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People interested in the strategies the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources uses for managing fisheries in Grand Marais-area lakes and streams are encouraged to submit comments on management plans scheduled for review this winter. This annual review process includes several waters located within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).
Comments on fish management for lakes and streams in the Grand Marais area will be accepted through Tuesday, Dec. 24.
Management plans identify specific fisheries management activities planned for a lake or stream over the next five to 20 years, including any proposed stocking or special regulations.
“The management plans are great resources for anglers and anybody else interested in our lakes and streams,” said Steve Persons, Grand Marais area fisheries supervisor. “They document where we’ve been, where we’d like to go, and how we hope to get there.”
Comments and suggestions from people who care about waters in this area are crucial when it comes to determining how those public waters should be managed. Feedback from the public is an important consideration in determining management success.
The DNR will review plans this winter for the following Grand Marais-area lakes and streams:
Lakes
Stream trout stocking and management strategies will be reviewed for Leo, Loft, Musquash, Pierz, Ram, and Talus lakes. Trout management will continue in all six lakes, but species, sizes and numbers stocked will be reviewed. Pierz and Ram Lakes are inside the BWCAW.
Plans for Brule, Dick, Elbow, Poplar, Sunfish, and Ward lakes will be reviewed. In those lakes the status and needs of walleye, northern pike, panfish or smallmouth bass fisheries will be of most concern. A regulation change may be considered to improve the walleye fishery on Poplar Lake.
Plans for several lightly used BWCAW lakes in the area including Banadad, Bower Trout, Cam, Carl, Little John, and Rush lakes will be reviewed. Those plans will be revised primarily to incorporate new survey data (if any) and to establish survey schedules for the next few years. Fishing reports from Banadad, Rush, and Cam Lakes would be very helpful, since recent attempts to survey those lakes have failed.
Streams
Plans for Bluff Creek and the Stump River will be reviewed. Bluff Creek supports a wild brook trout population, about which we know little. We are considering removing the Stump River from the list of designated trout streams because it no longer appears capable of supporting brook trout.
For more information, to request copies of current plans, or to discuss the plans, call or email Steve Persons at 218-387-6022 or steve.persons@state.mn.us.
This comment period will extend through Dec. 24; however, comments, suggestions and other feedback on the management of these and all other streams and lakes in the area are welcomed at any time and will be considered when those plans are next due for review.
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