Mille Lacs Smallmouth Regulations Changed

This fish would now be a keeper.  Smallmouth 17 to 20 inches are protected.  They have a 6 fish limit just like the rest of the state.  You can now keep 1 over 20".

In my experience most of the smallmouth I catch in Mille Lacs are in the protected slot, but obviously there are a bunch of fish in the lake that are now open to harvest.  The previous slot only allowing 1 fish over 21", made it pretty much a catch and release lake.

It will be interesting to see if things change much or not.