Terry Thurmer's Reply from the news paper

[DaveO]

I see Terry of Terry's boat harbor has made a statement in another forum.
I've copied it for MNO members to read........

From Terry?s Boat Harbor, Terry Thurmer:

After reading the article in the Mille Lacs Messenger, I now know why a lot of professional athletes, politicians, and people refuse to talk to the media.

I will first address the newspaper article and I will then tell you about the input meetings and issues that the input members have suggested to the DNR over the years.

I said we need to keep the fishing prostitutes away from the public access. What I meant by this is that anytime there is a super hot bite on this lake you can go to these accesses and see the same trucks and boats fishing every single day for weeks at a time. These same people also do this on other lakes and once in a while they get caught and then you read about all of the fish they got caught with in the newspaper. As far as people spending money up here the people that use the public accesses, some do, some do not. This does not make them prostitutes. Those of you that do spend money in and around the lake I can assure all of the businesses up here are thankful for your support.

As far as closing all public accesses on the lake I never said this. The DNR at a previous input meeting had asked for ideas on how to control the amount of fish taken out of the lake. I told them that one way they do it in some of the western states is to limit the number of hours that the public access are open. This would then eliminate some of the fishing pressure, which would help reduce the number of pounds of fish being taken. Yet, it would still provide public access fishing on a daily basis.

If this had been done this year they would have not had to reduce the slot limit. I think the majority of fishermen out there would have preferred to fish fewer hours and be able to fish all summer with the same slot.

Charging a fee to users of the public accesses, this was not even my idea. One of the people who works at one of the newspapers who published the article called me a day before our input meeting and brought this up to me. His idea was to charge for admission to public accesses and that money should go to the state to pay for restocking of the lake.

Input meeting and suggestions made to the DNR:

The entire Mille Lacs Controversy, and ever changing slots began when the Treaty Bands began exercising their Treaty Rights. The DNR no longer was going to manage the lake from a Biological standpoint, but rather by pounds of fish and the lake is still managed this way today.

The idea I brought forth to the DNR at the input meeting to end the controversy was to build a fish hatchery on Mille Lacs and raise Walleyes to the 14 to 16 inch range.

When the treaty harvest was over whatever pounds of fish they took out could be put back into the lake. If they had more fish in the hatchery than what Mille Lacs needed, the extra fish could be put into other lakes around the state.

The hatchery could also raise Perch, Northern Pike, or fish for forage to keep the lake population stable. Over the years, I?ve asked thousands of fisherman if they would be willing to pay extra money for a fishing license, if that money, would go towards a Mille Lacs hatchery. The answer from all of them was, Yes. The answer from the DNR was no. I then asked fellow resorter, former politician, and at that time a consultant for the Mille Lacs Band, Ron Maddox, for help on the hatchery idea.

I told Ron that Montana had a new state of the art hatchery on the Fort Peck Reservoir and that the Federal Government had paid the entire cost for building of the hatchery. All the State had to do was pay the costs of running it. Ron checked this out and found out that this was true.

Ron then went to the Mille Lacs Band and presented the hatchery idea to then Chief, Marge Anderson and Don Weidel the Mille Lacs Bands DNR Commissioner. To the Band?s Credit, they thought this was a good idea and were willing to discuss building the hatchery.

I visited with Ron this summer and asked him why nothing has been done on the hatchery. He told me even though the Mille Lacs Band was open to discuss the idea, that St. Paul wanted nothing to do with it. I brought this same hatchery issue up at the last input meeting, but this never appeared in the newspaper article.

Another idea we brought up to the DNR in the past and again at the last meeting the possibility of purchasing the fish from the Wisconsin Bands. The Wisconsin Bands talk a lot about commercial fishing. Commercial fishing means dollars.

I suggested that they meet with the Wisconsin Bands and offer them the dollars for the fish they were allotted. This way those Bands would not have to come over here to net, which would give the state more fish for the anglers to harvest each year. The DNR promised they would do this and as of the last meeting to my knowledge, they have never even talked to the Wisconsin Bands about this subject.

The state of Minnesota pays Two Million Dollars a year to the Leech Lake Band for no netting and yet, they will not spend ten cents on Mille Lacs to improve the lake. Again you never read this in the newspaper.

