The DNR, the fishing & the anglers about the Mystery Lake

[WB Staff]

From Green Bay Press Gazette

A professional fishing tournament that will showcase Green Bay fishing to a national audience has been scaled back by state environmental regulators who have declared about half of the bay off limits to anglers.

Officials with the state Department of Natural Resources say the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament could damage the region’s fish population if competitors are allowed full access to the 80-mile-long bay.

So the event bringing the nation’s top professional anglers to the area from June 28 to July 1 will be limited to waters generally south of Sturgeon Bay.

Some competitors are lambasting the move, saying that overly restrictive boundaries will deprive Green Bay of the chance for positive nationwide exposure as a fishing destination.
“It downright sucks,” said Travis Manson, a tournament participant who is from Green Bay. “It’s not going to showcase the fishing that’s available here, by any means.”

Another competitor, Brent Broderick of Oregonia, Ohio, said the tournament in Green Bay had the potential to produce record-breaking catches, which he said would draw fishing enthusiasts to the area for years.

But the DNR’s restrictions will force competitors to stay miles away from the region’s best fishing spots, Broderick said.

“Unfortunately,” he added, “I think we’re just going to have an average event.”

Also from the Green Bay Press Gazette
...With potential tournament waters stretching some 120 miles north from the launch at Green Bay and many anglers willing to go wherever it takes to find the biggest bass, it makes sense to reduce the potential of multiple-hour, high-speed boat rides that stress or kill bass and take them out of their home waters.

Some competitors were quoted as saying that it’s not going to showcase the fishing that’s available here or that it’s going to lead to just an “average” event. One even likened it to “limiting us to a bathtub.”...

... There are plenty of 4- and 5-pound-plus bass available in the waters DNR officials are allowing the anglers to fish.
If these are truly 99 of the best bass anglers in the nation, it’s up to them to figure out a way to get enough strikes to weigh five trophy smallmouths each day in the quest to win the $100,000 top prize.

Skeet Reese of Auburn, Calif., and Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., are among the contenders for B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year. Reese said Series competitors are as good as they get in taking care of fish.

Maybe so, but even the best anglers can’t do a whole lot to smooth a multiple-hour ride over rough seas, or make sure the fish are released anywhere close to where they were hooked.

Green Bay was announced as a “Mystery Lake” on the tour late last month, and was immediately placed off limits to participants. Jerry McKinnis, co-owner of B.A.S.S., said he wanted it to be a surprise to the anglers and a body of water that most had no prior knowledge of...