Michigan Muskie Alliance

For Immediate Release

March 26, 2012

Contact: Kregg Smith, 269-685-6851 or Ed Golder, 517-335-3014

DNR invites public review of Michigan’s muskellunge regulations

The Department of Natural Resources’ Fisheries Division is asking for public input on the management of muskellunge in Michigan by reviewing some proposed regulations.

Over the past year, Fisheries Division has been working with the Warmwater Resources Committee, a public advisory group, to discuss muskellunge regulations and to review muskellunge regulation proposals submitted by angling organizations. As a result, several regulation options have been developed. The regulation options are a compromise agreed upon between Fisheries Division and the Warmwater Resources Committee.

Public review is being sought to determine which regulation anglers think should be accepted to manage muskellunge populations in Michigan. Four regulation options have been proposed with a combination of season, size limit and possession limits:

• 1. Maintain the current fishing regulations for muskellunge.
  2. Change the harvest season and allow for a few waters currently managed with the 42-inch minimum size limit to be managed with either a lower or higher minimum size limit.
  3. Change the harvest season, reduce the possession limit to one (1) fish per season (with a harvest tag), and allow for a few waters currently managed with the 42-inch minimum size limit to be managed with either a lower or higher size limit.
  4. Change the harvest season, keep the possession limit the same, and increase the minimum size limit for most waters, but allow for a few waters to be managed with a lower size limit.

The public is being asked to review these regulation options through an online survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Muskellun ... egulations
You can also take the survey over the telephone by calling Debbie Robinson at the Plainwell Operations Service Center at (269) 685-6851. The online and telephone surveys will close on Friday, May 25.
To read more about the muskellunge regulation review, please visit www.michigan.gov/fishing .

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, management, use and enjoyment of the state's natural and cultural resources for current and future generations. For more information, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr .

Please take the time to read through the Muskellunge regulations paper before you take the survey. It will give you the basis for the questions:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-15 ... --,00.html



Public Meeting Dates:

Western Lake Superior Management Unit
April 3rd from 7 to 9 pm (eastern time) Ishpeming Township Hall, Highway M-28 in west Ishpeming

April 4th from 6 to 8 pm (central time) at Gogebic Community College – Lindquist Center in Ironwood

April 5th from 7 to 9 pm (eastern time) at Michigan Technological University, Isle Royale Ballroom A-2 in Houghton

Eastern Lake Superior Management Unit
April 12th from 7:00 pm at the library in the Tahquamenon Area School in Newberry

April 25th from 7:00 pm at the Snyders Restaurant, 400 Cedar Street in Munising

Northern Lake Michigan Management Unit
March 27th from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm (eastern time) at the Bay College Heirman Center, Room 952, 2001 N. Lincoln Road in Escanaba

March 28th from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm (central time) at Bay College West, 2810 North US-2 in Iron Mountain

Central Lake Michigan Management Unit
April 18th from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Carl T. Johnson Center at Mitchell State Park in Cadillac

Southern Lake Michigan Management Unit
March 26th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm at the Delta Township Library, 5130 Davenport Road in Lansing

March 27th from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Portage Library, 300 Library Lane in Portage

April 23rd from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the Plainfield Charter Township Office, 6161 Belmont Avenue NE in Belmont

Northern Lake Huron Management Unit
April 5th from 7:00 pm at Lake Superior State University – Cisler Center, 621 West Easterday Avenue in Sault Ste. Marie

April 12th from 7:00 pm at the Cheboygan Sportsman’s Club, 13516 Seffren Road in Cheboygan

April 16th from 7:00 pm at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, 500 W. Fletcher Street in Alpena

April 19th from 7:00 pm at the Grayling Nature Park, 100 James Street in Grayling

Southern Lake Huron Management Unit
April 23rd from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Bay City State Recreation Area Visitors’ Center

Lake Erie Management Unit
April 30th from 7:00 pm at 43825 West Oaks Drive in Novi

Thanks Tom and Will. I'll be at the Portage meeting tomorrow night, I hope other MMA faithful from the area can make it. I'm thinking support our favorite proposal option and also tactfully bring up such possibilities as the Austin and Osterhout situations depending on how things go.

pikerule2 wrote:Thanks Tom and Will. I'll be at the Portage meeting tomorrow night, I hope other MMA faithful from the area can make it. I'm thinking support our favorite proposal option and also tactfully bring up such possibilities as the Austin and Osterhout situations depending on how things go.

