It's not working!

[CANOPY SAM]

But that's all they're attempting to do FBRM. Minimally, at least slow it down. I think they're fully aware they can't stop it. But not even trying, well, as others have already said, if they did nothing then there would be an avalanche of people angry that they're doing nothing.

That's kinda the recurring theme with DNR projects, and initiatives. Seems like no matter what it is, they're darned if they do, and they're darned if they don't. It's truly a thankless job.

I think the analogy of illegal aliens coming into our country is a good comparison. If no one did anything to try and slow it down we'd be in a LOT more trouble then we already are. You gotta do something. This country was built, and still runs on people who don't give up. We fight the good fight, and do whatever we can to try and keep life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness alive. To preserve our nation and it's resources. We win some, and we lose some. But we don't just throw in the towel while we've still got fight left in us.

If people choose to not go along with something, or contribute to the effort, then that is their choice. And in this country they're free to make that choice. But they should know that selling their choice to make no effort probably isn't going to fly very far with the masses. There are way more of us that choose to protect and defend what we have, rather then just do nothing.

Here endeth the lecture...

Yeah Harvey, like I said earlier, interior boat plugs are all I've ever seen. My 2006 Lund has an interior drain plug, and yes, it's kind of a pain to get in and out. Guess my experience is pretty limited. Funny how I admitted that immediately, yet several still chided me for my lack of knowledge on the subject. Again, you just can't win for losing.

[walleyefisher10]

Kyhl, They would need a warrant or your consent, one or the other. I would say if you don't give consent they are going to think you have over your limit and get a warrant. lol

[TR21HP]

I was out last week, pulled up to the lake and an invasive species inspector was at the landing. Very cordial and asked to look at the boat. Ran his hand around the boat and did a quick visual inspection underneath and to make sure the plug was out. Asked the usual questions and we were on the water. Probably took less than 5 minutes and that was mostly me just talking. Getting off the water a C.O. was at the dock and after we put the boat on the trailer he did a quick visual inspection and asked to see licenses, life jackets and extinguisher. Asked us what how we did and if we kept anything. We were bass fishing so all were released. I asked him how thorough we have to be in getting weeds off the trailer. He replied that he didn't expect me to go crawling under a wet trailer to get everything off but as long as you make a conscientious effort to remove weeds they won't issue any citation. This took less than 5 minutes as well and was painless, not a problem at all. We aren't going to stop this infestation but we can slow it a bit and why not just do it, takes very little effort and time.

[outdoors247]

Quote:

Yeah Harvey, like I said earlier, interior boat plugs are all I've ever seen. My 2006 Lund has an interior drain plug, and yes, it's kind of a pain to get in and out. Guess my experience is pretty limited. Funny how I admitted that immediately, yet several still chided me for my lack of knowledge on the subject. Again, you just can't win for losing. smile

Sam - The picture below is an outside plug. I've been using this style for years without a single hiccup. It sure beats crawling inside the boat and trying to remove the plug from the inside.

Edit: I would never use the snap handle plug on the outside. The one pictured below screws and you can really tighten it so it's very snug and can't be knock out like a snap handle plug.

[harvey lee]

Sy, no matter what law it is that is on the books, we either choose to comply or break the law, those who break it get fined, pretty simple.

There are many laws that I really do not care for but I do choose to also follow those laws.

Where would this country be if each one of us chooses which laws we want to follow or not.

I am not and never will say this AIS law is fool proof or will ever stop the spread, but I guess for me, the few things I have to do, which is required by law to do, to try and stop the spread, I do not mind at all.

Kyle, I guess if you feel I am giving up some of my rights, oh well, I do not consider that at all, I am only doing what I feel I should do, try and be a law abiding citizen. Not quite sure what is wrong with that.

[20lbSloughShark]

Dtro, it seems we agree on this. A lot of these post say how easy it is to have their boat inspected at the launch. I don't think anybody has said its a waste of time to clean off weeds. The thing is that was always a law, and is only now complimented by an inspector. The bait laws, the water plugs, limiting types of bait, thats where it really gets annoying. Its affected me quite a bit just as a pike fisherman. I can only imagine how it is catfishing.

[DTro]

Look, I will step forward and say my intentions are totally selfish here. AIS laws have stymied catfishermen into being petty criminals. We don't waltz into a bait store and walk out with a shiny new crankbait or a 3 dollar box of leeches. Bait is our lifeblood and THE most important tool in our box, take it away and well....quite frankly we either quit or we break laws and because of the danged winter we had this year and the lakes taking a hit, this year is especially bad.

