outdoors

  As winter fishing winds down at Lake Mille Lacs, I have questions.  Choosing this space to ask them, challenges the people with the answers.  If the DNR touts this big lake as their "crown jewel",  the angling public who owns the jewel, deserve to read the answers in this space as well. So, I look forward to sharing how forth-coming OUR big lake managers act in the, hopefully, near future, to my questions that follow.

  Question #1:  It's getting close to ten years since the big lake has had a "jumbo perch" population even close to being consistent with the previous 40 years I've fished the lake. Unlike years back, nowadays, the average size perch caught and or viewed by ice anglers is 4-5 inches long. Why?  Are the perch, nowadays, a different breed of cat? Why do they NOT grow to the 8 to 12 inch range they used to?  Arguing this fact, won't fly.  So WHY the small perch? Why do they NOT grow to the same size of the past?

  Question #2: After fall netting surveys are showing a trend of close to half the amount of pounds of walleyes in the lake, what really are the reasons for this trend?  Hook and line harvest levels?  Tribal netting during the spawning season? A combination of both? Or additional reasons? How does the population trend change back to the levels of the past 30 year average?

  Question #3:  Now that the smallmouth population is countless times bigger than ever, do we need to be concerned for the walleye population? Will it be negatively effected? Years back, the DNR take was " we need to keep the smallmouth population down!".  Now the take is to protect it? Why the change of management philosophy? The reasons used in the past related to protecting the lake as we knew it then. Have the goals changed?

  Question # 4:  Directed at DNR enforcement.  In the early years of Tribal spring netting, a few locals can verify that I made attempts to challenge U.S. law, based on skin color and ethnic origin, relating to harvesting walleyes. I fished with hook and line during the spring netting, weeks before the formal, general public fishing opener. I kept the walleyes and filleted them in front of others. They called enforcement( I asked them to), with the intentions of seeing this issue reach our courts. Although it was obvious Mn. law was being blatently broken, zero word or actions came from MN. enforcement my way. So, the question is, with television camera's running, will I be allowed to fish for and harvest Mille Lacs walleyes out of season this spring, also without enforcement action taken? Or will the obvious racial discrimination question regarding Tribal harvest, finally, be addressed in our U. S. court system?

  Question #5: What are the plans regarding the half million dollar plus 2007 DNR purchase of  Ray's Boat Dock on the north shore? Originally earmarked as a "public access, but later, AFTER making the purchase, it was shown  that the plan is full of potential snags.  What's next? Or does the taxpayer money just grow weeds?

  Now, my contact info is ALWAYS public. I will gladly fill this space with ALL the answers to the questions above, I hope to  receive, regarding our "Crown Jewel". contact Steve at 651-270-3383 or sf1954@embarqmail.com