By John Weiss
weiss@postbulletin.com
The Department of Natural Resources has put a possession limit of one smallmouth bass daily, at least 21 inches long, on Mille Lacs Lake as a precaution until the department knows more about overall smallmouth numbers.
Tom Jones, DNR large-lake specialist for Mille Lacs, said "there are certainly fishable populations of large smallmouth in there."
Studies indicate, however, that some year-classes are missing, indicating smallmouth spawning areas might be limited or there is some other reason for poor reproduction in certain years.
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The department began to get pressure to put some kind of limit on smallies because of reports of anglers keeping stringers of 4- to 6-pound fish, he said.
