MN DNR is looking for comment on proposed musky lakes

[bassinjp]

If you can not make the meeting the DNR is having go to there HSOforum http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/muskiepike_2020.html

Post a comment on there about musky opportunities and your views about stocking muskies in new areas.

[Muskiefool]

They are not actually looking for lake candidates at this time but more so suggestions on the Long Range Plan for Muskie and Large Pike, this plan has been constructed with input from MN DNR, Minnesota Muskie Alliance, Muskies Inc, Minnesota Darkhouse Assn, Northerns Inc, Sportsmen for Responsible Muskie Management, NON- Affiliated sportsmen and Journalists, some of the Anti Muskie Anti Muskie Stocking people are still attempting to delay this plan even though all of their questions and comments have been addressed in this plan and in the workshops, this is a great plan that still needs a few things to be perfect, if you want to name lakes you would like in your comments I think they will consider all possible candidates that meet this new criteria.

[fishing4fun]

I hope they are planning on creating a musky lake in the Southwestern Minn. We have to drive a minimun of 3 hours to do any sort of musky fishing. Just my 2 cents. We might not have the best type of musky lakes, but one is better than none. Perhaps Big Stone?

[PerchPounder]

I Would love to have a 'Ski lake in SWMN right now we either have to drive up north, NW Iowa, or Fairmont. Im not really sure what type of lake they need for muskies but they sure are fun to fish for and even more fun to catch.

[bassNspear]

so i take it they dont know what lakes there going to create into a muske lake?

[Muskiefool]

what lakes in the SW are close to 30 mi or less a city with a population of 5000 or more and hold drum sucker carp 30+ feet deep etc. I thought Big Stone but thats a boarder lake.

They will be looking at 2 candidates in all 4 regions.

Perch Pounder I like the sig IBEW 343 in solidarity

[Scott M]

I think you may see the # of lakes with pike special regs go up higher than 125, maybe not this year but in the future. I know managers have to trade horses in order to get protection for the lakes they want.

The language in the musky recommendations says "up to 8 additional waters." I doubt more than 1 or 2 lakes will be added, and doing that will be like pulling teeth with all the arguing. They will have a hard enough time finding lakes that fit the ecological criteria, let alone the geographic and social considerations.

Baby steps will come. Maybe 3 forward and 2 backwards?

[cjac]

Hi all,

The encouraging thing here is it's not just a two page memo on the program to say "we're looking into it". Click on the link above and then on the bottom of that to the "Complete Plan", which is 64 pages. Interesting to look at and the up-side is it looks like "work stuff", so you can read it at work!

The goal is up to 8 lakes and with the energy and money being invested I sure hope it's closer to 8 than one or two. Almost all proposed lakes will meet some pushback, so the comments are needed and do help. Realistically, we're looking at the late 2010s or close to 2020 before we would have new lakes with 40 inch fish.

Other topics mentioned are the Minneapolis lakes (pure strain vs hybrid), and the Twin cities tiger program in general. I'll be voicing my opinions on that one for sure!

Chris

[PerchPounder]

Right on brother!

As far as I know there aren't any lakes in the SW corner of the state that aren't eutrophic, but im not so sure that the lakes would have to fit that description to a tee if they are considering 2 candidates. I guess it would all depend on where the boundaries are set for each region.

[Black_Bay]

 Originally Posted By: cjac

Other topics mentioned are the Minneapolis lakes (pure strain vs hybrid), and the Twin cities tiger program in general. I'll be voicing my opinions on that one for sure!

Chris

What's your take on the tiger program? IMO I think they should switch some of the lakes to pure strain and drop some. That's my 2 cents and you get what you pay for.

[cjac]

Hey Black_Bay

I'd like to see the tiger program continued, but I agree that some changes could be looked into. Keep in mind that many that do fish the TC tigers keeep it pretty hush-hush. I hit tigers this year for the first time.....I like! Very nice fish are around, they carry a girth that beats most 40 inch pure strain!