Now understand there are ways around it. I can purchase $5/each suckers at the bait store (if I can find one that carries them) and hope that I don't cast a few off or get em snagged in a tree or they go belly up, and best case scenario I'm out a minimum of $50 a trip just for bait.

I can usually supplement my bullheads with creek chubs. Always have had very good luck with that...not this year. You can only imagine what the creeks have looked like this year.

Bullheads are easy to get you say? Sure, but from uninfested waters that didn't winterkill this year? Good Luck not having to drive all over the metro looking for legal bait and when they are gone after a trip or two, you get to do it all over again.

Now lets say there was a small lake nearby that was full of bullheads or suckers or chubs or whatever legal species but classified as infested, you can understand how tempting it would be to fill up a 5gal bucket with clean tap water, catch the bait with a net or hook/line and transport them in that fresh water to our fishing location and perhaps you can also understand that when you have a large cooler full of this prized bait that you have babied with cool water, and added oxygen all night and its 1am why you might be tempted to just leave them in that big cooler of water for the trip home. Guess what though.... that would be Illegal

I will say the MNDNR has worked with us and continues to work with us, we have made some good headway, but we have a ways to go. Until then common sense practices among us will prevail.

[CaptainMusky]

Do common sense practices prevail over the law?

[DTro]

Like I said, either that, or we take up golf.

[CaptainMusky]

Golf isn't any cheaper lol

[20lbSloughShark]

Don't forget Dtro that you need the receipt for big suckers. I've been checked for that before.

CaptainMusky, technically its still illegal, but half the AIS laws are just so impractical. It might not seem like it to the walleye fisherman who get off the lake at 10 am, pull the plug, and clean the weeds. Catfisherman have to jump through hoops to fish. I fish until sunset. The last thing I wan't to do after dark is dump the water in the bait bucket (also dumping the scoop and anything else on the bucket), getting that stink all over my boots, and filling it back up with water thats been sitting in the truck all day. If you are willing enough to carry gallons of water with you every time you fish, the hot water from sitting in the sun kills half your bait. So you also have to have ice with you. Thats if you keep it in a 5 gallon bucket. A big tub is a whole new problem. Its just a total pain in the neck for no benefit.

[ClownColor]

I will also step forward and say I am a walleye fisherman and don't realize all the difficulties it may be for other sport fisherman. It is very uneventfully for me during an inspection. I think Dtro is on the right path working with the DNR to help benefit both sides while limiting the spread. However, we also need to realize rules need to be in place for the general public...not all fisherman know what's going on. I carried a shotgun (pre-columbine)in the trunck of my car in highschool for early and after school hunts. I also remember a kid got suspended for bringing and box cutter, which he accidentally brought from work,to school. It was illegal for him but you just hope the authority in charge can do what's right... And that is what will probably happen to you guys.

[CaptainMusky]

Maybe mn should institute no live bait (minnows) like other areas have. Sure would save the hassle. You can't have live minnows in Ontario today.

[harvey lee]

I would agree that these new laws affect the cat fisherman more than maybe all others due to all the issues with getting bait. That alone is more to deal with than the rest of the regs as far as AIS goes.

[delcecchi]

Let's not be so hostile, clown color. I am also not sure the rules that have been made will be or are very efficacious in stopping the spread.

And when the asian carp get into the great lakes or the upper Mississippi it will be the fault of the government for not taking the proper actions such as closing lock and dam #1 in Minneapolis, or blocking off the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal rather than relying on noise makers and bubbles and other half-a** solutions. How long did it take the Coasties to make the ships flush their bilges at sea before entering the great lakes? Twenty years?

None of this means I am not in favor of stopping the spread of AIS. But folks do have a point. If I pull the plug in my boat, not all the water drains out. Nothing I can do about it.

I think most of what the DNR is doing about this problem is for show, and won't accomplish much slowing of the spread. But they need to do something. So they hand out tickets and give lake associations a reason and means to inhibit access to "their" lakes.

[solbes]

I didn't read through this large thread, maybe the last few pages. But good discussion. Will we ever get rid of AIS? No, I don't believe there will be a practical cure for Zeebra Mussels. At least not one that won't have undesirable side effects, like the aphids to asian beetles. Maybe a better hope to control weeds like Milfoil, but again once your lake has it, you have it.

Can we slow down the spread? Yes I think we can through boater education and access boat inspections. Nuisance for some, I guess I just see it as an evolution we are going to have to deal with. If it takes me 5 minutes longer to launch or retrieve my boat, I'm not going to really care too much.

I am serving in a leadership role in a Walker area lake assocition. A number of us have gone through the volunteer boat inspection training from the DNR. Nothing too earth shattering there, just common sense stuff. Pull the plug, look for weeds, feel for the rough sandpaper feel of small zeebs, drain and dry livewells and bilge if possible.

