Double trouble for those spreading milfoil, zebras
July 5, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Alexandria Echo Press
If you’re careless about spreading aquatic invasive species (AIS) such as zebra mussels and Eurasian watermilfoil, you’ll face double the consequences. Continue Reading
A few weeks ago, I thought it would be nice to go fishing on our Chain of Lakes. I stopped by Christopherson’s bait shop in wonderful downtown Alexandria, grabbed my empty minnow bucket and purchased some crappy minnows and went on my merry way. Upon arriving at the West Lake Carlos acces I was greeted by a pleasant inspector for the MNDNR. We exchanged pleasantries as she did a very thorough inspection of my boat. She then informed me that I was fortunate, as other staff would probably cite me for having a minnow bucket in my boat when I arrived at the access because it is against the law. I should either put the hole-filled container in my vehicle or purchase my minnows in a plastic bag. She then proceeded to tell me I should do a better job of familiarizing myself with the new laws written to deal with AIS. It’s for our own good…
Really?!?! What is the sense of this?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Oops sorry I meant CrappIE minnows!
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I wasn’t aware of that either!
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Its basically become a joke with some of this. Minnows die in the plastic bags the bait shops give you no matter how much oxygen they put in the bag by the time you get to the lake. If I am on one lake and want to go 5 miles down the road to another lake I have to dump my minnows out because you cant transport minnows in water. So I have to stop and buy more minnows. Its completely absurd.
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@thetruth1: that part of the new laws is clear, do not transport water between bodies of water. I don’t really have a problem with that. It’s the part that you cant bring minnows from the bait shop in an open container in your boat. I am still trying to find where it says that, here’s what I can find in the regulations: Pg 15 2012 regulations ‘Portable bait containers must be drained when leaving ALL waters, if you want to keep your live bait when leaving a lake or river you must replace water in bait containers with tap or bottled water. I still can’t find where what this person working for the MNDNR said is stated.
I sent an email to the MNDNR, we’ll see what they say.
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Gnibs, I think the DNR is going with the view that if the minnows are in a minnow bucket that has water in it, they are going to err on the side that the water is from another lake, hence the ‘Portable bait containers must be drained when leaving ALL waters’. If the minnows are in a plastic bag, there is a little more reassurance that they were just purchased as a bait shop. Just my thoughts……
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Who would have ever thought the day would come where you would have to bring along your OWN water to keep minnows alive when you have 2 million gallons of the stuff right in front of you. Ridiculous.
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I heard back from Maj Phil Meier of the MNDNR: “If you are taking minnows from the bait store in a pail (bucket) with the water they provided you, they can be transported in your boat.” This is exactly how I had interpreted the new law and was abiding by it at that time.
It seems I was misinformed by the DNR representative at the Lk Carlos public access. (It would have been interesting to see if she were to issue the citation; at double the going rate, and I would have fought it, what the outcome would have been. I also wonder if any of the citations that did get written were done on an incorrect interpretation of the law???) How many people would actually dispute something like this with the State of MN…or just pay the fine and move on unjustly charged, fined and alienated? I hope not too many.
Sidebar: Could someone please share with all of us how my own correction of myself (crappy v crappie) prompts a ‘Thumbs Down’?
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So, basically there’s the loophole. If you leave a lake and see no one on shore to check and make sure you empty your minnow bucket, you can leave the water in the minnow bucket, drive to the next lake, and if there is someone there checking buckets, you can just say I just came straight from the bait store with my minnows. The stupidity continues.
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