Michigan Muskie Alliance

Just sent my response... Took me several hours to read, and develop my response. It is more opinion than science, but it is my view after spending many days on Michigan waters chasing esox.

I hope it has value to the DNRE... The days keep clicking by, and I want to experience as much of our efforts as possible in this short ife.

I have read with great interest all of the posts to the forum concerning the management plan as well as the actual plan itself. I will be sending in my comments to the MDNR this weekend and I had a few questions that I hope some of you may be able to answer.

1) Does MMA have recommendations concerning muskie management in Michigan that could be used in helping me and others formulate a response to the MDNR?

2) Are there any hard data available on the number of muskie harvested in Michigan via spearing?

3) Are there any collaborative efforts, on-going or planned, between MMA and other fishing organizations (i.e., Trout Unlimited, etc.) that involve habitat restoration/protection?

4) How often does the opportunity come up to provide the MDNR feedback on the muskie program?

Sorry if some of the answers to my questions are in the other forums. I just received member access to those and have not been able to thoroughly go over them. The deadline to respond to the management plan is close and I wanted to get fast answers. Thanks in advance for any input you may be able to provide.

Randy O wrote:I have read with great interest all of the posts to the forum concerning the management plan as well as the actual plan itself. I will be sending in my comments to the MDNR this weekend and I had a few questions that I hope some of you may be able to answer.

1) Does MMA have recommendations concerning muskie management in Michigan that could be used in helping me and others formulate a response to the MDNR?

2) Are there any hard data available on the number of muskie harvested in Michigan via spearing?

3) Are there any collaborative efforts, on-going or planned, between MMA and other fishing organizations (i.e., Trout Unlimited, etc.) that involve habitat restoration/protection?

4) How often does the opportunity come up to provide the MDNR feedback on the muskie program?

Sorry if some of the answers to my questions are in the other forums. I just received member access to those and have not been able to thoroughly go over them. The deadline to respond to the management plan is close and I wanted to get fast answers. Thanks in advance for any input you may be able to provide.

Randy, I'm new to the member section too.


I to would like to see the responses to your questions. Keep in mind however, that just forwarding or copying a generic letter, at least in my experience doesn't hold as much weight.

(not speaking directly of the MI DNR but of the processes similar to this)



One other question I have is for how long are they accepting comments?

LonLB wrote:One other question I have is for how long are they accepting comments?

Through March 3.

devoted a couple hours to reading, thinking, and replying today....sick day.

Randy O wrote:I have read with great interest all of the posts to the forum concerning the management plan as well as the actual plan itself. I will be sending in my comments to the MDNR this weekend and I had a few questions that I hope some of you may be able to answer.

1) Does MMA have recommendations concerning muskie management in Michigan that could be used in helping me and others formulate a response to the MDNR?

Personally I would prefer that everyone formulates their own opinion instead of MMA providing a set of talking points. What I would tell you is to look at page 22 that gives the summary and prioritized action items. Are those the things you think should be a priority? Are those things stated correctly for what muskie anglers want to see?

Randy O wrote:2) Are there any hard data available on the number of muskie harvested in Michigan via spearing?

The only hard data is really from the tagged fish on the Antrim Chain. It appears in the management plan but doesn’t specify the harvest method. “At Skegemog Lake, 4 out of a total of 11 tagged muskellunge were known to have been harvested in less than a year, for a minimum annual exploitation rate of 36%.”

Randy O wrote:3) Are there any collaborative efforts, on-going or planned, between MMA and other fishing organizations (i.e., Trout Unlimited, etc.) that involve habitat restoration/protection?

We have discussed some potential options that might include a cooperative effort between MMA, MI-DNR and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.

Randy O wrote:4) How often does the opportunity come up to provide the MDNR feedback on the muskie program?

This round of feedback is specific to the management plan. Feedback on muskie angling and management in general is always accepted and in general I ask people to go through me (or whoever is the MMA president). The reason being that feedback, especially criticism, is sometimes met with a politically correct response which may leave you feeling like you just got blown off.

Only 2 more days, guys! Get your responses in.
I finally sent mine in this morning. I have been working on it for over a week now, doing research, making sure I had the facts, etc. Not sure if they will read the whole thing work-for-word, since I did make it a little long-winded for an email.

Jim tenHaaf wrote: Not sure if they will read the whole thing work-for-word, since I did make it a little long-winded for an email.

I wrote 23 full pages in a word document last go around, and was told by 3 different DNRE folks that every word was read! Probably not by everybody, but at least by the folks that I cared most about...

Ok, that makes me feel a little better! I think mine ended up being a little over a page in Word.

Will Schultz wrote:“At Skegemog Lake, 4 out of a total of 11 tagged muskellunge were known to have been harvested in less than a year, for a minimum annual exploitation rate of 36%.”

Cringe...

Mine is full of run on sentences and misspelled words

Tomorrow's the last day for comments.

Pete wrote:...was told by 3 different DNRE folks that every word was read!

Wow, I wouldn't have guessed (but am glad, of course)!

sent mine in last week. anyone who hasn't need to asap!