Positive fish population trends at Lake Mille Lacs in central Minnesota are prompting the state Department of Natural Resources to allow anglers to keep two walleyes this winter.

The DNR announced this week that state-licensed anglers on Mille Lacs Lake will be able to take home two walleyes 18 to 20 inches long, or one 18 to 20 inches and one longer than 28 inches. Winter regulations begin on December 1 and last until February 23.

The MNR’s annual fall net fishing survey revealed good numbers of adult and juvenile walleyes. The lake also has plenty of perch and tullibees, which are important food sources for walleye, said Brian Nerbonne, DNR regional fisheries director.

The forage abundance is likely to extend into the winter, which will likely result in slower catch rates for fishermen, Nerbonne said. That makes it safer for the DNR to set a two-fish limit, he said.

“The walleyes will have plenty of natural foods to eat,” Nerbonne said. “They just won’t be as hungry and will be less likely to bite.”

The DNR sets the total harvest for the fishing year with eight Ojibwe tribes that retain treaty fishing rights. The state and tribes establish regulations to meet their share of the harvest.

As of Sept. 30, state-licensed anglers had harvested 29,891 pounds of walleye, of the 91,550 pounds allotted to them for the 2024 season.

The two-fish limit is a continuation of the walleye regulations that the MNR established for Mille Lacs Lake in August. Fishermen, resort owners and other businesses around the lake have urged the DNR to allow a looser limit.

“Our fishermen have made it clear to us that they want to see harvest opportunities when possible, and so we’re going to do everything we can to provide that if we can,” Nerbonne said.

In 2023, the amount of forage was relatively low in Mille Lacs Lake, leading to high catch rates, Nerbonne said. He said the cause of the higher numbers this year was not entirely clear.

“Basically the conditions were right, weather-wise and food-wise, for these young perch and young tullibees, once they hatched, to have what they needed to eat,” he said. “So they grew well and survived well and had good numbers until the end of the season when they got to the size that the walleyes want to eat.”

One factor explaining these signs of a positive trend could be a decline in invasive zebra mussels compared to a decade ago, Nerbonne said. Zebra mussels filter the tiny zooplankton that young walleye, perch and tullibees feed on.

Nerbonne said last winter’s poor ice conditions and a rainy start to summer, along with the slower catch rate, likely kept many anglers away from Mille Lacs Lake this year, contributing to the decline in number of shots.