Rockman's Report

[rockman]

Well ,well, well, I guess there are a few of you that do read my report. I think soon there will be a shrimp shortage. I have received many emails from those of you that were using the shrimp this weekend. I must clarify one thing on the shrimp. You do not have to buy a whole bag of them. Just stop at your local meat store and buy just 2 or 3 prawns, that will be plenty. If you can not get your limit on 2 or 3 prawns, you are doing it all wrong. There was a decent perch bite out off of the second reef this weekend.

 

Some did better than others, as is always the case. It was a very cold one on Saturday and Sunday, so there was not a whole lot of movement outside, but with this weekends forecast being nice and warm, I would expect to see a lot more people out and about with this being the last weekend of the 2007- 2008 hard water season. I am looking forward to a couple of months of recharge, before the 2008 walleye opener. I will be attending the advisory meeting on the slot limits for this year, on Thursday of this week. It does not look good for those of us up here that rely on the fishing for a living.

 

The DNR have already made up their minds on the slot for this year. The meeting is just a formality to try to make it look like; we the business owners have a part to play in the process. Not so, it is and will always be their decision, not ours. I feel that if this continues on the path that they have laid out, we the businesses will all be looking for another way of life. Sad but true, between the no smoking in bars and restaurants, the county trying to impose new  much more restrictive regs, for fish house ordinances with regards to live in fish houses and dead storage houses. Then throw in the bad economy that has fallen into a recession and you have a real problem on our hands.

 

That, in my opinion and since this is MY report, I do have one, is going to kill the east side of the lake, since that is the bulk of their business over there. The other resorts in Crow Wing and Aitkin County will have all of the fish houses from Mille Lacs County. That is a recipe for economic disaster. How in the hell can a resort even survive, let alone any hospitality business in the area, with all that stacked against them?

 

I wish I had an answer, being that my resort is right smack dab in the middle of it all. It will all play out over the next few years and we will know for sure what our fate is. I personally know what that fate is, if we do not get some type of help from our elected officials and Stop the "Mille Lacs Madness" that has been dogging us for so many years now.

 

That is why I have done the PUD over here. I could not just stand by and wait for the inevitable. To fail has never been a part of who we are. So we will just sell off the cabins and Rv sites to those of you that want a beautiful place on the lake for a reasonable price and have the private sector enjoy what the lake has to offer, as you will not be trying to make a living at it.

 

That is all I have to say about that!

Have a great week

We will see ya

When we see ya

The Rockman