Minnesota DNR loosens walleye regulations on Mille Lacs for entire season

With Mille Lacs Lake in better fishing condition than it has been in many years, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Thursday announced a two-walleye bag limit for the entirety of the season.

The regulation is based on a safe harvest allocation that’s up 28% from a year ago. Anglers may keep two walleyes over 17 inches long, but only one of those fish can be longer than 20 inches.

Unlike in the recent past, there is no posted end date for the bag limit this year. Fisheries Chief Brad Parsons said the DNR does not anticipate an unexpected closure of fishing. The worst-case scenario would be a shift to catch-and-release, but the two-fish limit is intended to last until the season ends in late November.

“For the early season, this is the best we’ve had in over a decade,” Parsons said. “That’s the regulation for the year. We do have the ability to change it up or down but we don’t anticipate'' any closure.

Longtime Mille Lacs angler Jeff Popp of Foley said the DNR’s announcement is a sign of the lake’s resurgence.

“It’s favorable to the average fisherman,” Popp said. “It’s good to hear some good news out of there.”

This time last year, the outlook was much different as the DNR ruled that anglers couldn’t keep any walleyes until August. On Aug. 16, the regulation was loosened to allow a daily harvest of up to two walleyes. Both fish could be 18-20 inches long or one could be longer than 28 inches.

Minnesota shares fisheries management on Mille Lacs with eight Ojibwe tribes that hold treaty rights. The two sides meet at the start of every year to set an overall safe harvest limit for walleyes. This year’s combined limit is 201,600 pounds, up from 157,500 pounds a year ago. The state’s allocation of the limit this year is 113,600 pounds, an increase of 28%. The tribes' quota is 88,000 pounds.

Parsons said he hopes the change in the bag limit draws more people to Mille Lacs this year. Keeper-sized walleyes were hard to catch this winter because the lake is stacked with high populations of forage fish, but that could change as the open-water season unfolds.

“I’m really curious to see how this goes,” Parsons said. “I hope people come to the lake and really enjoy some good fishing this year.”

Matt Quick, a professional fishing guide from Albertville, said he hopes the new regulation will continue for years.

“I think it’s amazing and it should just stay this way,” Quick said. “The lake can handle this.”

Another breakthrough this year that’s somewhat favorable to anglers is a reworking of the management agreement between Minnesota and the bands. Previously, the two sides were locked into a year-to-year agreement that forced the DNR to reduce the walleye bag limit mid-season to keep from going over the state’s annual allocation.

This year, officials agreed on a two-year deal, giving the DNR more flexibility on mid-season adjustments. For instance, if anglers exceed harvest projections in year one by catching too many walleyes, the state could carry the deficit over to the next year by a measure of 15% without penalty.

However, if the state’s harvest this year falls below the 2025 allocation, the slack won’t be automatically added to the 2026 allotment. That ongoing arrangement has been a major point of contention aired by Mille Lacs anglers, guides, resort owners and other stakeholders. They believe any unused quota should be added to the following year’s allocation.

Parsons said the agreement for now is that the tribes and the DNR will continue to set a safe-harvest level for walleyes every year. Theoretically, he said, any unused surplus of walleyes that goes unharvested by either side will be counted as fish remaining in the lake – positive data in setting the following year’s safe harvest level.

Parsons said several factors influenced the shift to this year’s higher walleye quota. For one, the lake is filled with strong populations of forage fish – small perch and nutrient-rich tullibees. There’s also evidence of abundant populations of young walleye. For instance, Parsons said, ice anglers this winter reported a good bite from walleyes 10 inches long or smaller. The reports matched good results from the DNR’s walleye survey-netting in the fall.

Moreover, adult walleyes are well-fed and the lake is poised to accommodate another big year of baby walleyes.

“Walleye population is currently in a good place,” Parsons said. “The lake continues to show improvements in overall health.”

The walleye announcement was the second new rule announced for Mille Lacs this season. Last week, the DNR stepped in to lower the daily bag limit for perch from 20 to 5 after anglers exceeded the state’s perch quota by about 10,000 pounds. The sudden abundance of large perch came as a surprise to fisheries managers and they stepped in to keep the species in good numbers leading up to the spring spawning period.