The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in conjunction with the State of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has selected eight lakes in Cook County for spring walleye harvest using spearing as a method to catch the fish.
The following lakes and walleye quotas are: Ball Club, 120; Caribou, 144; Cascade, 168; Elbow, 82; Fourmile, 119; Pike, 163; Tait, 304; and Tom Lake, 81.
Two lakes in St Louis County, Cadotte and Echo, and three lakes in Lake County, Wilson, Dumbell, and Silver Lake will also be included in this spring’s spear fishing.
This is the first time that Fond du Lac tribal members will spear fish in Cook County under the hunting and fishing rights guaranteed to them in the Treaty of 1854.
Those rights were upheld by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle in 1996, and as a result the state can’t regulate the band’s harvest of fish, wild game or wild rice
Ferdinand Martineau Jr., the Fond du Lac Band’s secretary/treasurer and the former director of the Resource Management Division, said that the Reservation Business Committee (RBC) would be cautious about regulating spearfishing during the inaugural season.
“Our conservation enforcement and biology staff have gained much experience over the last 10 to 15 years of regulating band members spearfishing in the 1837 territory. That experience and our knowledge gained through the collection of data over the past 18 years in the 1854 ceded territory gave the RBC the confidence that the activity will not harm the resource and provide a meaningful exercise of the right for Band members.”
Spearing will begin when the ice goes off of the lakes, but none will take place the weekend of the Minnesota fishing opener on May 10-11.
“Originally the talk was to end the spear fishing by the time the opener happened, but I don’t know what will happen now that the ice is taking so long to get off the lakes,” said Fond du Lac inland fisheries biologist Brian Borkholder.
No more than two lakes per night will be fished and Borkholder said he and his crew would weigh and measure each fish. A DNR biologist will also be assigned to the lakes. Cook County law enforcement, DNR conservation officers, and tribal game wardens will also work to ensure that there is no trouble and that the rules are being followed.
Borkholder said that so far 80 tribal members have signed up, more than usual for spring spear fishing. Fond du Lac band members have used this method to fish in northern Wisconsin and on several larger lakes including Mille Lacs and Red Lakes for nearly 20 years.
“But 15 to 20 of those people live in the Twin Cities so I’m not sure they want to drive all the way up to Cook County to spearfish. I’m guessing we will have between 35-45 people in Cook County. That is, if the ice goes out soon. Otherwise I don’t know what will happen,” Borkholder said.
Lakes were selected based on data the tribe has gained over the years through efforts like electrofishing, which Fond du Lac fisheries staff has conducted on lakes in the Tip of the Arrowhead over the last 20 years. This is done at night using flat-bottomed boats that hug the shore. These boats drag electrodes in the water that stun fish. When stunned, the fish float up to the surface and then are netted, counted, weighed and measured and returned to the water.
Although the DNR and Fond du Lac don’t have a contract, they regularly work together on matters of hunting and fishing.
Martineau said that if 90 percent of the quota were achieved on a lake, that lake wouldn’t be targeted for spearing for at least two years.
If the DNR feels that too many fish have been taken from a lake, they will adjust fishing limits for anglers, but Borkholder said because the limits for the lakes are set so low, he doesn’t foresee the state needing to re-set bag limits on any lakes targeted for spear fishing.
Both the Grand Portage and Bois Forte Band of Chippewa were part of the original signing of the Treaty of 1837 and the 1854 Ceded Territory Code as amended by the state, but in the late 1990s both signed an agreement with the state to forgo their hunting and fishing rights in lieu of yearly payments to their tribal bands while Fond du Lac kept its rights to hunt and fish in the 1854 ceded territory.
Because spearfishing has been contentious in other areas, Fond du Lac and DNR have been working hard to keep an open line to the public.
“I have talked to several cabin owners on lakes that we will spearfish this spring and I have told them they are welcome to come down and watch. We welcome people who want to see this activity and we will have a coffee pot set up. Come and watch, drink some coffee but don’t come to protest. We won’t allow that,” Borkholder said.
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