Netting on Mille Lacs

[Mayfly]

Does anyone know when the prime time for netting on Mille Lacs takes place??

A few years ago my Dad and Uncle were up there and they welcomed them in to watch. They said it was quite the site. I would like to see this sometime.

Thanks!

[GirlGuide]

Last year, my husband and I were up on Mille Lacs, it was two or three weeks before opener at least.  They had their nets out everywhere then.  It actually was quite sad to me to see this.  We walked down to a couple of creeks where the walleye are usually spawning in, and yup, they were stacked up like wood!  It was really cool to see all the monster walleye, the one's you dream about catching!!  I could NOT believe some of the sizes of these walleyes.  Hundreds and hundreds of them...all going into the net.....made me sick!

gg

[UncleDave]

The biggest problem with the netting isn't the harvesting as the DNR adjusts the take by non-natives based on what the natives take.  The problem is there are literally billions of unlayed eggs being harvested as most of these fish are pre-spawn depending on weather from year to year. 

[Mayfly]

Netting Video

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIqwZ43r6Ik[/youtube]

[kenhuntin]

I did not see any hand woven hemp nets.I guess the netting practices can change but netting rights can't.

[Woody]

http://ap.brainerddispatch.com/pstories/state/mn/20080503/275141441.shtml

[JohnWester]

http://ap.brainerddispatch.com/pstories/state/mn/20080503/275141441.shtml

yea, i read that too woody... makes me sick.

They should not have put them out yet with the ice there...

sickening.
I won't say anymore
 

[tom fellegy]

i was coming home from baudette on tuesday evening and came through garrison. the launch by mcdonalds was packed and there were boats out setting nets all over garrison bay. i could not believe what i was seeing, the weather reports were all calling for a wind shift out of the southwest and to blow at 20 to 25 mph. the ice sheet was only out a half mile or less, mostly less. wednesday morning, i was not surprised to hear of all the lost nets. i went out in my boat on saturday morning with 2 other people and we were able to locate 9 lost nets. some were pushed up in shallow water and had dead walleyes in them. there were others that were draged out in to deeper water, 25 feet or so and were still streached out the full 100 feet. the nets were to deep to see if there were any dead fish in them. there also were some that the bouy's were weighted down enough so they were below the surface of the water. most bouy's were the large size boat bumpers, there were a few laundry deturgent bottels. glifwc clames that there was only 10 nets lost out of 170 that were put out tuesday night, we saw 9 and there was alot of ice still in st albins bay, which is the way the ice went after it swallowed up all the nets. i was in the area until 10:00 am saturday and did not see any native put a boat in the water and try to recover their nets. glifwc said it was top priorty to retreve the lost nets, in my opinion, it is top priorty to keep netting on the east side and go back to garrison when their quota is filled. there is a good debate going on on a different web site, IDO, go to the mille lacs forum and then the walleye and perch page. there is pictures and good information on there. on a more positive note, the ice is out here on mille lacs and i put the dock in this afternoon..................tom fellegy

[Mayfly]

Thansk for the update Tom. I have been reading the other site daily. I'm really looking forward to getting up there after work next Friday

This whole netting thing makes me boil. Soon it will be over....until next year

[Cody Gruchow]

it makes me mad, the way things like this happen, like you said tom, it didnt look like they were to worryed about recovering the nets until they were all the way done with there weight limit.

[repoman]

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