“I got a call from Al Lindner this morning and he said congrats, your whining finally paid off,” Jason Bahr said on this week’s Sporting Journal Radio Podcast.
Jason is the owner of Tutt’s Bait and Tackle in Garrison and has been a vocal critic of Mille Lacs management in recent years. He joined us on our show to discuss this year’s changes and whether or not it’s a step in the right direction.
The new regulations read:
Effective Friday, Aug. 16, Mille Lacs walleye anglers can harvest up to two walleye through Saturday, Nov. 30. Both fish can be 18-20 inches in length or one can be 18-20 inches and the other must be longer than 28 inches. Read more about these changes here:
“I haven’t given the DNR a lot of credit over the last several years, but I think a little bit is due here,” Jason said. At the time of our recording on July 31st, we hadn’t gotten official confirmation on the regulation change that would allow anglers to keep two walleyes between 18″ and 20″. But as of August 1st, it’s official.
Jason thought the last thing that was needed was a signature from DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen.
“She was in my shop today and she is 100% on board,” he said, offering hope that there is finally light at the end of the tunnel for the legendary walleye lake.
I’ve stayed away from Mille Lacs over the years, mostly due to the 3-hour drive, but also because I was sick of hearing about it. The back and forth, the legal battles, the troubles for local land and business owners-I wanted nothing to do with it. Even with stories of trophy fish and lots of numbers caught, I had bigger fish to fry.
What’s even weirder about the situation is that I don’t mind catch and release. I love catching walleyes so I shouldn’t have cared much about the strict regs, but I was tired of the politics, as many anglers were.
“It was so negative,” Bahr said about the things he hears in his bait shop near the shores of Mille Lacs. “One of the things I’ve been trying to get is our fisheries manager to come in the shop…and listen to what the public is saying about the management of the lake. It’s unbelievable how many times a day we hear about (it).”
I’ve talked about the overall distrust of the DNR from anglers in Minnesota and many times I agree with them. But, sometimes it seems like people complain just to complain. On the topic of Mille Lacs, they were right. It just goes to show that when enough people let our politicians know that they feel strongly about a certain topic, they (should) listen.
“As a whole, anglers just need to stand up,” he added.
Managing Mille Lacs comes with a different set of rules of course because you also have to work with the Tribe and their treaty rights. I’m sure that hasn’t been easy. There will still be tight limits since the DNR talks about some lingering issues with the fishery, but from all accounts, anglers have had great days on the water, even if this spring was a bit slow.
There have been rumors of Mille Lacs being managed in a broader sense with a multi-year approach, versus annual knee-jerk changes. That could bring some stability to the lake. Anglers who travel to Minnesota for annual trips could make plans and not be surprised the following year with a an emergency catch-and-release season or, worse, a closure.
A 5-year management plan with no major changes would minimize the constant volatility thats been so present with the lake. There are anglers who never left the lake of course and travelers from the Twin Cities have still fished it to some extent, but the constant bad press year after year wears on anglers who have looked for other places to spend time and money.
I’ll never forget filming a tv show there in 2015 where landowners around the lake were in tears talking about how their retirement paradise has been shattered. Fingers crossed that those are days of the past. While time will tell, maybe things will be different moving forward. What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts, comment below here or on our YouTube Channel which is linked below.
Jason’s full interview is here. We also talk about his role as Executive Director of the Minnesota Student Angler Tournament Trail. The Tournament of Champions is this weekend at Big Stone. We also get a Lake of the Woods fishing report from Joe Henry.
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