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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | I swear to God that this issue is like putting my 2 year old down for "ni-ni". Every time you thing it's put to bed he gets up and walks around the house. This is an article that ran in the Grand Rapids paper the other day. Right now the DNR is contemplating the hold of stocking muskies. Please CALL and give them your support! A call is worth 10 emails in their eyes.
A response is being drafted as we speak.
Does Pokegama need stocked muskies?
Published: Wednesday, October 1, 2008 3:07 PM CDT
Editor:
Did you know the DNR plans to stock Pokegama Lake (Itasca County)
with muskies starting this fall?
Did you know the DNR plans to stock close to 2000 fingerlings every
other year through the year 2016? Did you know the DNR chose Gull
Lake and Pokegama Lake and the people of Brainerd opposed it and got
the DNR to stop their stocking plans?
A couple of summers ago the DNR could be found on Pokegama giving
anglers a poll on if they were in favor or against stocking muskie in the
lake. I have been told that the results of this poll were that “most”
anglers were against it. It confuses me that the DNR can spend that
many man hours and money and still push the issue through. After a
couple of years of keeping their plans quiet they now make it public
knowledge last minute.
Pokegama Lake is one of the most fantastic multi specie
lakes in
Minnesota and for the past several years it has been part of the
accelerated stocking plan for walleye. Over the past few years we have
seen this fishery start to produce trophy walleye, true jumbo perch,
giant pike, monster smallmouth and largemouth to name a few. By
introducing that many predators into a single body of water don ’t you
think something is going to change? In the past muskie were stocked in
several lakes in our area that had strong walleye and perch populations.
Today these lakes have no perch or walleye and the muskie are gone
also. I understand that Mother Nature is not an exact science but that is
why musky stocking in Pokegama Lake needs to have a long range case
study done by a neutral party. Not information provided by certain
organizations.
After speaking with many anglers, guides, lake shore owners, local
business owners, neighbors, the vast majority of people in Grand Rapids
are un aware
of the DNR's intentions in our home lake. If you want to
have a voice in this, please contact the DNR commissioner and our local
senator.
It is very important that we, the people, voice our opinion on this issue.
Tom Saxhaug, [email protected] (651) 2964136
Mark Holsten, [email protected] (651) 2595555 |
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Location: Twin Cities | I'm assuming we need to call this Mark Holsten at 651-259-5555 to voice said opinion? |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Yes please!
Also if anyone is from Tom's district please call him as well. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | e-mail sent (best I can do). m |
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| Call made!! |
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Posts: 14
| Call made
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| Thank You Shawn the Ni-Ni analogy is the closest Ive heard. |
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Posts: 742
Location: Grand Rapids MN | Sorry to say being from the area that the local papers are generally very mis-informed. This doesn't suprise me. Wonder if I asked the paper to name these 'several lakes' that muskies have depleted then died off if they would respond. Anyways... I will make the phone call.... AGAIN! |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | bump
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Posts: 175
| Spoke with Mark Holsten's assistant for a bit, she mentioned that the initial wave of calls were negative but the pro-stocking calls have been coming in since.
She forwarded me to Ed ???? who was taking calls on this issue. I left Ed a message, stated I was in favor of the original plan to stock the lake and in favor of the Long Range Esox Plan as it was conceived and presented. I also said that the public hearings were in fact held two years ago and were overwhelmingly supportive of stocking.
Call Mark Holsten at 651.259.5555
CP |
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Posts: 639
Location: Hudson, WI | My dad is from Rapids and we used to take a trip up there and fish Pokegama every summer. I think we caught over 200 perch crawler riggin for 'eyes in one day once, not a one over 9 inches. Plus there are smelt in there as well. With the depth, structure and forage of that lake, I don't think I would want to fish 'Skies if they were in there...they would get too big for my gear to handle. If everything goes well, it could make Miltona look like Nokomis for the amount of true trophy fish. I'd be a sad day if they shut this plan down. |
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Posts: 304
Location: Lino Lakes, MN | I made the call just a few minutes ago. I also got Ed's answering machine. I left my phone number and asked him to please return the call. Hopfully he is getting bombarded with positive calls.
Steve |
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Posts: 227
Location: Maple Grove | I was transferred to Ed as well. I left him a message. Took 2 minutes out of my day. If you haven't called yet please do so. |
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| Mark that down as another one transfered to Ed. Left a message as well. |
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Posts: 785
| I doubt I'd be able to get ahold of him becouse of my hours at work, but I did send an email. |
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| http://www.grandrapidsmn.com/articles/2008/10/08/opinion/doc48e687d... |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | Keep the calls coming! |
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Posts: 2384
Location: On the X that marks the mucky spot | I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to call with their support for stocking Pokegama!!!!!! Apparently at one time there was 50 calls in 1/2 hour in support of the stocking. Needless to say they got the message and there should be some new fishies swimming around this coming Monday.
Muskie First fall outing on Pokegama in Sept 2018 
Edited by Muskie Treats 10/15/2008 9:06 AM
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Posts: 677
Location: Twin Cities, MN | just got off the horn with Tom, who said he appreciated my call and support for the stocking moving forward. He did say they were keeping track of the calls.
Pal |
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