Nate Blasing is president of the Walleye Alliance, a Brainerd-based group that wants the Legislature to cut Minnesota's walleye limit from six to four. Blasing, 43, is a part-time fishing guide and University of Minnesota Duluth graduate who studied environmental science and communications. In the interview below, he explains why his group wants to lower the state's walleye limit.
Q: Describe the Walleye Alliance.
A: We're a 4-year-old group whose members include resort owners, guides, tournament anglers and others. Our mission is to educate, conserve and promote responsible walleye fishing. We have between 400 and 600 members. We sponsor a couple of tournaments a year and hold a fundraising banquet.
Q: Are Brainerd area lakes your primary focus?
A: We're based out of Brainerd. But we have statewide concerns.
Q: How do you rate Brainerd area walleye fishing?
A: It's pretty good. But a lot of the more popular lakes in the area have zebra mussels, including Gull, Pelican, North Long and the Whitefish Chain. These lakes also get a lot of fishing pressure. Area guides started finding some years ago that it was harder to catch walleyes consistently. So we formed the Alliance and started meeting with DNR fisheries managers. We've since learned we don't have a lot of natural walleye reproduction in area lakes and instead depend a lot on stocking. The DNR has historically stocked most of the lakes primarily with fry. The problem now appears to be that fry are not surviving because zebra mussels are taking away the fry's food source. Fingerling survive better but are much more expensive and can be hard to obtain.
Q: Are fingerlings commonly stocked in area lakes?