Fishing pressure, walleye harvest down at Lake Mille Lacs

Fishing pressure and walleye harvest on Lake Mille Lacs were down considerably in May — not surprising, given the tighter walleye regulations this season. But more bass anglers fished the big lake.

Anglers kept only 2,900 pounds of walleyes and caught and released 29,000 pounds. Those anglers and others that targeted bass or northerns fished about 93,000 hours in May — about one-third the average fishing pressure — according to a Department of Natural Resources creel survey.

"In a typical year, we'd be looking at over 300,000 hours," said Rick Bruesewitz, DNR area fisheries manager.

More smallmouth bass anglers were lured to Mille Lacs for the excellent bass fishing there. Anglers caught around 22,000 smallies, according to the creel survey.

"That's the highest we've seen [in May]," Bruesewitz said. "The bass bite has been very good, and there were a lot more bass anglers."

It doesn't appear the liberal bass harvest regulations — including a six-fish bag limit and a season that opened early on May 9 with the regular fishing season — enticed them to Mille Lacs. Anglers kept only 900 bass, about 4 percent of the catch, meaning most bass anglers are content to catch and release fish.

Anglers also harvested about 1,500 pounds of northern pike last month — not atypical, Bruesewitz said. But surprisingly and unexplainable, anglers also accidentally caught and released about 160 muskies.

"More muskies were caught and released in May than we've seen in a long time," Bruesewitz said.

He said he can't explain the aberration.

The DNR imposed a one-fish Mille Lacs walleye limit this season, and only walleyes 19 to 21 inches can be kept, except one 28 inches or longer can be kept. Night walleye fishing also was closed for the season. Officials tightened the regulations so the harvest doesn't exceed the 28,600 pounds allocated to state anglers under the Treaty of 1837 with eight Chippewa bands. The bands and state determined the safe harvest this year was only 40,000 pounds, a 33 percent reduction from last year. The bands were allocated remaining 11,400 pounds, and harvested 10,223 pounds.

Meanwhile, anglers put in 46,000 hours of fishing last month on Upper Red Lake — about half as much as a year ago. They harvested 17,000 pounds of walleyes (or about 15,000 fish) and released 59,000 walleyes totaling about 106,000 pounds.

Henry Drewes, DNR regional fisheries manager, believes poor weather was the bigger factor.

"Last year, the first five weekends were beautiful; this year we've had wind and rain," he said.

Doug Smith • dsmith@startribune.com