Gill net found on Winnie with rotten fish!

[windsurferlawman]

While fishing on Winnie a couple weeks ago I found a gill net with 69 Walley and Northern, all rotten-

I have video and pics and KARE 11 News asked for a copy of the video, so maybe they'rr air it.

I have the owner's name, as it was on a bouy tied to the net. The natives can legally net Winnie, but they are supposed to check every 24 hours. These fish were weeks old!

http://www.pix8.net/getimg.php?img=Dsc007061.jpg

http://www.pix8.net/getimg.php?img=Dsc007031.jpg

Michael

[Ole1855]

That is unbelievably discusting!!! I hope whoever did this gets the book thrown at them!!

Ole

[walleyehawk]

Did you report it to the DNR?

I have a feeling that whoevers net it was will say it was lost out on the water. But I think the DNR would be where I would start with this.

KARE 11 always seems too PC when it comes to these types of things. Good luck.

[windsurferlawman]

I called 911 from my cell phone and was put in touch with a CO from Deer River. He said he was going to pull the net the next morning and call the tribal officer.

I didn't sound like the tribalk officer would do anything about it.

This net was in the same location for 2-3 weeks before I wandered over to see what the hell it was.

Michael

[Rick]

If you have a video. We'll take a copy.

This type of thing needs to be publicized so pressure can be put on to manage their harvest techniques properly.

Use the Contact Us link below.

[City_Slicker]

I am going to puke!!! It makes me sick to see these fish being wasted.

[shefland]

Unfortunately this happens too many times, usually it is turned over to tribal officials and we never get the straight dope on what happens. I have found nets in the spring here on Steamboat Lake down by the 371 car bridge, same scenario, full of dead rotton fish, just makes me sick. The other day at the West Winnie Campground Landing there was a native warning me and others to stay away from his nets! Hope the number 11 in the cities does a stroy on this problem

[Greg Clusiau]

Hey Shef ~

Is this the main problem with Leech Lake? Maybe Winnie's heading in the same direction. What good is a slot if you can net the hell out of a lake. I don't like it one bit. A joke.

[Gadgetman]

Greg,I have friends in Walker that you would know if I mentioned their names, but wont, they say that is the main problem with Leech. And now that "they" have done their thing on Leech, Winnie is the next lake on their route.Even the natives dont want to fish if the catching is too slim. Makes me want to puke, what can a concerned angler do about this? Got any ideas? Unfortunately I think that our former governer (Carlson?) sold us down the river.

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I fish, therefore I am.

[windsurferlawman]

Michael,
please, I don't want to see a post like this from you again.

[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 06-17-2004).]

[Gadgetman]

Whats a guy to do if you catch a net in your prop? Be a shame to cut it up. I imagine it is also against some law but, oh well. Just one guys opinion

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I fish, therefore I am.

[windsurferlawman]

I'm trolling with my anchor Gadgetman- trolling with my anchor!

michael

[Bill-E-Bazz]

Oh my GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think that native americans have all the right to do anything they want (within the laws). But what has happened is uncalled for. Something definetly needs to be done about this!! Hopefully this is a rouge situation, but who knows. This is absolutely wrong and something HAS TO BE DONE ABOUT THIS!!!!!! No one, I mean NO ONE can get away with this. This makes me really sick.
Sorry if I sound P'd off, it's because I am.

Good Fishin'...

[rockhardinmn]

There will be something done allright. The state will stock more fish .

Personally i think they should bring that net full to the net owner and then clean out his freezer of all the fish and game he has allready stocked up on. The owner has a new batch to Clean and Eat in my opinion

[Guest]

Unfortunatly, gentleman the DNR or the Law (as we know them) have zero jurisdiction on the Res.

Why are we so appaled at this guys wasteful attitude when we're the ones who put him in the driver's seat?

Don't get me wrong here, I'm as P.O'd as you are, but you must know that we are totally powerless on this issue, especially when we'll all be blamed for playing the Race card by some whiner...

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Chells

[Navigator]

What an absolute waste of resource...maybe the courts (judges) that ruled on native netting should be reminded of their decisions by sending the photos directly to them!! I love fishing Winni and will continue to do so, but that is an aggravating sight. Nav

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Jon Navratil
Navigator Guide Service
www.naviguides.com
Central MN rivers & lakes

[hanson]

Those pictures are aweful! I really don't know what to say about it.

I've never liked nets, I don't agree with tribal netting at all. That just confirms my beliefs about what is happening to some of the nets. How many more could possibly be out there on various lakes around the state.

Once again, that story needs to be run in as many newspapers, magazines, and newsbroadcasts as possible.

Pathetic!

[windsurferlawman]

Chells-

This is my first post on this site, so I am gonna take it fairly easy for a while. I did not put anyone in the driver's seat, but I can guarantee you that I am about to take back the keys!

This is not a rouge or isolated situation. Last summer the same thing happend on Leech. If they don't get sick of cleaning fish and leave the nets, they just toss the fish in the woods. Usually they just throw the Northern in the woods, but sometimes Walleye are found in piles too.

I know that cutting up someones net is immoral, unethical, illegal, and just plain wrong- but what else are we to do? No one seems to want to change the way things are and if information such as this does not help, what will?

You tell me what to do? If you wanna **** and moan about us taking so much from them that we need to give back, I have a friend who is like 80% German- when do we start giving him govt. subsidies and game and fish rights? And if you want to get right down to the dirty stuff, we went to war and won!

I say we start taking our lakes back one at a time! If our Congressmen and women aren't willing, we do it ourselves.

