Mille Lacs anglers will get one-walleye bag limit this winter

Resort owner Dean Hanson is optimistic that anglers will trek to Lake Mille Lacs this winter after the Department of Natural Resources announced Monday they will be allowed to keep one walleye during the winter season.

"I believe they will come," said Hanson, owner of Agate Bay Resort and co-chair of the Mille Lacs ­Fisheries Advisory Committee.

Anglers can keep one walleye between 18 and 20 inches, or one longer than 28 inches. "That's a meal for a couple of people," Hanson said.

Last winter, anglers were allowed two walleyes in that same size range.

The one-fish limit is intended to keep the walleye harvest below the 5,000-pound cap agreed to by the DNR and eight Chippewa bands, which co-manage the lake. If it appears anglers will exceed that cap, catch-and-release walleye fishing would go into effect. State anglers harvested 3,100 pounds of walleye last winter.

"The clear consensus among committee members was to implement a conservative regulation allowing fishing to continue throughout the winter without the risk of closure," said Don Pereira, DNR fisheries chief. "We believe this regulation meets that criteria."

Tom Neustrom, a fishing guide and member of the advisory committee, said it was important to allow anglers to keep at least one walleye this winter. "Walleyes are walleyes — people want to eat them," he said. "It's a start in the right ­direction."

Walleye angling was stopped on Mille Lacs in August when anglers reached their 28,600-pound open-water quota. It had been unclear whether walleye fishing would resume when the winter season begins Dec. 1. But the DNR announced last week that there would be a season, and officials revealed the details on Monday.

Despite the recent difficult times at Mille Lacs, Hanson is optimistic, partly because the 2013 "year-class" of walleyes is a very good one. "It will be a great fishing season from a catching standpoint," he said. "It's not gloom or doom. We think we're on the road to recovery."

The DNR also will reduce the limit of northern pike on Mille Lacs from 10 to five, with one fish longer than 30 inches allowed. Anglers may only keep a northern longer than 30 inches if they have caught two shorter than 30 inches and have both in immediate possession.

Spearing northerns was allowed last winter for the first time in 32 years. The approach was taken because an estimated 20 percent of the lake's northerns 36 inches and longer — an unsustainable rate — were taken by spearers and anglers.

Neustrom supports the reduction. "It shouldn't have been 10 to start with," he said. "I don't want to see them spear all of these big ­northerns."