Thought I would take a minute to pass along a quick report from the meeting today.

The meeting started at 10 but I arrived in Lansing at 9 for a meeting with the Kelley Smith (Fisheries Chief) and Jim Dexter (Asst. Chief + too many titles to list). Of course Mike Holmes also arrived early so I spent a few minutes hiding in an office, w/the shades closed, on the 8th floor of the Mason building so that Mike didn't know Kelley, Dex and I were going to meet (kind of funny). Part of this early meeting was to discuss why Mike Holmes has been making inquiries about the amount of money MMA has gifted to the state for hatchery improvements over the years. The other part of this was to arrive at the Coolwater meeting w/ a gameplan for how we would handle the BS that would be presented for spearing and against the proposal that MMA submitted for regulations changes. It was agreed that we wouldn't enter into a debate with Mike but allow him to continue to make himself and those he "represents" look foolish. We also discussed the current success at the hatchery with the number of eggs reduced and how this opens space in the muskie building for the GLS program. We discussed that the money is the only limiting factor and that the money needs to be allocated (or MMA needs to fund the $4000 or so that it will take each year).

Meeting starts at 10…
– A brief review of the perch regulations (daily bag) was discussed and the direction from the DNRE was to maintain the current 50 fish limit.

– A report on the research being done on the bass early CIR season was presented. There has been no observed change in the bass fishery as a result of the regulations change. The order sunsets next year and will be continued. I asked if they would consider expanding the CIR season from the close 12/31 to the opening of harvest season. This was a set up for the proposed regulations from MMA to have the S. Michigan waters open to CIR for muskie from March 15 to the last Sat. in April. A note was made to consider that when the order renews.

– A draft of proposed changes to the general spearing regulations was reviewed. This has no impact on muskellunge spearing except that a few of the tiger lakes were removed from FO-220. The proposal consolidates the somewhat confusing table of spearing regulations to a more simple table.

– The process and quick history of the esocid management plan was discussed along with the process that will be used to review and approve the management plan. In a nutshell… the management team will review the plans in September. Upon approval the DNRE statewide council will review the approved plan (council consists of DNRE division chiefs). Upon approval of the DNRE SC the plan will go to another 30 day public comment period. Final management plan will be/should be approved in spring of 2011. As part of this process, not part of the management plan approval, the esocid committee will review esocid regulations and begin the development of revised regulations. The initial target date for implementing any revised regulations is April 1, 2012.*** this is dependent on a number of factors that include Coolwater Reg. Steering Comm. progress, Basin team recommendations, public and DNRE review. This must all happen by July 2011 or the target date for regulation changes is pushed to 2013.

– Next up MMA regulations proposal. I quickly outlined the MMA proposal and kept it strictly from a biological and economic direction (what's best to improve the fishery). This is where Mike Holmes jumps in and makes himself look silly while making most people in the room irritated (that is probably putting it gently for a couple people – one committee member commented that every time Mike opens his mouth his blood pressure goes up LOL!). Surprisingly I wasn't the only person in the room that shot back at the spearing/harvest angle. I was able to let others on the committee throw things at "Mr. spear chucker" that made his angle look like a lack of respect for the process and the fishery. Comments that were presented (I don't have the exact quotes so I'll pass along the general ideas of a couple):
* the feelings of one group shouldn't alter the process and the overall needs of the fishery should be the goal and any regulations should be set to meet that goal
* (this is my favorite from a committee member and esocid committee member) we need to evaluate if muskellunge spearing should even be allowed in Michigan
* exactly how many members does MDAA actually have? (from our own Joe Bednar) The response actuall made a number of people in the room laugh (on the inside) "that is privileged information" LMAO!!!

That said, Mike presented a few paragraphs to the committee that said MDAA would support the MMA proposal "with revisions". 😯
However, the revisions get a little out of control:
– support of a two tag system with no size limit to allow harvest of smaller males that would never reach 46" (um.. OK sure they never reach 46")
– all lakes with muskies will be open to harvest (boundary waters and LSC included)
– broodstock lakes should be no-kill and prohibited from catch and release tournaments (direct attack on MMA Bruce Memorial)

The discussion surrounding the MMA proposal was mostly civil and overall there appeared to be support and a general feeling that there was a need for a review of the muskellunge regulations.

Keep in mind that the MMA proposal is just a suggestion for the DNRE and what comes out of the esocid committee could be drastically different and may or may not resemble the MMA proposal. I'm confident they understand our angle and I heard many comments from DNRE and members of the committee that we (as a state) don't recognize the muskie potential we have here in Michigan (fishery and economic). There is also a recognition of the natural fisheries and the need to drastically reduce harvest and increase the minimum size limit.

Overall it was a good meeting for the initial look at the MMA proposal by the committee. I'm looking forward to what the esocid committee does with the proposal and how they incorporate it into the proposed regulations.

For those that worked on the proposal – thank you. I want you to know that the chief and asst. chief commented that this was the most well written proposal they have received from anyone outside the DNRE. Even if we don't get everything we want you can be proud of what we presented.