Burt/Mullett

[dashaver63]

Just happened to see that Lake Huron is off limits due to the VHS virus. Will that be changed now that the issue is ammended?

[bshaner]

I dont have an official answer to your question but I would think that it would make good sense not to fish Huron and bring fish/water back to Burt/Mullet from Huron.

I brought this up a while back.  I could have sworn I saw someone quoting the order to include not being able to Lock from lake to lake as it is technically bringing fish from one body of water to another. 

We'll need an expert to give an opinion on that (or someone who's read the order word for word).

B

[SethV]

Stupid.  There is no good reason to make Huron off limits.  Will it slow the spread of the virus?  Who knows?  Will it prevent it from reaching above the lock.  No way.

Unless they shut down the lock to all traffic and tell all of the birds not to fly, this is just another restriction on us.  This virus, similar to LMBV just needs to do its thing and then the fisheries will rebound.

I don't belive this is conservation, this is just reactionary restriction.   

[Langer]

I don't belive this is conservation, this is just reactionary restriction.   

Ready....Fire....Aim!!!

[canvsbk]

Not a good decision. Part of fishing the BFL's is being able to fish all navigable waters. What about Lake Michigan? If that's out too what happens at the Grand?

[djkimmel]

Lake Huron is infected. The virus can be transported by water in livewells, and in fish caught out there and brought back. We can NOT afford to take the risk of being the vector, perceived or real, to having the VHS virus show up in Mullett Lake.

Huge bad PR AND we could conceivably do a lot of damage to a fishery that may or may not get infected anyway. We don't really know that it will for sure. Why increase the odds quite a bit for short term personal gains?

There is not enough known about the virus yet to risk assuming it will kill once and pass by. This is a completely different virus that has killed 10s of thousands of multiple species already. We can not afford to play these odds for a few more fishing spots in a tournament. I do not want it on my conscience if later this year or early next, even if some other species, having a bunch of fish die - whether it could be proved we did it or not.

If we publicly state we are closing Lake Huron and the virus shows up in Mullett later this year, maybe the entire community won't immediately point their fingers at us if the know that we did not allow boats in Lake Huron. It's not like we don't have enough of a bad image up North with some people already. Many people and some government officials already wonder that the money aspect causes us to place our personal aims well over the resource - I hear it all the time. We should constantly be aware - as FLW Outdoors is - that this is a significant issue we can not ignore.

So far, maybe the VHS virus presence is small up there. The water flows out so the chance the virus comes in through the lock any farther than the immediate lock area is low. The chance a non-fishing boat transports the virus is low. Only a tiny number of steelhead come through the fish ladder there (I even forgot there was a fish ladder) so, again, odds are low.

We are too visible and too easy a target to take the risk for limited opportunity to become the blame if and when the VHS virus does show up in Mullett Lake and other parts of the chain. Would any of you really want to wonder later, if there are large fish kills... "Did I do that?"

I know there is only one answer for me, to do the right thing by putting the resource first over my personal wishes and not have to ask myself that question later. It is possible that the new MDNR policy may take the opportunity away from us anyway - again for the good of the resource.

The 'gain' does not equal the risk. Let's go with what we know, and choose to control what we can, regardless of how we think it may turn out in the end. It is important that we show that the resource is very important to us and that we are willing to do the right thing when we have the obvious opportunity to do so. The freedom to hold tournaments whenever and wherever we want is not a given. A few states and areas have learned that the hard way. We really have to think these things through if we ever want to have any realistic shot at lengthening our season.

[djkimmel]

The Grand and the other West side rivers off Lake Michigan are a completely different story. These are wide open, fish-traveled waters. It is well known that significant numbers of fish can and do move long distances within these waters. It would not make sense to limit fishing on them other than to monitor any signs of infection, and notify anglers to take precautions when they move their boats, water, fish, from the navigable (no natural or manmade obstacles that greatly limit movement of fish) connected water that is or may be infected, to unconnected inland waters.

Fellow anglers, this is really a chance for us to show what we are made of. We may be blamed by some people for some occurences as this issue progresses anyway because we are so visible in our movements, but we could let a lot of people know that we really do put the resource first and foremost over winning a little money or a plaque by giving some compromise when it makes sense (whether for perceived reasons, real or both). We have to.

A key will be to keep learning more about VHS as it is disseminated so we can discuss it from a position of knowledge. In some Western states, they already stop boats from the Great Lakes and other states known to harbor various invasive species, and will not let you bring your boat into their waters if they think you are carrying any invasive species - mostly zebra mussels so far. Can you imagine what that might be like if this virus keeps killing fish and keeps spreading, to our free movement from lake to lake maybe even in our own state?

My responsibilities as Conservation Director are to be forward-looking for all possibilities that may impact us and/or the resource, to educate our anglers and anyone else we can reach (because knowledge is power), and to make sure I do my best to put us in the position to be part of the solution, rather than outsiders just taking what 'strangers' from one agency or another feel like giving us. There are so many agencies and bodies at so many levels that can impact our abilities to freely fish wherever and whenever we want. We have to be involved and that means their are some things we just have to do and accept. The earlier we are involved, often the lesser the impacts are on us.

There really are only a few places right now that I can think of where boat navigable might not mean fishing navigable because of the VHS virus. Unfortunately, Mullett Lake is one of them, along with the St. Mary's River, and maybe Crooked Lake later (the lock on the Crooked River) if the virus does get into Burt and Mullett. That is a pretty small price to pay to do the right thing.