Much Optimism Surrounds This Lake Revival
Spend any amount of time talking about walleye fishing in Minnesota this spring and surely two words will eventually pop up in the conversation. RED LAKE. What has all the fishermen so excited is a tale of a lake that was by all accounts fished to the extreme by Native Americans and non-band members, both legally and through unregulated poaching. By the turn of the new Millennium, the lake was on the verge of the walleye population completely disappearing from this large body of water.
But this is a story with a happy ending (or should I say beginning). In fact, even to many of the experts who worked on the restoration project, they are amazed how in less than a decade a fishery could rebound from nearly collapsing to today becoming one of the hottest walleye waters found in North America. Indeed, reports from several sources are expecting that anglers will be more apt to catch a walleye on their hook than perhaps a crappie come Saturday for the fishing opener. And that’s saying that both species are quite plentiful these days.
The past few years during the recovery program, all the walleye that might have ended up on an angler’s line were to be thrown back. That all changes come Saturday. At 12:01am Saturday morning some lucky fisherman will hoist the first legal walleye out of Red Lake in nearly a decade. And with that catch marks the dawn of a new era of fishing on this storied body of water in Northern Minnesota.
Gone are the days when the Minnesota DNR and the local Indian band work independent of one another. Today, a new cooperative spirit thrives and has allowed this fisheries to once again regain the walleye mystique of its past. It’s been years since the largest lake within the borders of Minnesota has seen this kind of excited fishing anticipation. No doubt about it, there’s a palpable buzz that’s being created throughout the Midwest because a long-term fishery has been officially taken off life-support and the prognosis couldn’t be much better for a healthy future.
As fisherman get accustomed to Red Lake’s new 2 walleye limit with a 17” to 26” protected slot limit, lake officials are reminding anglers that if this recovery is to succeed it will mean strict enforcement of the new rules. Expect band officers as well as Minnesota CO’s to be patrolling the waters heavily throughout the year.
Indeed, both the state and the Native Americans who control the resource management on the lake have been given a second chance. This time they’re not about to mess it up by failing to cooperate. At the present time they’re also not about to let greed and over-harvest impact a resource that is so meaningful not only to the sportsman, but also to the local Indian culture. Let’s hope that attitude remains unwaivering in the years to come.
Whether your destination is Red Lake this weekend…or perhaps another lake within Minnesota to wet a line…or even if you are sitting in another state just reading this blog wondering what all the hype is about…it’s about succeeding at managing a fisheries resource. As sportsmen we can all rejoice in the success. In fact, it was the fishermen themselves who formed Upper Red Lake Area Association and who advised the DNR on what actions needed to be done to reestablish Red Lake.
Perhaps that’s one of the biggest reasons this is such a sweet conservation success story. Fishermen directing the state officials while also doing a large amount of volunteer work to make the revival happen. And with this grassroots approach to managing the fisheries, it could be said that truly everyone has a vested interest in seeing the waters succeed and stay healthy this time around. And the outlook…as for the foreseeable future things couldn’t look much brighter for this big Northern Minnesota walleye factory.
2006 Jim Braaten. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction without Prior Permission.