New Era in tournament angler - MDNR relations begins!

[djkimmel]

I'm excited! We had a great meeting tonight in Novi with representatives from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources - Parks & Recreation Division and Fisheries Division!! One of the best meetings between us that I've ever been fortunate to attend.

Great turnout from the bass AND walleye anglers too! Everyone conducted themselves in an exemplary manner. The MDNR presented their ideas and proposals (developed with some angler participation), and then listened and openly discussed the many questions and suggestions. A number of amendments were agreed upon for the new MDNR Parks & Recreation Division 2007 tournament permit process.

We also got some important and timely news from Fisheries Biologists on the VHS disease and on a task force looking at how to work with tournament anglers to collect fisheries information.

I will go into details about the meeting by the end of the weekend, but just let me say we need to throw out all the old stuff and firmly grasp the extended 'hand' from the MDNR that wants to become an active partner with us from the top down.

We have real opportunity to move forward with new and productive relationships that will only improve things for everyone. Very exciting!! I will report on some of the things the MDNR wants from us very soon also.

Thanks to the following people from the MDNR: Jason Fleming, Rick Cleveland, Kurt Newman and Jeff Braunscheidel for their participation and enthusiasm at the meeting. And thanks to all the anglers who attended and participated - very very nice to see a good turnout of intelligent anglers!

Stay tuned!

[yukonjack2]

Dan:  waiting here for the details, but it sounds great to finally have the DNR as a partner in issues like this, rather than just imposing their political will.

Jack

[Team houston]

Agreed, looking forward to working together.

[Lance Valentine]

Dan:

Thanks for keeping everyone posted on what is happening and for your efforts Wednesday night.  I for one was VERY excited to see the DNR extend a hand and ask for the help of anglers of this state.

It was obvious that the lines of communication are broken and need to be fixed so all of us can continue to enjoy the great fishing we have to offer.

I am personally looking forward to working with you and other members of the bass family as well as the DNR as we continue to go forward with changes and improvements to help us all.

Lance Valentine
lance@walleye101.com
www.walleye101.com

[djkimmel]

I definitely agree.

Lance - thanks for signing up. I'm very glad you came to the meeting, opening up more options for many great opportunities with all your contacts throughout the fishing community. I'll be adding a link on my links pages to your web site. I've used it myself for fishing knowledge - it's a very good resource.

See you at the shows if not sooner.

I will be posting more details and some further important information we all need to know over the weekend.

[CuradoKev]

Dan,

I attended the meeting at Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery last Monday and I agree the MDNR do want to help us.

It was a good meeting and nice to see they realized they can't enforce the rules that are put into place. So changes definitely needed to be made and seem reasonable to me. All the staff were great and we all talked about solutions to the issues.

I just hope those staff will be around to help us. They are getting hammered in 2007 and will be working alot less hours or should I say same hours with no pay.

Fisheries wants to monitor the bass situation also, but with the VHS coming in and the feds involved. It's high alert on VHS and what will happen to the cool water species (trout,salmon) and the tourism dollars if that gets depleted due to VHS.

It was nice to "sense" the MDNR good intentions in helping us, I just hope they have the time and staff to monitor and use our information for the best. I also hope the IT staff for the state get the tournament permit system online along with a possible calendar option SOON.

It's a start but there is a lot of bad blood between MDNR and the public. In the last 2 weeks, I've heard at least 15 scenarios on how people are looking to get around,avoid and/or not buy the future hunting/fishing licenses due to possible price increases. Even the MDNR did not come up the prices, they are still taking the heat.

But its a start and that's positive toward future solutions in areas of concern like spraying weeds all over our natural lakes.

Ckev

[Roy Randolph]

Dan sent me a copy of the new regs and after a little tweaking to meet the agreements made, it seems we have our first co-written permit regulations that should prove to be a corner turned and a new future ahead for all.

I for one hope we can hold up our end of this new area and not have a bunch of clubs scheduling on top of each other. So I plead with all clubs to consider the non-permit lakes as a permit required lake and send your free permit in to help keep the peace.

Yes these are ?voluntary/optional? by the rules but will be necessary for the first couple of years till we have the online registration available.

We need to avoid any problems that will shine a negative light on us and make this look as if we can?t be trusted to manage ourselves, causing us to lose any creditability and chance to continue to be part of the regulation process.

[dartag]

is the list of no permit lakes final yet.  the one i saw had none in Oakland County.

[fiker]

I'd like the DNR to set it up so that after the tournament fishermen have a permit for a lake that non-tourney folks can see where they are on the internet.  That way, if we wish we can avoid those lakes that are "busy".

I know that they are supposed to only have 80% or so of the parking places, but it doesn't always work out that way.  I have the option to fish several different lakes close to home.  If I know a tourney is at one of them, I'll go to the others. 

[Roy Randolph]

At this point the online database/list is in theory only but as discussed it should be accessible for all to see

[Roy Randolph]

Dartag at this point there are no lake in Oakland Co. on the list but that may change we might get one or two tops

[djkimmel]

As soon as I get a final lake list, I'll post it.

Part of the discussion included posting a calendar of each month's coming tournament at each permit launch that can be checked beforehand. Until we get an online option, which will be a while, you can check the launch postings or call the local MDNR Parks & Recreation office.