Walleye fishing on Mille Lacs will be tightly controlled and conservatively managed for the foreseeable future to avoid the sort of unplanned closures needed in recent years to stop overruns of the state's yearly harvest limit.
The strategy is laid out in a proposed five-year management plan for the lake's walleyes, bass, northern pikes, muskies and perch. The Department of Natural Resources has fitted other major lakes with five-year plans to manage multiple species, but this is a first for Mille Lacs. The plan's public input period is set to close late next week.
At a web meeting Tuesday, DNR Fisheries Chief Brad Parsons told anglers and other Mille Lacs stakeholders the agency won't design regulations with the intent of having anglers remove every last walleye available for harvest.
The agency's higher goal is to maximize fishing opportunity, including catch-and-release. Another key objective of the five-year plan is to maintain strong walleye catch rates and a "high quality size structure."
When it comes to setting yearly harvest regulations for Mille Lacs, the plan document says the DNR will act conservatively through 2026 in terms of deciding whether anglers can take home walleyes early in the season. This year, the agency set a narrow bag limit of one walleye, 21 to 23 inches long, or one over 28 inches, for the first 17 days of the season. June will be catch and release. Walleye fishing will close for the first two weeks of July, then resume under catch-and-release guidelines. DNR is hopeful to reopen a one-walleye bag starting Sept. 6, but the decision will depend on the season's estimated overall kill.
Minnesota's yearly allocation of walleyes from Mille Lacs is established under a co-management system with eight Chippewa bands that have treaty rights. This year's split is the same as it was in 2020: 87,800 pounds for the state and 62,200 pounds for the tribes. The five-year plan describes the joint 150,000-pound limit as the lake's "harvestable surplus" — the amount of walleyes that can be harvested without affecting the long-term stability of the population.
Tom Heinrich, the DNR's Mille Lacs area fisheries supervisor, said this week that the agency is working in cooperation with the bands to potentially develop a new way of determining the harvestable surplus. Heinrich said DNR scientists believe there's room to liberalize the allotment. Still, Mille Lacs has special walleye rules due to concerns about overharvest. The population is reduced from previous decades but remains close to the lake's carrying capacity given a number of big system changes. Mille Lacs has been hit by invasive zebra mussels, invasive spiny water fleas and warming. In addition, increased water clarity has reduced walleye habitat. There are concerns about the sustainability of the lake's cold-water tullibee population — an important base of forage fish — and the DNR will study an apparent decline in the abundance of perch, the most important prey item for walleyes.
"We manage the fishery in a safe way," Heinrich said. "The bands have the same concerns."