Also, part of the reason behind the December closure of the muskie season is to protect the tigers from early ice pressure. That shows there is a level of commitment to the program.

Sounds like the Mpls chain is getting a look into going pure strain, and there's other lakes I sometimes question. Here's one example: Island Lake in Shoreview is basically a water ski course most the summer. I haven't hit that one, but I drive by and often wonder if it's a good fit or not...... I don't know, but that's the cool part, those that do know, the DNR, are assessing these lakes.

Upside to tigers is they grow relatively quickly, downside is their life expectancy is far less than a pure. Some will argue they are sterile, but in reality even the pures are not reproducing at a noticeable level in the stocked lakes either.

Chris

[Nick Kuhn]

Stocking an entire chain with the same strain just makes sense. Young fish particularly will migrate throughout the chain anyway. Wapogasset in Wisconsin was never stocked with muskie, but so many had migrated down from Deer or up from the Apple River that people targeted them fairly often. A creel survey revealed this and a stocking program to boost the population began. The whole Apple River system is that way though, the light tackle record 50lber was pulled out of Big Round, and that has never been stocked. That may have something to do with Bone and Deer holding an overabundance of fish forcing them to move though.

[AWH]

While some people are hoping that it’s closer to 8 than 1 or 2, I’m holding out hope that it’s MORE than 8. It really needs to be more than 8 if we are going to sustain the outstanding musky fishing that we already have in this state. Hopefully the DNR is getting bombarded with positive comments about the fisheries they have created, but also feedback that we need more lakes.

I don’t believe getting more than 1 or 2 lakes will be a struggle. Adding a new lake is never an easy task, there will always be opposition. But this long range plan will aid significantly in accomplishing future goals. But the DNR can’t do everything by themselves. They need us as musky fishermen to get involved and help out.

One suggestion I’d like to offer up to everyone is to join Muskies, Inc. (if you aren’t already a member) and get involved. It DOES make a difference.

As you take a look at the long range plan, notice that it says the goal is up to 8 NEW lakes. Do you know of a lake that has always had muskies, yet it’s hardly worth fishing because the population is so low? If a lake like this is stocked, this would not be considered a NEW lake. Organizations like Muskies, Inc. can really help out in cases like this and push to get waters like these stocked. Maybe it means using some of their own funds to buy the fish. We have 11 MI chapters in this state. I’m hoping each and every one of them gets involved and makes a push in efforts such as that. Whether it’s as individual chapters or teaming together with another chapter to pool funds. The Twin Cities chapter has been using their own resources to get fish stocked for years. They’ve essentially created an outstanding east metro fishery because of their efforts. It’s a lake that I don’t fish. But I’m very thankful for their efforts and I hope every chapter in the state can follow their lead in that aspect.

Don’t forget to offer the DNR your feedback. Let’s hope that the phenomenal musky fisheries that have been created can be sustained not only for us, but for future generations as well!

Aaron

[bassinjp]

SW MN needs a few musky lakes Big Stone or lac qui parle or even del clark would be some good canidates.

[Shawn Kellett]

As Aaron has said, we need all the members we can get in MI. Everyone out there has a field of expertise that our organization needs. Last night we formed a new committee that does nothing but work on fisheries projects. As it turned out we had a fluid dynamics engineer that had a watershed background in the group. Another was experienced in writing grants and contracts. Everyone has a talent and we need those to keep our momentum going.

That said we also need money to make a lot of these things happen. I believe that our chapter has spent over $30,000 in the past 3-4 years on our stocking & rearing program. We're having a banquet Feb 15th and could use the support of the muskie public on this event. We've got a great line-up of prizes and I was able to get Larry Dahlberg to come down and speak.

http://www.twincitiesmuskiesinc.org/banquet/

We (MI) needs the support of the anglers in this state. There are roughly 150,000 licensed anglers in this state that fish muskies and only 3000 in Muskies Inc. Of those 3000 in MI only about 100 (or less) do 90% of the work. We can't make this thing better without more people stepping to the plate. The previous generation got us this far and we need the next generation to start contributing or things will probably start to slide.