Michael

[SCUMFROG]

The D.N.R. doesn't have the man power to watch every lake. Is there some thing we can do? I think there might be something we as sportsmen and sportswomen can do. We can form a lake watch group like the neighborhood watch. We could team up in groups of 4-5 people and walk the lakes or boat around them looking for these violators and then call them in. And maybe do fund raisers to make money to fix boat ramps and clean up our waters. I'm just one person trying to make sure my grandkids have as much fun as I do fishing and enjoying the outdoors. Is there some thing like this already?

[Guest]

W-Surflawman,

First, welcome to the FM Family.

I totally understand all of the collective frustration on this issue.

I'll ask the same question here as I did onthe Leech Lake Forum--why don't we start reversing this situation by staying OUT of the Casinos?

If anyone on this site spends one penny in a casino, then you're not allowed to be angry about this issue and you certainly need to re-evaluate what you're doing to fuel this problem.

If we all stay clear of anything Tribal-owned we'll choke the revenue stream that funds their ability to Sue for increased "rights". No visiting Eddy's, no filling your tank and getting a Subway sandwich at the Band station on 169 and certainly, no more gambling.

I believe the time has come and long since past that we continue to pander to the Nation out of guilt--it's way over 100 years ago and none of us are responsible any longer for the genocide and theft of lands, yet we and our children are paying the dearest price--how ironic.

Why don't park ourselves in front of the casinos and tell everyone to stay out?

Why don't the natives stop their hypocricy?

Because we allow (and even empower) the hunyuk politicians to mis-manage these (and other) things by electing them into office--I don't need a career politician to take my income so it can be used for their agendas!

I'm sure this thread will be pulled or closed soon as all of these eventually do, but thanks for letting me ramble!

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Chells

[Guest]

Before we all go and start a lynch mob just remember one thing here....

Like Chells said, this is happening on the reservations. Our game laws for the most part do not apply. It is up to the tribal authorities to take care of the problem.

We should be thankful that the other reservations are not like Red Lake where non-band members cannot fish. Just think if White Earth, Leech Lake and other bands had fought for exclusive rights like Red Lake did? We would not be fishing Cass, Winni, Leech, Etc, Etc...or at least only parts of them.

Report what you find, let the authorities handle it and do not resort to taking it into your own hands or you will end up in jail or maybe even worse.

P.S. Watch what you post here. This site does not allow racial attacks or threats or trying to organize unlawful behavior. It's horrible what happened, but be civil.

[Ole1855]

I don't want this to get into a nasty debate but here goes.

A couple of years ago on this site several of us were talking about the down slide of fishing we were seeing on Leech Lake. If you do a post search you can probably find it but here's my take on things. I started fishing Leech in the early 70's, fishing was great 2 of us could go out to Pine Point, Stony Point, The Snake Pit, Ottertail or Hardwoods and catch any where from 40-100 fish per day. I'm basically a catch-and-release fisherman so we would only keep 3-4 fish for a meal. We did almost all of our fishing with jigs and shiners so we didn't have much hook mortality. I have continued to fish Leech every year 3-4 times from opener until mid June and each year starting some where around 1990 the fishing went down hill a little bit each year. 2002 was the last time I fished Leech and with 5 guy's in 2 boats I think we caught some where in the neighborhood of 30 Walleye's over a 5 day period, so nobody can tell me something isn't going on!!

Here's my humble opinion, sometime in the mid 70's, I think 1976, the band started netting the lake. And for some of you older folks out there maybe you can remember the "Sting Operation" the DNR ran, I think that was in the early 80's. They set up a fake meat market in Red Wind, MN and they were buying illegally netted fish out of Leech Lake, you guessed it, from some band members. I don't remember how many pounds of fish they bought before they busted them but it was in the 10's of thousands of perch, walleye and northern. It makes me sick to even think about it, my favorite lake to fish has changed so much over the last 35 years that I don't even go there to fish anymore. So all the politically correct people out there, DON'T tell me netting doesn't have a big impact on the fishery!!

My $0.02.

[Farley]

Chells, I'm with ya but it wont work. Too many seniors that take buses to the casinos that dump their Social Security money into the casinos to make a dent. If you want to take money away from the tribal casinos all the state has to do is legalize gambling, put up a few casinos and contribute a percentage of the earnings to Conservation. I'm willing to bet that any sportsmen that like casinos will go to the state owned casinos long before they step foot in a tribal casino. Gambling should've been legalized long ago, at least then the state will make money off of somethiing that has been going on under the table for years. Hell, I bet some of our congressmen right now have bookies and make regular bets on sporting events.

[DavidH]

I am not familiar with Lake Winnibigoshish since I moved here from Iowa last year. Never fished it however for the sake of this conversation here, I have a few questions.

Is Winnibigoshish fully on tribal land or divided for natives and non-natives.

If divided, was the net found on native waters or non-native water?

[Guest]

If you want to make something happen with this............You need to lobby.

You need to make this public.

This HSOforum isn't public enough.

Going to the news channels is one method.

However, I recommend that you lobby this. The best lobby group I know is PERM. I strongly recommend that violations of this nature should go to PERM, so a strong voice may be heard.

Yep, a lot of poaching goes on. And we all complain about it. It seems that more and more anglers are getting the message out, by reporting these crimes to the proper authorities. It now appears that TIP is "working".

Don't get mixed up by breaking any laws. It ain't worth it. Do it right and lobby it and make this crime public.

Call PERM!

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Let 'em go so they can grow!!!

[This message has been edited by Big G- (edited 06-16-2004).]