No Cull, No More: Mille Lacs

[MuskieFever]

It finally happened!

 

http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2015/08/04/mille-lacs-area-could-land-more-bass-tournaments-with-rule-change/#more-16752

[mwal]

As I read it you still cannot cull your one over 18. This will not draw any national tournaments. You can only cull your under 18 inch fish. B.A.S.S. and FLW will not be interested in a tourney with 4 fish under 18 and one over 18 and you cannot cull the one over fish. Another joke of a rule.

Mwal

[Jeff13]

Sad they can't lift a rule to allow FLW or a BASS event to come into the community. It would pull in some much needed $$$. Maybe it should be part of Daytons Mille Lacs Stimulus ideas.

[rascal23]

I agree with mwal. The big national circuits will not come to Mill Lacs as long as there is a protected slot, even ranked 10 in the nation. Seems the pros and the organizations have a bad taste for MN and their rules from the past.  If I didn't think that a whole lot of anglers and resort owners would kill every 18" + (and under) smallie they could get,  I would say lift the slot. Big tourny's would be good for the local economy. Bass guy's travel a long way to great fisheries.

  On the other hand, it's nice to have so many great bass lakes that only minnesotans can appreciate, so to heck with the rest.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I dont know why you guys want the cull rule lifted so badly. Why do you need to see the big names come to Mille Lacs? I can tell you what would happen, 20lb+ bags. You know whats way more fun that watching pros catching big smallies? Catching them yourself. The DNR needs to go back to protecting the smallies more as far as Im concerned.

[Prairiefire]

Length provision dropped for Mille Lacs
Friday, August 07, 2015
 

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Friday announced an additional rule change designed to attract national bass fishing tournaments to Mille Lacs Lake.
In an adjustment to a rule change announced earlier this week, the DNR will now allow anglers competing in catch-and-release bass tournaments on Mille Lacs to possess and sort their catches, regardless of size. The previous rule allowed anglers to sort only bass that were smaller than 18 inches.
The new rule, with the adjustment announced Friday, will also allow tournament anglers practicing catch-and-release to possess and sort fish that are larger than 18 inches, up to a full limit of six. Outside of catch-and-release tournament competition, bass anglers on Mille Lacs will still be allowed to possess just one bass over 18 inches.
“We are continuing to respond to the economic needs of the Mille Lacs Lake area, and we have heard from tournament anglers that sorting larger fish would do even more to help attract large tournaments,” said DNR commissioner Tom Landwehr. “Attracting several big-name catch-and-release bass tournaments to Mille Lacs will provide a lasting boost to the local economy.”

Read more: http://www.bassfan.com/docktalk_article/14959/length-provision-dropped-for-mille-lacs#.Vcdu-2K9KK0#ixzz3iKbee0DS

[rascal23]

That'll do it

[CCGinMN]

Very interesting.  Coincidentally, our league (8 boats) has our end of the year tournament out there next Wed.  I wonder how many 20 pound plus bags will be weighed? Maybe someone will set a new league record (largest weight so far this year for five bass is 21.6 pounds).  I'm guessing someone will crush it!!

[bassfshin24]

There was a 21 boat team tourney up there this past Saturday and the weights were a lot smaller than you would think. Winning weight was 19.89lbs. Only 7 teams had weights over 15lbs. I'm not sure if the tournament had implemented the new culling rules yet though. They could have been going by the old rules. 4 teams did have at least one 5lber. 4 teams also didn't weigh in a fish. To me the smallie fishing this year has been way off compared to the past 3. I'm not sure if the 6 fish limit they implemented a few years ago has changed the fishery or if it's just an off year for me. I was up there this weekend but only got out for 2 hours. Did get one decent one right under 4 but the water clarity was the worst I have seen it in a couple years. Could have been the recent rains. 

[PurpleCatMan]

From my understanding it is a special permit for the new tournament regs.  I am fairly certain the UMBCS was under 1 over 18 (per angler, so 2 per team) smallmouth regs.

 

It's funny, I looked at those results and thought it was pretty good!  I did some math on the average fish size and it was 3.75ish!  I wasn't there, but I'm pretty sure ML was rocking hard saturday with all that wind, i'm not surprised some guys came up short of a limit.  Although I am surprised that 4 green and 1 brown won it out there.

 

[bassfshin24]

Yeah I suppose if it was off the old regs then that's pretty dang good. The green ones on Mille Lacs are huge if you find them. A lot of tourneys in the past are won by all greens with quite a few bags being 20lbs+. Yeah I kind of forgot about the wind out there Saturday. I was thinking more about Sunday which was very nice.

[rascal23]

I was up there 8/4 - 8/5 both sides of the lake and it was tough. (report in mille lacs forum)  NABC tourny looked tough as well. 7 teams including Mark Fisher and Scott Bonnema did not weigh a fish.  Weather was pre - front that day. Interesting results from the UMBCS tourny. Looks like the smallies that got weighed were biggies, but it looks like more than a few guys went for the largies.  I'ld like to hear what the smallie guides have to say about the smallmouth fishing.

       rascal

[pushbutton]

The writing is on the future wall for that lake, as far as bass is concerned. Way too much littoral area......combined with the zeebs, nets, over harveat, spearers, DNR mismangement, global warming.......whatever. The buckets will eventually reign supreme. 

[CCGinMN]

I talked to the DNR rep who in in charge of Mille Lacs this morning regarding my league's tourn out there next week (which is catch and release).  Specifically, I wanted to know if we could keep more than one smallmouth over 18".  According to him, they will be giving out maybe one or two “Research Permits” next year which will allow tournaments to disregard the only one brown over 18” rule.  He is talking to BASS and FLW right now working on lining up a big tournament for next year.  The smaller tournaments under 100 teams will not be eligible for a “Research Permit.”