GULL LAKE

Ice fishing extravaganza preparations underway with '90s theme for 35th year

Nancy Vogt — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 19:56:55 GMT

BRAINERD — The 35th annual Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza will boast a theme for the first time — Kickin' it Back to the '90s to celebrate the event's start in 1991 and key members who helped develop the tournament.

We just can't wait to be back with our 10,000 best friends, raising money for great causes and bringing back our favorite tradition.

The contest is scheduled from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, back on Gull Lake's Hole-in-the-Day Bay. It was held on different area lakes last year because of poor ice conditions.

"We're grateful for the people that supported us last year, and we're excited to have everybody back this year," said Sheena Ziegler, event co-chair and marketing director. "We just can't wait to be back with our 10,000 best friends, raising money for great causes and bringing back our favorite tradition."

Ziegler said the Jaycees are aware of an ice heave through the contest area and are monitoring it closely with officials.

Regarding the first themed year, Ziegler said: "We're just really excited that we've made it 35 years. We wanted to do something different and new and fresh. That's the name of the game with the organization."

A free kickoff party will start at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, at Zorbaz on Gull with '90s music, a silent auction and a costume contest.

People are welcome to wear 1990s gear on the ice Feb. 1 as well, Ziegler said.

The contest will feature new vendors and sponsors this year.

You don't have to have a ticket to come out and check it out and play games. ... It's a community event. We're out there raising money. We're not just out there ice fishing.

Ziegler stressed that anyone can check out the contest site and participate in activities on the ice. The $50 tickets are only required to participate in the ice fishing contest for prizes.

"You don't have to have a ticket to come out and check it out and play games. Enjoy the cheese curds. Enjoy the games. Enjoy all the things that we have out there," Ziegler said. "It's a community event. We're out there raising money. We're not just out there ice fishing."

She encouraged people to download the B93.3 app to participate in a scavenger hunt on the ice Feb. 1.

They're adding more family activities as well. The Youth Olympics will take place again, where the first 100 kids who play receive a bucket of ice fishing gear. The WonderTrek Children's Museum will be on the ice, along with youth angler groups doing activities.

Ziegler and the Jaycees are happy with the cold weather.

"We have been very blessed with the weather we've had so far. Things are looking good for us," she said, noting official word of the contest will come next week.

Ziegler encouraged people to keep an eye on social media and the website — icefishing.org — for updates and information.

For people looking for activities in the area when it's not contest time, Ziegler encouraged them to check out Crosslake for that city's annual WinterFest activities Jan. 30-Feb. 1.

The Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza is billed as the world’s largest charitable ice fishing contest, where every ticket helps the organization give back to the community.

The primary beneficiary is Confidence Learning Center, a year-round outdoor center for people of all ages with developmental disabilities, along with other charities.

Prizes anglers can win include a pickup truck, fish house, four-wheeler, ice augers and more.

The event generates over $1 million in revenue for area businesses and over $150,000 for area charities annually. Over $3 million has been donated since its inception.

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Gull Lake Christmas Tour set for Dec. 6-7

Pioneer Staff Report — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 21:22:00 GMT

TENSTRIKE — A Christmas Tour will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7, along the Gull Lake Loop Road in Tenstrike.

Travelers on the self-guided tour should take U.S. Highway 71 to Tenstrike and turn on Gull Lake Loop Road, following specially decorated tour signs.

The Christmas Tour will consist of three stops with local artisans selling handmade baskets, jewelry, home decor, paintings, wood carved signs, quilts and sewn items, apparel and freeze-dried candy, a release said.

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Mendota teenager dies in Gull Lake snowmobile crash

Forum News Service — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 01:21:11 GMT

EAST GULL LAKE, Minn. — The Cass County Sheriff’s Office received a report 11:18 p.m., Friday, Feb. 19, of a snowmobile crash with serious injuries on Gull Lake in the area of Birch Island.

Deputies and responders arrived at the scene and found a 1997 Arctic Cat snowmobile was travelling on Gull Lake and crashed into the northwest side of the rocky and wooded shoreline of Birch Island. The driver of the snowmobile, an 18-year-old male from Mendota, was located near the crash scene.

A friend of the driver initiated CPR. Continued lifesaving efforts were conducted on scene and the driver was transported via helicopter to St. Cloud Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy is scheduled with the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office and an investigation is continuing.

