"Randy O" said:
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" said:
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" said:
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" said:
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.

"Jim tenHaaf" said:
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…

"Will Schultz" said:
“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…

Tomorrow's the last day for comments.

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