DNR just tried to help

[deepportage01]

I called the dnr today to let them use the pond in my back yard for a stock pond it is a 5 acer pond that would be well suited of for this [deep/clean] the ansure they gave me was they would love to but they can't add any more stock ponds without a licence? becuse of the duck habitat isues.I was a little confused they have someone that will give them full use of a prime pond to stock area lakes but they wont step on the other departments toes to do it. any thoughts [i know my spelling is bad]

[walleyeaddict]

Sounds par for the course!!! Why do states with a much smaller DNR revenue have 10 times better fishing???? SD,ND,Wis....need I say more. The Dnr head positions should be elected then maybe they could pull their heads out of their a@#$%!!!

[deepportage01]

I just tried to help out the best way I could.I love our state and just want it to better in years to come

[deepportage01]

I just want to make one thing clear I'm not bashing the dnr for the most part I think they do a good job

[chub]

Over all, I'm not sure Wisconsin has better fishing than MN??

As for the Dakotas, I'm sure the population has something to do with the fishing.

Good to see the DNR is thinking twice about dumping fish in every pothole now.

[Eye-lander]

I would argue that we have a great fishery in Minnesota overall. I think the DNR may take a call from someone offering their pond out in the back 40 with raised eyebrows! Why would someone want us to stock their personel lake? Just playing devils advocate. No offense.

[nofishfisherman]

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The Dnr head positions should be elected then maybe they could pull their heads out of their

a@#$%!!!

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Yeah, becuase all elected officals do an outstanding job.

[Harmonica Bear]

Chub, well put.

I could not have said that better myself.

[Mark Christianson]

Congrats to the DNR for not dumping fish in every puddle.

Our ducks have enough problems with disappearing wetlands.

Fishing in this state is outstanding IMO. Can someone show me some facts/reports that says the overall fisheries in other states are better than right here? I completely disagree.

What do we need? Gauranteed limits every time on the water to make it a good fishing state?

[Borch]

The DNR is looking closing at their stocking/rearing programd as well as issuing special use permits for rearing minnows for bait within natural ponds. While it may help fishing there is some evidence that it harms the water's ablility to support waterfowl as it changes the water quality and vegetation within the pond.

So it ends up being a bit more complicated than just having another place to raise walleyes for stocking.

[Bushwacker]

I really wish I would have taken video of how many ducks nested and lived in the 10 acre pond in my back yard three years ago. One of the 3 people who own land on it gave a local bait man permission to use it to raise minnows and leeches. The ducks are now virtually non-existant. It is now a big deal to see a pair of ducks out there when three years ago there were 30+ all the time. The minnows compete with the waterfowl for food. There are more than enough stock ponds out there already that are not being utilized.

IMO, MN has the best fishing around. It is just that our state has so many people out there fishing them. There is a lot less pressure on fish in the surrounding states.

[senkoskipper]

WHY DONT YOU JUST STOCK IT YOURSELF? THEN YOU CAN HAVE YOUR OWN PRIVATE LAKE.

[BobT]

I may be wrong here but if I'm not mistaken it is illegal in Minnesota to transport and stock fish without a license. The reason for the licensing is to control the inadvertant introduction of invasive species. It was this type of practice that brought us pheasants but it also brought milfoil, buckberry, certain thistles, many fish species, etc. In many cases, the introduction of a particular species of fish, plant, or animal, although at the onset seemed good, has proved detrimental to the local ecology. The DNR has made this mistake themselves many times. How many of us are bothered by those pesty black flies that were imported from Japan to compat the forest tent caterpillar?

Transporting living organisms must be done with great care.

Bob

[V-12 Merlin]

That's a good point (about needing a permit to transport fish), but I think there ways to do it. There's a fish store in the Twin Cities that sells game fish, so somehow it must be legal to take them home without a special permit. I don't know that much about duck habitat, and that is definitely something I've never considered before - how stocking a pond would affect waterfowl. I have delusions of someday owning enough property to have my own private pond, and I think it would be great to have both fish and ducks. As for the DNR stocking my pond, I think that's probably something I'd rather do myself.

[jbell1981]

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and I think it would be great to have both fish and ducks.

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Then you may want your delusions to include 2 seperate ponds.

[verg]

Just an OPINION from a SD guy. I personally never really understood why so many minnesotans flock to this area to fish. I have relatives and friends in minn. and they have great success fishing. I don't feel Sd is any better. Speaking of fish ponds etc. Many of these were accidental. The bad winter of '97 flooded the big lakes into sloughs and brought fish with. Some are just rearing ponds. After several years now that the water is slowly declining the gfp is opening some of these cuz they fear they will freeze out etc. I just don't understand when you guys could go to rainy or mill lacs etc you come to waubay. I'm not trying to offend, just have heard great things about those lakes. I think chub said it well, not as much pressure here..just good to get away. Most of the stocking is not in sloughs, it is in the big lakes. Waubay may not exist if not for stocking. They have found that fish have an extremely low success rate. Like wallys around 10%. (meaning 10% of the fish are successful) Again, not trying to offend, SD is pretty good fishing but i don't think it is any better than minn, ND or wherever.

[BobT]

No matter what, there is one sure truth.

A bad day of fishing, if there is such a thing, is still better than a good day at work!

Bob

[deepportage01]

like I said it ia a pond not a lake.I have a cabin on a great lake up north and I just thought I would try to do somthing down here to help out. I was not trying to get anything out of it at all. This pond was used by minnow trapers in the past and it is full of fatheads as we speek and from what I can see the ducks still love it in there.

[lanyard]

deepportage-

You may want to contact the USFWS. If the pond was used for minnow rearing, they may be able to stock walleyes in it to clean out the fatheads.

The odd part is, the walleyes eat the fat heads thus cleaning the water.

The cleaner water improves plant life, plants keep wave action down and reduce silt, etc. After some period of time it will be one heck of a duck slough with 12" walleyes. The DNR may be interested in this angle as well. I have heard of this working... but can't say what the policy is.

Minnow 'rearing' has been detrimental to many, many sloughs. Most notably in the prairie pothole section of the state (Wilmar and W to NW). If you're in an area that is boreal in nature you may not notice as dramatic of an affect in the duck popluation as you are most likely seeing mallards, woodies, merganser, ringnecks, etc.

The potholes out West used to put up teal, pintails, and hundreds of thousands of mallards. Many of these potholes are just dead water with minnows and carp swimming in them.

[PerchJerker]

I was going to post essentially the same thing lanyard said. I also have read studies that say minnows (fatheads) are harmful to duck ponds because of what they eat, whereas walleye fry will eat the young minnows and the same food the minnows eat, thereby controlling the minnow population and improving the pond for waterfowl. One interesting thing in this study is that it worked with walleye fry, but not walleye fingerlings -- because of what they eat the fingerlings don't control the minnow population the same way fry do.

[deepportage01]

Thanks for all the good onfo lanyard. it is nice to get real info and not people thinking you have alterative motives.THANKS.

[ozzie]

Do you currently have fish in the pond? If not purchase some from the DNR and stock it yourself. Have your own personal honey hole.

[caseymcq]

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Sounds par for the course!!! Why do states with a much smaller DNR revenue have 10 times better fishing???? SD,ND,Wis....need I say more. The Dnr head positions should be elected then maybe they could pull their heads out of their

a@#$%!!!

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The DNR commissioner is appointed by the governor. It isn't an elected position but close.

The position should be a merritt based promotion where they hire someone who knows about mananging natural resources. The last two have been a politician and ex-FBI agenent / Police Chief. Not much natural resource management experience with those positions.