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World's largest charitable ice fishing tournament turns virtual on any Minnesota lake

Nancy Vogt — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 05:05:22 GMT

BRAINERD, Minn. -- Hailed as the world’s largest charitable ice fishing tournament, the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza will take place in 2021, but in a virtual format on any lake in Minnesota.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and because the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources may limit fishing tournaments to no more than 250 people, the contest will occur virtually to avoid tens of thousands of anglers from congregating on Gull Lake's Hole-in-the-Day Bay.

The Jaycees made the announcement in late November on Facebook. The charitable contest -- now called the Brainerd Jaycees Virtual Ice Fishing Extravaganza -- is slated for noon to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021.

"Tournament organizers, along with the direction of state officials, have made the decision to continue forward with the annual charitable ice fishing contest in a virtual format," the Facebook post says. "Officials have determined that due to the ongoing pandemic the most responsible choice is to continue the tradition of the Extravaganza in a different way, asking anglers to fish on any lake in Minnesota during the normal contest time and date."

First held in 1991, the Extravaganza has been postponed just three times and moved to a different lake once because of ice conditions. Event organizers have donated more than $4 million to Brainerd area charities, most notably Confidence Learning Center.

Event Chairperson Benji Thoennes said in the post: “Safety of all involved is our main concern this year. We know that the event will be different, but we hope to encourage everyone to get out fishing with their families and win some great prizes, which keeps in line with what the Extravaganza has always been about.”

While many comments on the Facebook post praised the Jaycees' decision, far more people disliked the decision and questioned the possibility of cheating.

The Jaycees followed up with another Facebook post on Friday, Nov. 27, that said: "A virtual contest will allow for the safest possible outcome during today’s pandemic concerns. The concerns behind a virtual contest are valid and we understand your frustration. However, with the web-based application that we choose we are confident this will provide a positive experience for all contestants."

The web-based app will go live the day of the contest. All six eligible fish species native to Gull Lake will be announced at a later date. Participants will be subject to all applicable Minnesota Department of Natural Resources licensing requirements.

The post further explained that in a virtual contest, all fish will be entered in by length and not weight. This requires all contestants to buy a bump board (ruler to measure fish). Each contestant will be required to take photos with their fish, ticket and bump board. Photos will not be able/allowed to be uploaded from a photo gallery; photos will only be accepted when taken within the web application that will automatically time and date stamp the photo.

The Jaycees will also have a team of committee members that will examine each fish entered during the hours of the contest.

The same prizes will be awarded, but the place number will change. Those changes will be announced at a later date.

The Jaycees remind participants that pre-purchased tickets must be registered by Friday, Jan. 15, to be eligible to participate in the new format. Visit https://forms.gle/LyqZcAXPra99rM6z8 to register tickets.

For more updates, visit www.icefishing.org.

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High school sailing team navigates uncertain waters

Frank Lee — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 11:00:00 GMT

BRAINERD, Minn. -- The Brainerd High �� sailing team may be relatively new, but it takes fun seriously.

The team started in the spring of 2018 and has consistently competed in events statewide since it began, Josh Sullivan, head coach of the co-ed team, said.

Sailing programs in Minnesota are not sanctioned by the Minnesota State High �� League but governed by the Midwest Interscholastic Sailing Association. The association has three sections and the west division includes 48 teams, mostly Minnesota and Wisconsin schools, though most of the Minnesota teams are based in the Twin Cities. There are two South Dakota teams, Lincoln in Sioux Falls and Dakota Valley in North Sioux City.

“Our team is very new,” said Sullivan, who is also the waterfront director of the Gull Lake Sailing ��. “We’re not a top competing team by any means. Even sailors that have been around for most of that time are still, in the grand scheme of things, novice sailors.”

The team consists of 16 members, and the team sails April through the first week in June and then the beginning of September through the end of October.

“The team is called the ‘Brainerd High �� sailing team.’ … But we have students from Brainerd, Pequot Lakes, Crosslake, Forestview. We’ve been looking to expand further. We even had a couple of homeschooled kids on the team this past season,” Sullivan said.

Those interested in joining the team do not need racing experience or even have to have been in a boat before, according to Sullivan.

“You get a fair number of different reactions. Most of the time it’s one of surprise — ‘Oh, that’s cool!’ Sometimes you get some questions asking what it’s like. Sometimes people say, ‘Well, maybe I want to try that, maybe that’s something I should look into,’” he said of the interest.

