Chippewa bands proposed season-long catch-and-release for Mille Lacs

Last February, resort owner John Odle suggested at a public meeting of local business owners that Lake Mille Lacs walleye season be catch-and-release only from the very start.

“I put my head on the chopping block,” said Odle, who owns Rocky Reef Resort in Onamia. But his suggestion got little support from the 50 or so members of the Mille Lacs Input Group. “I got shut down,” he said.

But Odle’s suggestion doesn’t appear so outrageous now. The Department of Natural Resources closed the famed lake to all walleye fishing earlier this month after anglers exceeded the walleye harvest quota.

http://www.startribune.com/chippewa-bands-proposed-season-long-catch-and-release-for-mille-lacs/321502831/