Smallies are biting good on Mille Lacs

[RumRiverRat]

[corncob]

Sick bunch of cowards!!

[smnduck]

Eff you Twin Pines.

Never getting any business and will bad mouth your POS resort forever.

[smackem33]

Wow u guys really don't like people eating there Legal catch of fish. I don't get it?

[smackem33]

That's 3 fish per person omg really killing the fishery! ( that is sarcasm if u didn't realize it)

[Stick in Mud]

Like that pot needed more stirring...this might be fun to watch.

[RuddyDuck]

Yeah, you could actually say they practiced some conservation since they only kept half their limit! Can't tell if any are over 18in though.

[mrklean]

Horrible people for keeping legal fish we should get the lynching mob out

[RumRiverRat]

Horrible people for keeping legal fish we should get the lynching mob out

The Musky guys on this site would be demanding their heads on a platter.

[Juan Grande]

Most of those fish are over 18" Rud.

[corncob]

Recent research, as well as past studies, have shown that smallmouth do not compete with walleyes for food, but, you walleye wonders simply cant get it through your thick heads....The "kill the smallmouth" theme is plain and simply ignorance and stupidity.....People like you have no respect for the resource and don't deserve the right to fish any species.

[mnvikes32]

Is it legal or not? Yes. Lay off a bit.

[M1dwestF1sh]

Do they actually eat the bass?

[bassin]

Any other lake having the bass open to taking is no issue. But not this one. Smallmouth are still blamed for part of the walleye problem and way too many people still have the kill a smallmouth save a walleye attitude. And F you Twin Pines! One of their launches saw me catch 3 smallies this past monday. Pulled up anchor and came and park right on top of me. So close I could no longer make the same cast I was making.

[Juan Grande]

Check out Twin Pines Facebook page, definitely not an isolated incident.

[Juan Grande]

We should really see some impressive stringers this fall as the water temps drop and the fish school up. Good thing the DNR made Mille Lacs exempt from the fall statewide C&R regs on smallmouth.

[JP Z]

I guess any type of advertising is good advertising right?......they will probably have a lot more customers because of this. As there is a large kill a smallie save a wally mentality with some as noted.

[MN BassFisher]

[bassfshin24]

Definitely a sad situation. It maybe legal to keep them but that certainly doesn't make it right. Why do you think there are so many great bass lakes in this country....it's because of the bass angler's mentality of C&R. All of you promoting the keeping and killing of smallies should be ashamed. And I'm not saying keeping a few smallies is wrong but seeing these launches and resorts promoting this is just flat out wrong.

[wormdunker]

"Where are all the walleyes? Eaten up by all the bass" A direct quote from a facebook post on Twin Pines page. The photo of dead (potentially Illegal sized Smallies) is not necessarily the problem. Everyone has the right to keep fish by our rules if they are legally licensed to do so.

I cannot get over the ignorance however in that quote. Where have the walleye gone? hmmmm. Lets think about it just for one moment. We can start with the nets. Every year the same size walleyes are harvested from the lake. Year in and year out the the nets catch the same fish. Not long ago the cry was regarding a lack of eater fish?

At that time the call was to get up here and catch a trophy. Big ones galore and they are biting come on up! So everyone pounds the walleyes trying to get their wall hanger. Thousands of those fish could be found floating atop the surface of the lake summer after summer. It seems trophy walleyes dont take well to being pulled from deep water on hook and line. Dead fish from hook and line anglers litter the surface of the lake for years. I assume most of the die hards blamed something for the mortality, Zeebs? Smallmouth?

So the population of keeper fish have been gutted from the lake, the remaining trophy walleye caught for fun and sport dead. What remains? a booming smallmouth population.

Shocker, when you gut the lake of a specie of fish another is bound to prosper. So since there are now more smallmouth (the result of the DNR's mismanagment of the fishery) the meat hunters have to blame the fish? really? The DNR virtually posted "Wanted" dead or alive posters all over the coutnryside to cover up their mismanagement of the lake and you are gonna blame the fish? Idiots like the one who posted the quote above Choose to follow like lambs to a slaughter.

Lets talk about Perch, how do we think the perch population dropped drastically? OVER HARVEST for years. no keeper walleyes, lets go pound the perch.

So when the DNR divulges that the Smallies eating habits do not in fact impact the walleye population those that were whacking smalies left and right choose not to believe them. I appreciate selective harvest but not Selective memory.

This division between anglers based on desired species is what kills our political power. "Bass guys (and gals)", "Walleye guys(and gals)", "Muskie Guys (and gals)"

divides what very likely COULD be the most powerful lobbying group this state could have.

Instead of bashing each others species (or special interest) we need to get it together and demand the DNR manage "OUR" lakes better for all species. As long as netting will occur on ML there will be problems with the walleye fishery. That is it. If the same dolts are managing it tomorrow that are today the lake is doomed. Twin Pines? board it up. I will never venture in your doors again (ps i am a guy that trailers there several weekends a year and is always looking for aplace to stay not jsut a fly by night Bach party) but that wont be the reason your resort dies. The DNR will be responsinble for it.

[B-man715]

Look at all of those warm water yummy summer bass

[mrklean]

So is it worse now 11 people in that pic and 15 bass everyone kept 1 bass a few kept 2 does that make it a horrible slaughter?

[bassfshin24]

Come on mrklean! Have some freaking common sense. Do you not get the argument here? The problem is that launches and resorts are advertising the catch and keeping of smallies because they believe it's the smallies that are causing Mille Lacs walleye problem. I'm ok with people keeping some smallies for a meal but when resorts and launches are specifically targeting smallies just because they are a "problem" fish to the walleye is a joke. Every single person that thinks this action is ok is the reason Mille Lacs is struggling in the first place. Why do you think that lake has turned into a World Class smallmouth fishery? It's because us as bass anglers practice C&R. Maybe if the walleye guys had the same mentality Mille Lacs wouldn't be in such bad shape. And yes I'm sure netting as to do with some of it but I would say the biggest problem is the mentality of keeping everything I am legal able to.

[Juan Grande]

That's one group of people from one launch. Multiply that potential catch by however many launches they have in a day. Plus, they're likely not the only resort doing it. You can easily clean every smallie off a rock pile with 30 slip bobber/leech combos in the water.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

So is it worse now 11 people in that pic and 15 bass everyone kept 1 bass a few kept 2 does that make it a horrible slaughter?

Remember when there were millions upon millions of bison in North America? How long did it take them to be on the verge of extinction? Too many people out there with your mentality. You're looking at one snapshot in time, look at the big picture.

Other posters are right, the reason Bass and Muskie fisheries thrive is our catch and release ethics.

The part that's really annoying is that these people really do believe that getting rid of the bass will save their walleyes. In reality they are just going to be left with a lake with even less reason for people the want to travel their.

Hands down that lake has too many big walleyes. They are eating the perch and themselves. Once they drop out of the system there Id bet there will be better recruitment of young walleyes and and perch.