Anglers Can Keep Some Walleyes on Mille Lacs in 2021

(KNSI) – Anglers will be able to keep some early and late-season walleyes on Mille Lacs Lake.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will allow one walleye between 21-23 inches long or longer than 28 inches.

Summer will bring catch-and-release walleye fishing, with a mid-season closure, before the potential for a one-fish limit returns in the fall.

“Lower walleye harvest this winter is allowing us to offer some open-water walleye harvest this year,” said Brad Parsons, fisheries section manager for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “We’re glad Mille Lacs anglers will have the chance to keep a walleye on opening weekend and Memorial Day weekend – two of the most popular times to fish during the year. We also hope to be able to allow some harvest this fall.”

During the 2020 season, state-licensed anglers took 66,748 pounds, and tribal fishing took 33,113 pounds.

This year’s winter walleye harvest was about 16,000 pounds, about half of what it was in 2020. Lower catch rates for anglers, combined with fewer people fishing, caused harvest numbers to return to normal levels after a big spike last year.

The one-fish walleye limit will be in place from Saturday, May 15, through Monday, May 31.

After opening weekend, fishing hours on Mille Lacs Lake will be 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. for all species.

Walleye fishing will be catch-and-release from Tuesday, June 1, through Wednesday, June 30.

A two-week closure – implemented to reduce hooking mortality – will be in place from Thursday, July 1, through Thursday, July 15.

To help avoid catching walleye during the closure, fishing for any species with certain kinds of bait will be restricted. Anglers targeting northern pike and muskellunge can use sucker minnows longer than 8 inches. But anglers targeting other fish may not use live, dead, preserved, or parts of minnows, nightcrawlers, worms, leeches, or crayfish.

Catch-and-release walleye fishing will resume on Friday, July 16, and continue through Wednesday, September 15.

The one-fish walleye limit will resume Thursday, September 16, through Tuesday, November 30.

During the late season, the DNR also will allow anglers to fish from 6 a.m. to midnight.

Beginning Saturday, June 5, muskellunge and northern pike anglers using artificial lures or sucker minnows longer than 8 inches can fish after 10 p.m.

The state and the eight Chippewa bands that have treaty fishing rights agreed Mille Lacs could sustain a state harvest of up to 87,800 pounds of walleye this year, unchanged from 2020.

More information about fishing regulations on Mille Lacs Lake, ongoing DNR management and research, citizen engagement, and Mille Lacs-area recreation opportunities is available on the DNR website.

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