Fun in the sun

The fresh air, the sun shining down and recreating outside in the Brainerd lakes area and elsewhere holds a natural appeal for outdoor enthusiasts, particularly for students during the coronavirus pandemic when social distancing is encouraged to slow the spread of the disease.

“It is a true coed sport. Boys and girls not only race on the same racecourse but can be in the same boat, so you can have boats that are two boys, two girls, boy and girl … competing against each other at the same time on a given racecourse,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the Gull Lake Sailing ��’s board of directors hired him to start the Brainerd High �� sailing team.

“I believe that the sailing school has wanted to have a high school program to kind of build and grow the sailing school as a whole for many years,” Sullivan said.

The team practices after school for three hours, three times a week, at the Gull Lake Sailing ��.

“It is very, very different,” Sullivan said of sailboat racing as a sport. “But most of the time, I find that people very much enjoy it when they give it a shot. … The trick I always found was just getting them to try it.”

And in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, there's plenty of opportunity.

“It’s a great combination of a mental and a physical challenge because you have to basically control this big boat with your body. And you got to think about the wind, the waves and what you’re doing in the boat … and where the other boats are on the racecourse.”

Smooth sailing

Ethan Stohr is a 16-year-old Pequot Lakes High �� student. The 10th grader has been a Brainerd High �� sailing team member for three years.

“My parents thought it would be cool for me to try and be in it. And I was not on board with it. ... And then I fell in love with it. And, you know, ever since then, I’ve practiced and practiced, and it’s always fun to get out in the water and do something, even if it’s in October,” Stohr said.

Stohr now gives sailing lessons and works at the Gull Lake Sailing �� during the summer.

“Getting out on the water, being outside, is always really fun, and, you know, if it’s a beautiful day, if it’s windy,” Stohr said.

Due to COVID-19, the Gull Lake Sailing �� has redesigned all its activities with a focus on social distancing, hand hygiene and facial protection. Six-foot radius seating arrangements have been developed for instructional approaches.

“There’s a lot of work and thought that gets put into it. It’s not so much you jump in a boat, and you go and sail. There are rules, there are lots of hard work, lots of physical activity that I mean probably isn’t touched on and what people don’t think about when we’re sailing,” Stohr said.

RELATED: Read more outdoors recreation stories in Northland Outdoors

Teagan Hartwig-Burton is a 14-year-old team member at Forestview Middle �� in Baxter. She said her uncle encouraged her to try the sport because he knew the coaches.

“I said, ‘Sure, I’ll try it,’ and then I really grew to love it quickly,” Hartwig-Burton said. “It’s not scary but yet it’s like so fun. … People think it’s like a nerdy sport or a preppy sport when it’s really not. … You’re pushing yourself — not so hard you’ll get hurt but still trying your best.”

Sailboat racing

Practices are hosted by the Gull Lake Sailing �� in boats called “Club 420s.” Essential safety and racing gear are provided.

“The sailors are responsible to keep track of and care for the teams. Coach Josh selected the teams and they stay paired with their same teammate per boat,” said Kellie Burton, mom of Teagan Hartwig-Burton.

The Brainerd High �� sailing team is part of the Midwest Interscholastic Sailing Association. There are 55 member schools, according to officials.

“It seems to be everything she’s ever been looking for,” Burton said of her daughter’s involvement. “It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen my child’s eyes light up the way they do when she gets to sail. Her enthusiasm and passion shine bright for this lifelong sport.”

The Brainerd High �� sailing team could have competed in regional and national events if COVID-19 had not forced the cancelation of those events.

“We could, if we wanted to travel regionally, sail in Chicago, Milwaukee, even as far as Ohio within the association, and there we have the ability to compete in qualifiers to attend national-level events and compete against teams from all over the country,” Sullivan said.

The association’s objective is to further the sport of sailing, and to provide a standardized set of rules and procedures for competition. Sailors have the chance to attend competitions across Minnesota most weekends, but due to COVID-19, the team sailed only locally on Gull Lake.

High school sailing

Sullivan said he started his own high school sailing team as a freshman at the school he attended and led the team to a state championship victory, a regional championship podium, and a national championship appearance. He grew up sailing on White Bear Lake.

“It’s probably my favorite thing in the world to do. There’s very little else that I would rather do if anything. I’ve pretty much saved my whole life and I’m absolutely in love with it,” Sullivan said.

