DNR setting the table for a possible bigger walleye catch on Mille Lacs

Verified improvements in Mille Lacs Lake fish populations could significantly increase this year’s walleye harvest when the 2025 season opens May 10.

State Fisheries Chief Brad Parsons and members of his staff at the Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday night they will give consideration to suggestions for a two- or three-fish walleye bag limit this year.

In 2024, state-licensed anglers weren’t allowed to keep a single walleye caught from Mille Lacs until August. The stringent regulation last year was borne out of concerns about overrunning last year’s safe harvest level of a total of 91,500 pounds.

Confident that this year’s safe harvest level will be set significantly higher when negotiations conclude soon with Ojibwe tribes who share in management of Mille Lacs, Parsons and Brian Nerbonne of the DNR listened to hypothetical rule-setting suggestions from an 18-member advisory committee that met at Izatys Resort in Onamia and by teleconference. Members repeatedly vocalized a desire for the DNR to get aggressive with early-season harvest rules this year. Throughout Minnesota, the walleye bite is generally best in May and June.

“This is a year to let people have a little fun,’’ said Dean Hanson of Agate Bay Resort and launch service. “You could tell them. ‘You have a chance to keep three fish.’’’

“Let’s try to take it right to the max,’’ said Bill Eno of Twin Pines Resort and launch service.

Nerbonne summarized the discussion, saying members were in favor of an aggressive start to the season with a bag limit of two or three keepers. Some members said they preferred the harvest be limited to fish under 20 inches in length, or 17-20 inches in length. A few others suggested anglers be able to keep one fish larger than 20 inches in length, and one or two under 20.

Eno told Parsons and Nerbonne that stakeholders around the lake have grown tired of tight harvest regulations to start the season. At the end of several of those years, the approach has left an unused surplus of allotted walleyes, he said.

Area business owners and anglers are also easier to adapt to changing conditions. They are no longer as sensitive about unplanned closures of walleye fishing during the mid-season to avoid an overrun.

“If we have to close, we have to close,’’ Eno said.

Normally by this time of year, the DNR and the tribes who have retained fishing rights by treaty have agreed upon their respective harvest limits. But this year, Parsons said, those discussions have been complicated by an effort to possibly lengthen the term of the agreement from the traditional one-year pact to a multi-year pact.

The shift toward a more liberal harvest in 2025 is driven by a drastic improvement in the health and numbers of walleyes, perch and ciscoes. Perch and ciscoes are prime forage for walleyes and the abundance of those species has made it more difficult for anglers to catch walleyes. As one member of the advisory committee put it, the walleyes aren’t as hungry as they used to be because of plentiful natural forage.

Parsons and Nerbonne didn’t say when 2025 Mille Lacs fishing regulations will be announced, but traditionally they are set prior to the Northwest Sportshow, opening this year on March 13 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.