If you've got any questions as to what you can do to make a difference, feel free to drop me a note and we can find a place for you. [email protected]

[Muskiefool]

Hey Shawn what you say is so true, we need all the help we can get and if the workload is spread out some it makes it allot easier to get more done and done more effectively, if your not a member of MI and your not sure if it's for you just stop by a meeting and see what MI is doing to make MN the place to be, it's been a great experience for me.

[10,000 Casts]

 Quote:

Interesting to look at and the up-side is it looks like "work stuff", so you can read it at work!

I suppose that 64 pages must be allocated into the 4th quarter budget. I have a friend that works in your merchandise allocation dept, now I have to tell her that they need to start selling muskie gear!

On another note, up north here I would like to see Big Winnie get a healthy dose of the Leech Lake strain. I don't know why they never heavily stocked it but I would think that it has the potential of being a big time record holding lake almost like say a Mille Lacs. It already spit out the state record and it would be another step in the domination over the other Muskie states.

I suppose that the walleye guys up there would fight it to the death but it's fun to think about.

[Muskiefool]

They will be removing a lake or 2 from stocking(yet to be determined) and adding lakes in place of them so their may be a few more possibilities for all regions as far as lakes go, I know for sure their will be more than 2 and probably closer to the target 8 to accommodate the 140-160,000 current resident Muskie Anglers, the social considerations have been a topic of much discussion in the workshops it's been hard understanding each others needs and objectives up till recently but that is changing, the fact that we will allow spearing on the new introductions helps break down one of those barriers and as for the Muskie eating all the fish social issue that has been addressed in the DNR's new research, I think the completed version of that study will be available very soon and will definitely be available at all public meetings along with all the information that straightens out the web of deceit created by the Anti Muskie Stocking, Anti Fishing group, if you haven't read this draft and commented on it please consider doing so I know they are interested in what we all think.

Thank You

John Underhill

[MUSKY18]

Muskiefool:

If they are planning on removing a couple of lakes from the stocking list, are these lakes going to have a natrually reproducing fish population? I would imagine so, just for the fact that if they didn't, they wouldn't be gaining anything. Make two more lakes, but lose the two that they quit stocking.

I know that there was also a study done in WI a couple years back about a Muskies diet and what fish comprise up most of it. Surprisingly, walleyes were not real high on that list. Now the MN DNR has a study, and while not having read it yet, I would hope that it leads in somewhat of the same direction. Needless to say, some folks will just never come around and see the light. They have the blinders on and will always think that Muksies eat all the fish out of the lake!

[Nick Kuhn]

MUSKY18,

Tell the walleye fisherman that perch are the biggest consumer of walleye fry and small fingerling and bass the largest consumer of larger walleye fingerling. They'll probably request the bass and perch removed from the lake (ironically perch are walleye's primary prey). On top of that you can inform him that the walleye fisherman is by far the greatest consumer of larger walleyes. I don't see why studies were required though. Canada has how many great walleye lakes that have been coexisting with large pike for centuries, in in some cases muskies as well. I fail to see how they can produce a valid argument.

[Muskiefool]

ONE DAY LEFT guys if you haven't please comment they are reading and considering all information gathered and yes they are using all iformation from peer reviewed studies to form this plan and lay out the new lakes

Thanks Guys

John

[BigGrassBass]

Who says they have to present a VALID argument? They are going to fight anyway! Stubborn German S.O.B's

As far as fish in SW Minnesota one of my favorite ski lakes in the metro is only 300 acres in size with a max depth of 14 ft. and the ski's do fine in there. There are plenty of over run rough fish lakes that would benefit from ski's. I was thinking Benton would be a prime example. It's plenty big and has a ton of forage.