The DNR makes a five year plan with Tribal Bands, this is the last year of the current plan. The input committee feels that if you have a five year plan that any pounds that you are under the allotment in a year, should be carried forward to future years where more pounds could be used to offset overages in years such as this year.

The DNR plan does not work this way. This year they reduced the slot to the point that one can hardly even keep a fish. Yet, when this five year plan is over in November, we will be hundreds of thousands of pounds under the total allotted pounds for the last five years.

The input meetings for us involved are very frustrating. The DNR does not care what we say. They have their minds made up to as what the slots and pounds are going to be before we ever get to a meeting. Because of the DNR?s reluctance to use any of the advice suggested to them by the committee, only a fraction of the people who belong to the input committee even showed up for the last two meetings.

The members of the input group and the Business Community want stability for the lake. We are tired of ever changing slots and controversy, a hatchery would accomplish this goal for stability. We need the help of all the hunters, fishermen, and sporting groups to stand up and tell our Legislators this is enough. We want a new direction for Mille Lacs to end the controversy and if they do not want to help us then they should not be re-elected.

Anyone who would like to talk to me about this or any other matter pertaing to lake Mille Lacs please feel free to give me a call.
320-692-4430

[Spinach]

Both Terry and Paul are taking a lot of heat from a lot of people. After reading the original statement and following this story for the past few days, there is no doubt that people are pissed off.

I am willing to listen to both sides of the story though, if the statement was not blown out of context and it is true, then they deserve all the critisism that they are getting.

If the media is guilty of misquoting Terry, which is very possible, then Terry will need all of us to spread the word and help keep him in business.

There is no doubt that this will affect his business in a terrible way, true statement or not, many people will be unwilling to give Terry the chance to tell his side of the story. So many people will read the original comment and form an opinion at that alone. I will not be one of those people, I'd like to let this play out and give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

[JohnWester]

i don't care how he back tracks out of it with his statement now.  point is, he said what he said, out of context or not, he has said some dumb things and I know i'll never go there again. (yes, I've use his houses in the winter before)  This isn't the first time he has said dumb things, he is one of the ones who thinks he owns the roads on the lake in the winter too.  How this guy is still in business is beyond me.

[tattguy12]

I'm not a people basher at all. But Now i will speak my peace. We had a run in with him and one of his workers last year. We got lost on the roads we were using and ended up on "quote" His roads. And unless we were going to pay to turn around and go back to where we came from. I feel bad for the resort we were at and the owners. Because after that,We will not be going there anymore. Now our annual trips will be to red lake instead. I am sorry if this offends anyone.

[JohnWester]

doesn't offend me, feel free to speak your mind as long as it's civil.  As far as bashing goes... i think we have been lenient on this guy long enough.  and other resorts on Mille Lacs lake too.  Not all are bad by any means. but as the old saying goes, a few bad apples...

[Mayfly]

How about Karpen ::

Had a dealing with him once....... But that is gone now anyways so case closed.

[JohnWester]

did you see Dennis Anderson's article in the redstar?

Each time I've dropped a boat into Mille Lacs this summer, I've done so at a Department of Natural Resources public access. Does that make me a "fishing prostitute" -- a semantically challenged term meant to imply I came and I fished but spent no money in the area?

Terry Thurmer, 53, who's in the fishing business, thinks so. Or else he doesn't --now that he's been quoted in the Mille Lacs Messenger newspaper joining two of humankind's most enduring interests.

"It was a poor choice of words when I said 'prostitutes,"' Thurmer said Thursday. "I should have said 'meat hunters."'

Welcome to the Weird World of Mille Lacs, where, even in a summer like this, in which walleyes have been fairly jumping into anglers' boats, and where smallmouth bass and muskie fishing arguably is unequaled in North America, controversy has arisen once again like a serpent, its tentacles entangling anglers near and far.

Spawning ground for this most recent controversy was a DNR-sponsored Mille Lacs public input meeting July 11. The gathering followed a DNR rule change that dramatically limited the size of Mille Lacs walleyes that anglers can keep the remainder of the year.

Before July 9, four walleyes from the lake were allowed under 20 inches, one of which could be more than 28 inches. But because the bite has been so hot, the DNR on July 9 restricted the allowable Mille Lacs walleye "slot" to four fish between 14 and 16 inches, including one over 28 inches.

