Mille Lacs gets new, unprecedented fishing limit — on perch

For the first time, the Department of Natural Resources is slapping a special fishing regulation on perch caught on Mille Lacs Lake, lowering the daily bag limit from 20 to five.

The reduced limit, in effect through Nov. 30, is meant to slow down a runaway harvest that drew many anglers to the big lake this winter, catching fisheries managers by surprise.

As of Feb. 23, state-licensed anglers caught and kept a whopping 43,000 pounds of perch, grossly exceeding the annual perch allotment set by the DNR and eight Ojibwe tribes that retain fishing rights by treaty.

DNR Fisheries Chief Brad Parsons said the state had not come close in recent years to reaching its annual perch allotment from Mille Lacs of 36,500 pounds. He called the windfall a positive sign for the health of Mille Lacs but said the huge catch means state and tribal fisheries biologists need to re-evaluate the dynamics of Mille Lacs’ adult perch population.

Perch are a key species in Mille Lacs because young perch are a primary food source for walleyes, the lake’s premier sportfishing species. The population of young perch is considered to be very strong — so abundant that walleyes are well-fed and hard for anglers to catch. Maintaining an abundance of older perch will result in more offspring this spring and continued harvest opportunities for next year, the DNR said.

“The lake continues to surprise us,’’ Parsons said. “We want to make sure perch fishing remains sustainable.’’

Meanwhile, he said, it’s exciting to see anglers enjoying good perch fishing. “We all appreciate the fact that the businesses around Mille Lacs have benefited from this good perch bite,’’ Parsons said.

According to surveys conducted regularly this winter by DNR creel clerks, ice fishing pressure on Mille Lacs exceeded 1.67 million hours. That compares to last winter’s poor turnout of less than 500,000 hours of fishing pressure.

According to the DNR, Mille Lacs has never had a special regulation regarding perch, a smallish cousin of the walleye with a torpedo-shaped body and vertical stripes on its sides. The 20-fish daily bag limit is the statewide standard.

The DNR has yet to announce 2025 walleye regulations for Mille Lacs. Normally the rule is announced before the Northwest Sports Show, which opens Thursday. Recently there’s been talk of raising a daily bag limit, possibly to three walleyes if they fit within a limited size range.