The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced changes to the bass fishing regulations for Mille Lacs Lake this week that include a four-fish limit and a slot provision, but those will not affect the Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship set to be held there Sept. 15-18.
For one thing, the DNR's press release includes this sentence: “The ability to exempt large bass tournaments from the size regulation and bag limits remains.” For another, the AOY Championship will be conducted under a special "research" permit.
“We sent DNR quite a bit of additional information about how we run our events, precautions we take for off-site weigh-ins and the estimated attendance and economic impacts of the typical Elite tournament to help justify their issuing a special permit,” said B.A.S.S. national conservation director Gene Gilliland in a statement that the organization sent to BassFan. "What is different from the norm is that we will be operating under a ‘research’ permit that allows DNR to waive some rules temporarily while we assist with data collection on angler pressure, catch, harvest, survival, etc., to help them determine the impacts (biological and economic) of our event. We will operate the AOY event under a five-bass limit and anglers will be allowed to cull.”
B.A.S.S. also said in the statement that the "large tournaments" exemtpion was announced last year and was an impetus for the organization's scheduling of the AOY Championship at Mille Lacs.