The problem for anglers -- and for businesses that serve them -- is that there aren't many walleyes in Mille Lacs this summer between 14 and 16 inches.

Exactly, said the DNR. That's why the change was made. Otherwise, anglers would exceed the Mille Lacs walleye quota the DNR negotiated with a group of Ojibwe bands under a federal court agreement.

All of which prefaces the "fishing prostitute" comment made by Thurmer at the July 11 meeting. The owner of Terry's Boat Harbor on Mille Lacs, Thurmer offers a place for anglers to launch their boats ($10 gets you in and out) or join others, for a fee, on large craft he owns for guided fishing trips onto the big lake.

Thurmer, in retrospect, wishes he had more specifically castigated only those who fish a lake, any lake, day after day, when the bite is hot, taking limit after limit but offering little in return.

"I wasn't referring to 99 percent of fishermen," he said. "Just the minority."

Still, after Thurmer's comments were reported, a fishing firestorm erupted across the state -- and nation -- as untold hundreds of anglers, mostly in online chat rooms, told Thurmer where he could stick it.

My jerking knee suggests I should pile on. Favoring the DNR public boat accesses as I have this summer, perhaps I've been a happy hooker in more ways than one.

But it's also true that, around the lake, from Wealthwood to Malmo to Isle and Garrison, I've dropped a fair bit of change this season for bait, food, gas and supplies.

Yet, even if I hadn't, I'm preternaturally averse to joining what seems to be a peculiarly American interest in ruining people who speak intemperately -- or, occasionally, outright stupidly. Yes, Thurmer at times might tell you a little more than you want to know. And, like many people, he's capable of viewing the world through a prism very decidedly of his own making.

But that doesn't make him a bad guy. Or even that unusual.

Moreover, when Thurmer said what he said -- even if what he said represents only a small part of what he more fully believes -- he gave voice to a nearly universal tension that exists between locals and tourists.

In Ely, for example, some canoe outfitters decry no end to Twin Cities paddlers who bring their own gear and pass through town en route to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, only to leave a week later without changing "a $5 bill or their underwear," as some in town like to say.

That said, Mille Lacs locals who in recent months have formed a sort of groundswell in opposing further public boat accesses to Mille Lacs are playing with fire, and would do well to recall the life and times of the late DNR Commissioner Joe Alexander.

Growing up poor in Kentucky, with few lakes and rivers open to him and his dad to fish, Alexander vowed at a young age to make public access to public waters a lifetime goal. And he succeeded, defeating all opponents, as Christmas Lake shoreline residents in the western suburbs can attest.

What Alexander knew is what all in the fishing game should know, be they business owners, ethical anglers, fishing prostitutes or meat hunters:

More access means more anglers and more boaters, a critical mass of which is necessary to ensure that clean water and the fish they support are part of the landscape forever.

This Terry guy doesn't know when to shut up!  his quote in the article;

"It was a poor choice of words when I said 'prostitutes,"' Thurmer said Thursday. "I should have said 'meat hunters."'

so everyone who launches at the public access on Mille Lacs is a "Meat hunter"

[JackpineRob]

I have never fished Mille Lacs, and after all of the hoopla surrounding tribal rights, the ice road "ownership" stories and tales of people crowding in on markers, I have absolutely no wish to fish there.

I fish for enjoyment nowadays, and putting up with hassles and attitudes just isn't what I'm looking for.

Stories like this one convince me yet again that Mille Lacs is a place that I need to avoid. 

[Mayfly]

This Terry guy doesn't know when to shut up!  his quote in the article;

"It was a poor choice of words when I said 'prostitutes,"' Thurmer said Thursday. "I should have said 'meat hunters."'

so everyone who launches at the public access on Mille Lacs is a "Meat hunter"

You are misunderstanding him I think. I for one and many others agree to what he is saying. Others may not step forward on this issue but everyone has voiced their opinion on the issue in other areas and different lakes. I have talked to two people that were at this meeting and they both agree that he was misunderstood and misquoted. Now his business is being jeopardized because of an article in the messanger that has spread state wide. Hopefully it will blow by.........from what I hear he still runs one of the better ice house operations on the lake.