# Good News for Red Lake Eye fishing!



## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Walleye limit will be two when Red Lake reopens in spring
Associated Press
Published Thursday, December 22, 2005
ST. PAUL (AP) - Walleye are once again abundant in Red Lake, but anglers will be allowed to keep only two when the first walleye season on the big lake since 1998 gets under way next spring.

Years of overfishing caused the lake's walleye population to crash, but Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials on Wednesday hailed the lake's comeback.

"So far, this recovery is nothing short of phenomenal," said Henry Drewes DNR regional fisheries manager in Bemidji. "We are well on the way, but full recovery won't occur until the lakes contain many different year classes of mature fish."

That's part of why, when the season opens May 13 on Upper Red Lake, anglers will be allowed to keep only two walleyes _ not the statewide limit of six.

Anglers also will be required to release all walleyes from 17 through 26 inches. One fish larger than 26 inches will be allowed.

Red Lake is actually two connected bodies _ Upper and Lower Red Lakes, which total about 275,000 acres. The Red Lake Band of Chippewa controls 83 percent, or about 227,000 acres, where angling by nonmembers will remain prohibited. The state controls a 48,000-acre section of Upper Red Lake, the only place where nonmembers can fish.

Officials expect very high catch rates and that anglers from all over will flock to the state portion of Upper Red Lake.

"I think there will be a lot of folks, and a lot of excitement," Drewes said. "People are willing to drive a long ways to have high quality fishing experiences, and the ability to catch a lot of fish and not necessarily keep them."

The total walleye harvest will be limited to 108,000 pounds from the opener through Nov. 30. If the harvest cap is reached, walleye angling will be prohibited until Dec. 1, when a winter harvest level will be set.

After the lake was closed to all walleye fishing in 1999, it was restocked three times as part of a collaborative effort between the state, band and Bureau of Indian Affairs. The DNR and tribe have developed a management plan to prevent future overharvests.

Regulations aimed at maintaining a quality northern pike fishery on Upper Red Lake will also take effect. Anglers can keep three northerns, but must release all that measure from 26 though 40 inches, with one trophy larger than 40 inches allowed.


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## Joltin_Joe (Oct 11, 2005)

It's going to be a bit of a gong show up there.

I whine and complain about opener on Winnie, I can't imagine what it's going to be like up there.


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

:lol:

It will be the Zoo times 2!!!

I can't wait!!

Bob


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## PSDC (Jul 17, 2003)

The lake is already a zoo!

The sad thing, I do believe the tribe will
only take a few years and decimate the 
walleye population with netting.

There is too much easy money for the 
tribe members when the "white" folks
around the area buy fillets every chance
they get. Who is at fault, both parties.

Been there, seen it for many years!


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## Goosepride (Sep 29, 2003)

PSDC - hmmm....you could be very, very accurate.


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## Joltin_Joe (Oct 11, 2005)

It's possible that the two fish limit will deter some people from making the long drive up there. Maybe it won't be an absolute game of bumper boats. Plus, it will be great for developing a more spread out population of fish with regards to age and reproductive capabilities. That is, of course, assuming another walleye genocide isn't conducted by the Ojibwes.

It's a common assumption that they are going to net again. It's there lake, they're going to do what they want. According to some of the big wigs within the tribe it's going to be done a little more sensibly.

I have worked up there a few times in the summers throughout college-I actually stayed there for a few days on a longer job. Apart from the good fishing and natural beauty, it's an absolute cess pool.

This is from the Strib.

Chuck Haga, Star Tribune
Last update: January 02, 2006 - 12:05 AM

RED LAKE, MINN. - Herb Mountain stood smiling in the boat's stern as it came off a placid Red Lake in late October. The 20-footer rode lower than it had when it went out because it carried the weight of three or four more men -- in fish.

It was like before, his grin said; good, like before.

Few examples illustrate the problems and potential of the unique "closed" status of the Red Lake Indian Reservation better than the big lake itself. Actually two large bodies of water connected by a narrow channel, they often are described as the band's "food store," a cherished hedge against dependency, tribal and individual. The band's claim to the resource has been rigorously protected -- and disastrously exploited.

The shallow basins of Upper and Lower Red Lake form a natural walleye fishery. Like Mille Lacs, they are well aerated top to bottom by wind and wave action, and for decades the tribal fishery ranked with logging as an economic mainstay for the Red Lake Ojibwe.

But in 1997, after years of poorly regulated commercial fishing, the fish were nearly gone.

Each year, the band's Department of Natural Resources counted fish in weekly survey nets. In 1987, the four test nets yielded 1,277 walleyes.

In 1997, the count was 12, and the band and state agreed to a 10-year fishing moratorium.

When the test nets were brought in again in 2005, the fish count was 1,230.

"The lake is back," said Pat Brown, a biologist hired to lead the restoration effort.

The debate now is whether to resume commercial fishing. "The tribal government sent a survey to all members, and we've had public meetings to talk about it," Brown said. The results were mixed, "but fishing the lake out again, we're not going to let that happen."

The lakes are closed to nonmembers except for the northeastern corner of the upper lake, where a strip of land was severed -- stolen, Red Lake maintains to this day -- when the reservation borders were set in 1889. Non-Indian resorts in and around Waskish are preparing for a resumption of walleye angling next spring, with special state limits.