Joe, your post reminded me there's also a survey for pike reg changes:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NorthernP ... egulations

Speaking of Pike, do we as a club have a preferred option that we want to back?

pikerule2 wrote:Thanks Tom and Will. I'll be at the Portage meeting tomorrow night, I hope other MMA faithful from the area can make it. I'm thinking support our favorite proposal option and also tactfully bring up such possibilities as the Austin and Osterhout situations depending on how things go.

Cya tomorrow!

mskyprey wrote:

pikerule2 wrote:Thanks Tom and Will. I'll be at the Portage meeting tomorrow night, I hope other MMA faithful from the area can make it. I'm thinking support our favorite proposal option and also tactfully bring up such possibilities as the Austin and Osterhout situations depending on how things go.

Cya tomorrow!

I was just thinking that would be perfect for me as well, as I'll be working in Portage tomorrow. But, then my wife reminded me of our sons concert tomorrow night. Looks like I'll be hitting the Belmont one instead.

wow - ZERO days notice for the Lansing meeting!!! That was not so smooth. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they had a low turnout last night... I would hope they can reschedule another in the area

Filled out the survey

Duke wrote:wow - ZERO days notice for the Lansing meeting!!! That was not so smooth. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they had a low turnout last night... I would hope they can reschedule another in the area

Yes, I believe the short notice was becasue the meetings were combined with the new brook trout regs meetings.

Filled mine out and will forward it to a couple fishing buddies as well. I didn't like how question two didn't have a '100% Catch & Release' option.
"2. In the past year, what did you normally do with the legal-sized muskellunge you caught in Michigan? (Please choose one answer.)
In the past year, what did you normally do with the legal-sized muskellunge you caught in Michigan? (Please choose one answer.)
-Mostly Kept My Catch
-Kept Some and Released Some
-Mostly Catch and Release"

I didn't see anything about the option 3 we all were talking about, can't go to the meeting have to work.

jasonvkop wrote:Filled mine out and will forward it to a couple fishing buddies as well. I didn't like how question two didn't have a '100% Catch & Release' option.
"2. In the past year, what did you normally do with the legal-sized muskellunge you caught in Michigan? (Please choose one answer.)
In the past year, what did you normally do with the legal-sized muskellunge you caught in Michigan? (Please choose one answer.)
-Mostly Kept My Catch
-Kept Some and Released Some
-Mostly Catch and Release"

We decided that's basically what that one meant and it didn't need to say 100% C&R.

Steve S wrote:I didn't see anything about the option 3 we all were talking about, can't go to the meeting have to work.

I know. You needed to read a couple lines past the survey link:
"You can also take the survey over the telephone by calling Debbie Robinson at the Plainwell Operations Service Center at (269) 685-6851. The online and telephone surveys will close on Friday, May 25.
To read more about the muskellunge regulation review, please visit www.michigan.gov/fishing . "

I don't like how the press release was done and I wish they would have directed people to the web page and not directly to the survey link. It presents the material in a more logical format.

Here is the link they should have used:
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-15 ... --,00.html

Also, question 7: How important are these factors in determining the quality of your muskellunge fishing experience in Michigan? (Please select your answer and complete all 8 categories.) option 6: The number of muskellunge kept.

This question seems very misleading. I could read this 2 different ways: First, the number of muskellunge kept is a very important factor in the quality of muskie fishing experience in Michigan since it directly affects the muskie populations. The more fish kept the more it hurts the muskie fishing experience in Michigan.

You could also read this on a more personal level and think that it means that the number of muskie I am allowed to keep factors into how good or bad my experience fishing for muskie is. As in "I want to be able to keep more fish". I did not know how to answer this question properly.