Local Cook County ice fishermen may have a more difficult time purchasing ciscoes for bait this winter following a raid by agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Great Outdoors Bait Shop in Ely on Dec. 1, where more than 500 dozen frozen ciscoes were seized.
Jim Maki, the owner of the shop, said eight to 10 special agents came into his shop and took, along with the ciscoes, his store’s computer files, banking records and tax returns.
The officers, said Maki, asked him if the ciscoes he sells come from the U.S. or Canada. Maki said he buys the ciscoes from Bob LaTourell, who nets in the fall near Prairie Portage on Basswood Lake exclusively on the U.S. side of the border.
Basswood Lake is a border lake, with the U.S. portion lying in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.
However, the Minneapolis Star and Tribune reported that federal agents had been watching members of Maki’s family net ciscoes on the Canadian side of Prairie Portage on Basswood Lake for the past five years. It is illegal to net ciscoes in Canadian water.
There has been some contention about whether any netting of ciscoes should be allowed on Basswood Lake.
The U.S. Forest Service will not allow further netting of the baitfish in the BWCA starting in 2017. The Service contends the netting doesn’t meet the standard set in the Wilderness Act of 1964, which stipulates that commercial use of the park can only be permitted if it enhances recreation. Netting, said the Service, fails to meet that standard.
Maki sells ciscoes to bait shops in Grand Marais, Tofte, and Duluth. He also sells them from his shop to anglers who ply the frozen lakes for lake trout and northern pike.
If he can’t get the ciscoes returned, Maki said he might buy smelt.
On Monday, December 19, a call to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s external office in Minneapolis revealed only that the matter is under review.
For a bait operator to sell ciscoes, they must be certified disease-free. The Minnesota DNR asks bait dealers to prove where they are getting their ciscoes. To help prevent the spread of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia (VHS) in Minnesota waters, according to the DNR, “anglers cannot use ciscoes, smelt, or other VHS-susceptible species as bait in any body of water except Lake Superior unless it was harvested from a water body that tested negative for presence of the VHS virus within the last year, or has been preserved by the DNR permit holder using methods known to make the virus inactive.”
The rule was enacted to protect Minnesota’s waters from VHS, which is now present in Lake Superior. When anglers use preserved ciscoes or rainbow smelt as bait, they must have in their possession the label from the batch used as bait. The label must contain the bait processor’s DNR permit number, the lot number, and the date of processing.
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