Musky Stocking battle in MN!

Hi all,

There was an ad funded by the Dark Ages (I mean Dark House) Association and whatever the heck Sportsmen for Reponsible Musky Management is that is running in the Outdoor News. They asked people to contact several key people in the DNR to voice their opinions against future musky stocking, and also took pot shots at the Minnesota DNR, too. The ad was in very poor taste, and I simply had to respond. Here is what I emailed Dave Schad and Mark Holsten of the DNR tonight:

Dear Mark and Dave,

I truly appreciate you taking the time to read my email. I am going to offer you a unique prospective to why continued muskellunge stocking is a great thing for the State of Minnesota. I am an avid angler for all species, though I do love to musky fish and love the thrill of hooking the king of freshwater. I moved here last April to Baxter, MN to run the local Gander Mountain store from Dayton, Ohio where I was the Store Manager of the Gander location in Dayton since 2005. I am originally from Wisconsin, and my family and I truly love north central Minnesota and its great schools and abundance of lakes. That being said, it is very important to note that my family and I moved here for two reasons. One was a much better school system for our kids, and two was the world class musky fishing opportunities here in Minnesota.

I read with interest the advertisement in the Minnesota Outdoor News this evening attacking the Minnesota DNR and musky anglers in general. The ad was against musky stocking as a whole and it is aimed at shutting down the five lake proposal. I would like to put a positive spin on the Minnesota DNR and personally thank them for creating without a doubt, some of the finest musky and walleye waters in the United States. The ironic thing is that our famous lakes like Leech, Mille Lacs, Bemidji, Cass, Miltona and Vermilion are all phenomenal walleye fisheries with one common denominator. They are all phenomenal musky lakes. If indeed muskies were such a voracious predatory fish, do you really think that these lakes mentioned above would harbor the outstanding walleye populations they have today? Leech Lake is a great musky lake, yet the walleye population is absolutely fantastic. I was there for the walleye opener this year and not only did we catch a bunch ourselves, but there were literally hundreds and hundreds of boats out there doing the same thing.

As a business Store Manager located in Baxter, I can assure you that increased angling opportunities for muskellunge would be extremely beneficial to not only my store, but to the local Mills Fleet Farm, Reeds Sporting Goods, etc. Quite frankly, it appears to me that these lake associations have their own private agenda basing their arguments with no true scientific data to support their claims. The verbal assault they are giving the Minnesota DNR is childish and weakens their arguments even further. One of their main arguments against stocking muskie is that they claim that musky anglers will be a leading cause of introducing invasive species to a lake. This is simply untrue and there are far more numbers of panfish anglers or recreational boaters going from lake to lake than musky anglers so there is no way they can factually make this claim.

In closing, from an out of state prospective, I want to personally thank the Minnesota DNR for creating the best muskellunge fishing opportunities to be found anywhere in the country. Please do not be swayed by lake associations with selfish agendas who use scare tactics to try to sway the general public or non-anglers. Muskies are great for a lake, period. They keep the lake healthy and keep fish populations in check to avoid stunting etc. Simply look at Mille Lacs, Bemidji, or Leech Lakes and I need to say no more. Those are great lakes for a number of fish species, not just muskies!!!! Thanks for listening!

Sincerely,

Tom Dietz
www.tomdietz.com

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