I have seen the county boat inspection stats for the past 2 years where paid boat inspectors are present. The numbers support that boaters/anglers are learning. A 64% reduction in non-compliance rates (boat plug in when arriving or leaving, weeds on trailer/boat, water in bilge or livewell). I take that as a small victory, though I believe this effort can only hope to slow the spread of AIS. Fishing/boating is a multi billion dollar industry in Minnesota, beyond the obvious intangibles of a pristine lake, so I do not believe it is money wasted.

One thing I do not have any tolerance for is closing of lake accesses by Lake Assoications. The accesses were put in by the DNR funded by public money so that all of the public can access the lake. Lake shore owners own none of the lake, so I don't see how they think they have the right to limit access on a lake. Rather they should pony up for paying boat inspectors and supplementing with volunteers to limit exposure.

[BobT]

Maybe mn should institute no live bait (minnows) like other areas have. Sure would save the hassle. You can't have live minnows in Ontario today.

Where did you get that information from? Yes you can fish with live bait in Ontario. Just came back from the Lac Seul a month ago where we fed 161 dozen minnows and a pound of leeches in four days.

[CANOPY SAM]

GREAT post Solbes!

Dtro, I completely understand your situation. I've been a river rat for longer then most here, and catfishing has been a big part of my fishing history.

Only thinking out loud here, but how about just bringing only as much bait along as you need for the night? I know it's extremely important to have lively bait for flatheads, so it's not uncommon to change up baits to make sure they are twitchin' real good out there. But can you "get by" just bringing say 6-8 live baits along for the night? Numbers easier to handle, and transport, at the end of the night?

How about keeping these baits in a free-floating mesh box inside your live well and/or bait well, then simply lift them out of the water at the end of the night and transfer them to another container waiting in a cooler back at the truck?

I'm sure I'm not suggesting anything you haven't already thought of, but there must be some alternative to what you were doing.

Again, I understand your situation, and your frustration. I know you want to do the right thing, and it's tougher for an old cat man to do that when considering all the variables, but I guess we just gotta think outside the box.

One of the ironies in this is that Dtro likely spends a large portion of his time fishing the Minnesota River for flathead catfish. It's actually kind of laughable that someone would have to try and stop the spread of invasive species in the Minnesota River. If there is an invasive species anywhere, it's ALREADY in there!

[CaptainMusky]

Where did you get that information from? Yes you can fish with live bait in Ontario. Just came back from the Lac Seul a month ago where we fed 161 dozen minnows and a pound of leeches in four days.

Sorry, I said that wrong. You cannot transport them from MN. Which doesnt seem to make a whole lot of sense because they get most of their leeches from MN in the first place.

[CANOPY SAM]

A 64% reduction in non-compliance rates (boat plug in when arriving or leaving, weeds on trailer/boat, water in bilge or livewell).

I think it's worth noting, if this statistic is indeed accurate, that perhaps these laws are working! Or at least people are beginning to understand how to be compliant?

[DTro]

Those are solid ideas Sam, thanks.

I'm sure you probably understand one of my biggest fears is running short of bait during a feeding frenzy. One night in a few hours we caught 22 flatheads so imagine how many baits we burned through.

[CANOPY SAM]

As I'm no longer in flathead territory I don't really have to worry about the live bait situation any longer. 22 flatties in one night is AMAZING! Something to consider though, big D, with fish going that strong on one night, concentrated in only a few areas, would you have possibly caught fish with simple dead bait, or cut bait, or a combination of the two. I'd honestly wager that you would've. Maybe not.

I can relate to the big live bait quandary all too well. Fishhead and I used to do the big live bait scramble on a routine basis when I lived in Waconia. I do miss hunting those giant flatheads! But that was before the introduction of all the AIS regulations. So I guess I can't fully understand your situation. Anyway, you'll figure it out.

None-the-less, I'll say it again. It's a process. Yes, it's kind of inconvenient, but it's designed for the good of our Minnesota lakes and rivers, so I honestly think it's something that we, as fishermen, need to do our best to support. My guess is that in a few years all of this will just be second nature when we put in, or take out our rigs.

To the person who posted the pic of the boat plug for me, thanks! That's actually the same boat plug I have in my boat. I didn't realize I could put it in from the outside of the boat, but I guess either way it would accomplish the same thing, right? It's just the way the plug was inserted when I brought the boat home, so I just ran with it. I'm gonna switch that around. It's a real pain to get to that boat plug from the inside transom.

[FshBloodRiverMud]

Just use chicken livers DTRO