west of Hwy 53 that have the early opener; Pelican and Ash Lakes near Orr. About 15 years ago, in an attempt to simplify the regs booklet, DNR Fisheries proposed changing the bass season on these two lakes so they were in line with the rest of the lakes west and south of Hwy 53 (i.e. the late May opener). We received considerable opposition to this change and dropped the proposal. Apparently, resorts on Pelican Lake promoted the early opener and had clientele that came specifically to fish bass early in May. Coincidentally, Pelican is one of the better largemouth bass lakes in northern Minnesota, so the early opener provides a unique opportunity to fish for big bass early in the year. Shortly thereafter, we were successful in initiating a protected length limit on all bass on Pelican; a 12-20” protected slot with one fish allowed over 20”. To my knowledge the fishery is still very healthy.

I hope I’ve answered your question. Feel free to write or call with additional questions or comments. Thanks!

[Juan Grande]

Thanks for posting that ike.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Yup, fun stuff, thanks for sharing.. It makes somewhat perfect sense at the time.. But we are years and years later... not saying it should change.. but maybe looked at.

[TonkaBass]

I say it should change...

[ikeslayer]

i e-mailed them back and will lean on them pretty hard - i am just wondering why not a cpr season?

[ikeslayer]

i will keep youall up to date.

[NTW]

Do you think it could possibly help anything if others of us who support that train of thought emailed the same contact? If you shared the email address, I would gladly chime in on the topic.

[Craigums]

I say it should change...

Agreed, The times have changed and the regs should follow

[gritsnham]

I agree with a change. This topic comes up all the time and will never stop but knowing that reason makes even more sense to change the regs. I would love to see a CPR season or protected slots like that on pelican.

[Juan Grande]

I wonder if they would consider CPR during the spawn and then a statewide protected slot (14-20 or something) the rest of the season?

[Craigums]

Statewide protected slot wouldn't work with tournament anglers. All they need to do is change the closed season to catch and release. problem solved

[ikeslayer]

not so sure if is should post the 3 e-mail addresses that were attached to the e-mail he sent me considering they are not totally public are they? However i think i will get into trouble if i have you e-mail me because Hotspotoutdoors will think i am trying to sell you something

so maybe a moderator can tell me what to do?

[goblueM]

if the emails are those of the state employees you can find them online in most cases, so i don't think posting them is a huge deal

that said, i'm sure they probably don't want to sort through a couple hundred emails in addition to their usual deluge

[SledNeck]

I like the dates how they are

[Cecil]

Of course you do!

[gritsnham]

I think the protected slot maybe 16-20 could really help the state with a tournament exception rule to that. Tourneys are all C&R these days so I dont think it would hurt the lakes to bad but this sounds like a really hard rule change to pass just to get to a C&R season as it is....

[BassAholic]

I also emailed the DNR about the Bass Opener back in February. I do not agree with the current rules. I'd be completely happy if it was C&R till the end of May to avoid all the bank fisherman keeping the spawning fish..\

Here is the DNR's response:

Thank you for your recommendation to go to a year-round bass season. The opener's are set by a combination of statutes and rules. There is no voting option, but we do take comments like yours and take them under consideration for either rule making or legislation. Your recommendation has been considered before; however, I will put this in the file for proposals that should be considered for next year's law processess.

Minnesota has always been a conservative state when it comes to fishing regulations. As you know, we don't have a very long growing season for our fish populations because of our long winters. In addition, our winters are stressful on fish: can have low oxygen levels, low levels of food for adults throughout the winer and for young in the early spring, and when anglers bringing them into the cold winter air can harm the fish and cause delayed mortality if not done properly. We try to balance giving anglers opportunities while also giving the fish a break from those stressers that angling may inflict. Many of our regulations are also setup to limit angling opportunities when fish are most vulnerable to harvest (ie concentrated in areas for spawning, or running up streams). By doing so we try to manage the harvest or mortality levels so that we can create "quality fishing" opportunities, spread out the harvest, and let the fish recover from our long winters and enter the fishing season in good health.

We have looked at the research on allowing a continuous bass season and have found the information is mixed. I have seen studies that indicated that bass taken off the beds, often don't return or return after other fish have come in and disturbed, eaten, or destroyed what was in the beds. You can find these study results in the American Fisheries Society's scientific journals. Whether or not this has a negative population level outcome would depend on the lake and its specific environmental and fish community makeup. Our staff continues to review the data and have discussions around this topic. We also have a bass advisory workgroup that is looking at our bass management efforts.

Again, thank you for your recommendation and I have copied the bass chairman on this for his information.

[TonkaBass]

Bass is open until feb 28th... I don't understand what he is really talking about when he says "Minnesota has always been a conservative state when it comes to fishing regulations. As you know, we don't have a very long growing season for our fish populations because of our long winters. In addition, our winters are stressful on fish: can have low oxygen levels, low levels of food for adults throughout the winer and for young in the early spring, and when anglers bringing them into the cold winter air can harm the fish and cause delayed mortality if not done properly."

Then why is it legal to fish for them in the winter and not after ice out when the air temp is far warmer than the freezing winter air? I just don't agree with bass opener, and I honestly don't believe much research has been done on how it would affect a fishery. I think it's pretty clear that if it was a C&R season until the normal opener it wouldn't have too much of an impact. If anything, they would become conditioned and harder to catch the rest of the season.

[mabr]

So how do we go about getting it changed?

[corncob]

What a bunch of Hooey!.....Wisconsin must be way behind Minnesota in conservation......Gee, wonder why their bass fishing is comparable to ours what with their archaic early opener?.......

[Juan Grande]

That would be cool to tell people you are the "bass chairman."

[Juan Grande]

This might be a dumb idea, but do you think the DNR would consider an early bass season if anglers who wanted to fish the early season had to pay an additional $5 (or some extra fee) for their license? All the extra money could then be used specifically to improve bass fisheries or for bass research.

Might be more trouble than it's worth, but just an idea...

[ikeslayer]

This might be a dumb idea, but do you think the DNR would consider an early bass season if anglers who wanted to fish the early season had to pay an additional $5 (or some extra fee) for their license? All the extra money could then be used specifically to improve bass fisheries or for bass research.

Might be more trouble than it's worth, but just an idea...

yeah it might be a little tough considering there would be an overhead cost for the dnr for setting all that up - but honestly they could make it 20 bucks or even 40 and we would still pay it. However i don't like the idea of making this a rich mans sport but i don't mind paying to play either.

also as far as cold air and bassin wow i can't believe he said that when the season goes through feb and plent of bass are caught while jiggle sticking.

I wonder if we can get the basschairmans e-mail address???

[TonkaBass]

I would be all about paying an extra $5 for an early opener!