Monthly Archives: April 2012

Measure to raise Minnesota hunting, fishing license fees remains in limbo

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The fate of a measure to increase the price of hunting and fishing licenses remains in limbo in the Minnesota Legislature.

The Senate on Monday voted 36-30 to include a modest increase in hunting and fishing licenses in the Omnibus Game and Fish bill (HF2171), but the House on Tuesday refused to concur with the amendment.

The Omnibus Game and Fish Bill is a broad-based piece of legislation with numerous items pertaining to the outdoors.

Instead, Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, moved Tuesday that the speaker of the House appoint a conference committee of five members to work out differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The Senate would have to appoint a similar five-member committee.

It’s not clear who will serve on the respective conference committees, but the clock is ticking to implement the license-fee hike as legislators scramble to meet a self-imposed Monday deadline to wrap up the session. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Gov. Mark Dayton have requested the increase to bolster the Game and Fish Fund, which is projected to go into the red by June 2013 without an influx of additional money.

Funded primarily by hunting and fishing license dollars, the Game and Fish Fund pays for a variety of fish, wildlife and enforcement programs.

About 75 anglers gathered Monday in the Minnesota Capitol to demand legislators raise hunting and fishing license fees. Otherwise, they said, a state fund that helps habitat will go broke. (Photo by Don Davis, Forum Communications)

The irony in all of this is that groups speaking on behalf of hunters and anglers — the people who would have to bite the bullet, so to speak, on the fee hike — support raising the licenses. Monday, about 75 hunters and anglers gathered in the Capitol Rotunda in support of the fee hike proposal.

There hasn’t been a wide-scale increase in the price of hunting and fishing licenses since 2001, and the revenue generated from license sales hasn’t kept up with the rising cost of doing business for DNR fisheries, wildlife and enforcement personnel.

For a closer look at the Omnibus Game and Fish Bill, click here.

There’ll be a lot of scrambling to get something passed as the session winds down. What that something is remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

Bassmaster magazine names N.D.’s Lake Audubon among 100 top bass lakes

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Bassmaster magazine has named North Dakota’s Lake Audubon as one of its 100 best bass fishing lakes in the U.S., the publication said today.

Known for its smallmouth bass, Lake Audubon ranked 71st on the Top 100 list. Audubon in 2011 had 11 Whopper Club entries and 24 catch-and-release entries for smallmouth bass in the Game and Fish Department’s Whopper and Catch and Release Club programs.

Minnesota ranked even more prominently on the Bassmaster list. Lake Minnetonka in the Twin Cities metro area weighed in as the seventh-best bass lake in the country, while Rainy Lake was ranked the 11th best bass lake. Minnetonka is known for its largemouth bass, while Rainy Lake on the Minnesota-Ontario border is a topnotch smallmouth fishery.

Also making the list were the South Dakota portion of Lake Oahe, at No. 79, and Minnesota’s Gull Lake, listed as the 80th best bass lake.

Here’s a listing of the Top 10 lakes on the list:

1. Falcon Lake, Texas.

2. Lake Okeechobee, Florida.

3. Lake Guntersville, Alabama.

4. Lake Erie, Michigan/Ohio/New York/Pennsylvania.

5. Lake Champlain, New York/Vermont.

6. Lake Amistad, Texas.

7. Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota.

8. San Joaquin Delta, California.

9. Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

10. Clear Lake, California.

For full details about each of the 100 lakes, click here:

Hunters, anglers rallying this morning in St. Paul

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ST. PAUL — Hunters and anglers supporting an increase in hunting and fishing license fees are gathered at the Capitol Rotunda this morning for a rally to salvage legislation stalled in the state Senate.

Hosted by fishing legend Al Lindner, the rally begins at 10:30 a.m.

The proposed  fee hike, which would be the first since 2001, is necessary to replenish the Department of Natural Resources’ Game and Fish Fund, which is projected to go into the red by June 2013 without additional revenue. Money for the fund comes primarily from hunting and fishing license dollars.

Increasing the price of hunting and  fishing licenses requires legislative approval, and a measure in the Senate’s game and fish bill got caught up in political wrangling last week. That’s why hunters and anglers are rallying today.

“This is a user-pay initiative, not a distributed tax, which has full support from Minnesota’s outdoor and environmental groups,” Lance Ness, president of Anglers for Habitat, said in a press release. “Hunters and anglers attitudes haven’t changed. We remain willing to pay our way for quality hunting, fishing and conservation efforts.”