Outdoor News February 14, 2019, Minnesota DNR Reports Anglers on Lake Mille Lacs will have an opportunity to keep some walleye during the open-water fishing season this year, the Minnesota DNR said in a news release Thursday, Feb. 14. This follows several seasons of catch-and-release fishing on the lake. But last year, state anglers stayed well under the lake’s safe-harvest [...]

In my Jan. 25 Outdoor News column, I reminded readers how, in August 2015, tribal gill-netters intentionally violated state law by setting a 200-foot gill net in Gull Lake, with encouragement from tribal attorneys and politicos. The intent: get charged, appeal based on “treaty rights,” and ascend the court ladder. After Crow Wing County court personnel misinformed me that the appeal deadline [...]

In his January 25 Outdoor News column, Joe Fellegy reported on what appeared to be the end of an illegal gillnetting saga by Chippewa tribal band members. recall that tribal members purposely violated state law in August of 2015 by setting a 200-foot gill net in Gull Lake. Their intent, based on their actions and statements by tribal attorneys was [...]

In the January 25 issue of Outdoor News, Joe Fellegy’s commentary asks, “How will new state leaders handle outdoor issues?” He includes Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen as well as Attorney General Keith Ellison and other state officials working in natural resources management. Fellegy rejects “premature judgments” preferring to “wait and see” where [...]

Now that Gov. Mark Dayton, DNR Tom Landwehr and former DNR Fisheries Chief Don Pereira are out of the picture, let’s hope that Gov. Tim Walz and new DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen will fix the political co-management mess on Lake Mille Lacs. They need to figure out a new and better way to manage the lake. After three consecutive catch-and-release-only [...]