Outdoor Insights: New perch bag limits on Minnesota’s Mille Lacs serve as a forward-facing sonar wake-up call – Outdoor News
Two weeks ago, Minnesota DNR Fisheries restricted the bag limit for yellow perch on Lake Mille Lacs.
The fantastic jumbo bite there this winter produced big grins and piles of fillets for anglers, plus positive news for the Mille Lacs region. Coupled with the upcoming two-walleye bag beginning May 10, the year has kicked off well for the big lake.
The perch limit slashing from 20 to five presents a case study that could’ve happened anywhere. I think we just witnessed the first major Minnesota DNR reaction to the huge effects of forward-facing sonar.
Anglers who know more about fishing than me will tell you the jumbos on Mille Lacs didn’t magically appear. They’ve been there a couple of years. Some anglers were catching them, but the bite blew up because so many more anglers are employing FFS. (In fairness, better ice conditions this winter made these perch more accessible, too.)
The majority of the perch caught since New Year’s were on mid-lake flats or roaming what Joe Fellegy calls “deep nowhere” away from structure. A few years ago, a lot of these perch would never have seen a hook. Today, the combination of social media and FFS quickly put overwhelming pressure on them during an icy three-month window.
Again, it’s good that anglers enjoyed fine fishing. But when harvest (43,000-plus pounds and counting) blows up 600% from the previous high of the past 13 years (7,000 in 2013), some intrepid outdoors writers might ask the DNR what FFS means for all our fish species. How can stocking or natural reproduction keep up with that pace of angler harvest? This Mille Lacs example is simply the bleeding edge.
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Three-plus years ago, a fishing guide pulled me aside and said, “Rob, I see how effective I’ve become with this forward-facing sonar. When everyone is using this, there will not be any fish left in the lakes.” Since then, this newspaper and other outdoors media have profiled the technology extensively.
Some folks privately are complaining that FFS has changed the culture of fishing. Everyone’s slowly criss-crossing lakes while staring at screens and searching for big fish instead of actually wetting a line. No one believes we can ban it or place the genie back in the bottle, but the Mille Lacs perch example proves its effects on fish populations are real. FFS demands a new worldview from state fish managers.
It’s not just Mille Lacs. Outdoor News is hearing reports that the perch bite on places like Devils Lake in North Dakota has declined, in part because big perch can’t hide anymore. Red Lake crappies were back this winter, but slabs don’t hold out long today when guides and anglers can locate them so quickly.
In just a couple of years, the culture of guiding and tournament angling has been turned upside down. Yeah, that’s change and that’s life – ask anyone in computer coding how their field has changed in the past 18 months thanks to AI – but fish managers have the ability to anticipate what’s coming and adjust regulations appropriately.
The nonprofit group MN-Fish will hold its Anglers Summit this week in Grand Rapids, then DNR Fisheries will convene a summit of its own on Saturday at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. Technology, specifically forward-facing or live sonar, will be on the agenda at both events. Fishing advocates in this state need to move beyond talk and initiate pro-active strategies with the FFS phenomenon, instead of reacting with 75% bag limit decreases.
We’ve been talking about this herd of techno-elephants in the corner for years; we shouldn’t be getting caught with our pants down when legions of savvy anglers simply follow the bag limit and technology rules, then wipe out an entire year-class of panfish in a few months. To paraphrase Mr. Fellegy: Game on, sharpies!
