ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota's Natural Resources commissioner says details about a winter walleye ice fishing season on Mille Lacs Lake are still a month away.
Commissioner Tom Landwehr on Friday said he is hoping for "the most liberal season we can get," echoing the call by Gov. Mark Dayton a day earlier. But Landwehr says the timing and harvest limits for a season depend on an assessment of the lake's walleye population that has yet to begin. Recommendations are expected in mid-October.
An exceeded harvest quota for 2015 caused the DNR to close the open-water season in early August. The quotas usually extend through Dec. 31 and encompass the first month of ice fishing. But Landwehr says opening the lake this December to walleye anglers would require new limit-setting sooner.
The comments come one day after Governor Mark Dayton told reporters he'll insist Mille Lacs Lake be open for an ice fishing season for walleye.
Dayton left no doubt Thursday that the premier lake would have a winter season after the summer fishing season got suspended early. The prospect of another cancellation has caused anxiety in the tourism-dependent area.
The governor told reporters after an unrelated event at a middle school that "it's crucial" there be a season "as generous in terms of limits and opportunities as possible."