'Our babies'

For 10 years in the 1980s and '90s, Mountain, 50, was a commercial fisherman. He rose at 4:30 a.m. to check his eight gill nets and haul his catch to the tribal fishery.

When he got his weight slip, his paycheck, he raced home to hang his nets to dry. Then he started over, returning to the big lake to reset the nets.

"Regardless of weather, you needed to get out there," he said. "It was a lot of work, but it was a lifestyle you picked up. When the lake closed, it was hard to give up that lifestyle."

He worked as a conservation officer after he put his nets away, then as a fisheries technician helping with restoration.

"As a game warden, I saw a lot of abuse of the lake," he said. "But it wasn't just Red Lakers' responsibility. People and restaurants from all over Minnesota bought those walleyes.

"And after taking part in this, bringing the lake back, I never want to see a gill net again," he said. "Those are our babies out there. We raised them."

The quandary Red Lake faces is this: The reservation is poor, with high unemployment. Sport fishing could spark an economic boom, with cabins and resorts and other business catering to visitors, much like what happened at Mille Lacs. But the member survey brought a clear message: They don't want nonmembers on Red Lake.

"A former tribal chairman once proposed allowing sport fishing on the western side," said Al Pemberton, a Red Lake Tribal Council member and head of the band's DNR.

"I told my mother about it," he said. "She got very quiet. She talked to me about what the lake meant to her. 'That was left for us,' she said. 'The old chiefs kept that for us. It's our food store. We're never going to starve as long as we have that lake.' "

Meaningless quotas

In the old days, fishing camps lined the shores of the two oblong lakes, each about 25 miles across and together covering more than 275,000 acres. All but about 48,000 acres of Upper Red Lake is within the reservation.

In the early morning fog, fires burned in the camps as fishing crews cooked breakfast, tended equipment and prepared to go onto the lake.

White anglers have long criticized the Indian practice of netting, but whites have set nets, too. In 1917, during World War I, the state opened a fishery on the reservation to help ease a general food shortage. State netting ended 10 years later, and the band took over.

Commercial fishing provided Red Lake with a bridge from old ways to new, converting a traditional resource from food to currency. Pemberton and Tribal Chairman Floyd (Buck) Jourdain admit that the band didn't manage the fishery well, contributing to its collapse.

Organized as a cooperative, it had a static annual quota of fish that could be taken. But the band didn't control the numbers of nets; some entrepreneurs reportedly dropped 100 or more in the lake, recruiting relatives and friends to help. As the fish limit approached each year, the band asked federal regulators for a quota extension, and it was always granted.

If commercial fishing returns, it will be closely regulated on the basis of good science, Brown said, with guidance from a technical committee formed by the band, the state DNR, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the University of Minnesota.

The lake was restocked in 1999, 2001 and 2003, and the walleye fingerlings were treated with a chemical that researchers can read to tell the age of a fish and whether it was stocked or naturally produced.

"Five years ago, most of the fish they pulled in tests had been stocked," Brown said. "The last two years, it was 85 percent natural reproduction."

The day's catch -- 224 walleyes weighing 390 pounds, plus some lunker northern pike, slab crappies and whitefish -- was to test the effect of renewed commercial netting. Three nets, each 300 feet long, 6 feet deep with a 3 1/2-inch stretch mesh, were set where the lake level drops from 2 feet to about 20 feet.

The fish were cleaned, with Mountain and other old hands happily and efficiently working through the bounty. Brown took test samples, but most of the fillets went to a tribal nursing home and elderly nutrition program.

Ron Beaulieu, a former fishery board member, stopped to watch. He took fish as a commercial operator, he said, but with just five nets.

"I warned them," he said of the bigger operators. "I warned about taking so many fish."


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## Gooseman678 (Nov 17, 2003)

Me and 4 buddies will be heading out to red lake this weekend to do some ice fishing. im just wondering if anyone has been out there. and how the fishing is?? CRappies would be nice but wouldnt mind just getting in the the eyes. (i know u cant keep them) but they r still a fun fish to catch. not matter who u are. Any INFO would help. thanxs


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## Flick (Aug 21, 2002)

I was just up there last weekend. I didnt even fish crappies. Fished in 7ft of water and did good. Me and a buddy got 17 one evening from 14-22". So nothing big but still fun. Jigging raps were key it seemed, also got quite a few on tip-ups.


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## brknwing (Dec 6, 2005)

just a heads up flick- its illegal to target walleyes on red until it opens this spring


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## Gooseman678 (Nov 17, 2003)

flicks-
did u hear or see any reports of guys catching crappies when u were up there lastweekend? any info would help! How is the lake for driving on? let me know asap if u can. thanxs


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## Flick (Aug 21, 2002)

Yeah we were fishing "crapeyes". The lake was decent for driving, we tried offroading and it was a little questionable. If you're gonna do it bring a shovel and buddy up with another pickup cause you're gonna be hurtin if you get stuck by yourself. I didn't hear any crappie reports myself. If you're looking for guys do BS with go to West Wind on the east side, they got a real nice bar and most guys are willing to talk, at least somewhat I guess.


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