Stohr added, “I just think it’s a great thing to go out and do. It’s not your everyday thing that you hear about — ‘Oh, kids are going out racing sailboats’ — you know? Just everything about it, you know, is really fun.”

Scholarships are available for students through the Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation's Charles McQuinn Memorial Fund.

“It’s not just a school sport like football. Sailing is a lifelong skill that I can use all through my life. … I can be, you know, 60, with my little sailboat and sailing around, you know?” Stohr said.

High school sailing team navigates uncertain waters

The Brainerd High �� sailing team's season is usually April through the first week in June and then the beginning of September through the end of October. Submitted photo / Chris Holmes

Fourteen-year-old Teagan Hartwig-Burton steps from the edge of the boat as she sails as part of the Brainerd High �� sailing team. Submitted photo / Kellie Burton

The Brainerd High �� sailing team is not restricted to students from Brainerd High but is comprised of students from around the region. Submitted photo / Chris Holmes

Brainerd High �� sailing team members attempt to keep their boat from taking on water as they navigate the lake. Submitted photo / Chris Holmes

High school sailing team navigates uncertain waters

The Brainerd High �� sailing team's season is usually April through the first week in June and then the beginning of September through the end of October. Submitted photo / Chris Holmes

Fourteen-year-old Teagan Hartwig-Burton steps from the edge of the boat as she sails as part of the Brainerd High �� sailing team. Submitted photo / Kellie Burton

The Brainerd High �� sailing team is not restricted to students from Brainerd High but is comprised of students from around the region. Submitted photo / Chris Holmes

Brainerd High �� sailing team members attempt to keep their boat from taking on water as they navigate the lake. Submitted photo / Chris Holmes

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In split decision, Minnesota Court of Appeals rules in favor of state in netting case

Jennifer Kraus / Forum News Service — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 18:53:45 GMT

BRAINERD, Minn. -- In a 2-1 split, the Minnesota Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of the state in an appeal by a Fond du Lac Band member of his gross misdemeanor conviction for netting on Gull Lake in 2015.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals released its unpublished opinion Monday, Dec. 16, with a majority ruling in favor of the state. Presiding Judge Carol Hooten and Judge Renee L. Worke agreed with the Crow Wing County District Court’s decision. Retired Judge Roger Klaphake, the dissenting judge, favored the appellant, James Warren Northrup III, 51.

Northrup was one of two Ojibwe men charged for setting a gill net in Hole-in-the-Day Bay on Gull Lake in 2015 as part of an organized demonstration highlighting what protesters described as off-reservation hunting and gathering rights established by an 1855 treaty. Northrup and Todd Jeremy Thompson, 50, set the net from a canoe while a crowd of people on shore and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials on the water watched. DNR officials issued citations to the men for illegal taking of fish, netting without a license, lack of boating registration and for not having flotation devices. Charges against Thompson were later dismissed, while Northrup was convicted in October 2018.

The state Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Northrup’s case Sept. 19 in Bemidji.

Frank Bibeau, an attorney for Northrup, said in October that pursuing the appeal was a matter of showing the state of Minnesota all Chippewa Indians — otherwise known as Ojibwe or Anishinaabe — have rights to hunt, fish and gather in the 1855 ceded territory, of which Gull Lake is a part. Bibeau said a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling concerning those rights on Mille Lacs Lake establishes the legal recognition of the rights that treaty bestows on Northrup and any other Ojibwe.

Bibeau said Wednesday, Dec. 18, he is disappointed in the court’s 2-1 ruling, but said the dissenting judge’s opinion was “very helpful, very correct and I think the decision goes a long way to help us show the attorney general and possibly the federal court how and where the Minnesota courts are unwilling to follow the U.S Supreme Court precedent, even when a member of the panel points it out to them.”

Arguing on behalf of the state, Crow Wing County Attorney Don Ryan in October said Northrup’s membership in the Fond du Lac Band means he is not party to any treaty establishing those rights in the area. To support this argument, Ryan pointed to an 1854 treaty establishing a north-south boundary between the territory of the Mississippi River Band of Chippewa Indians and the Lake Superior Chippewa Bands. As a Lake Superior Chippewa band, the Fond du Lac Band was not a signatory to the 1855 treaty, Ryan said.

On Wednesday, Ryan said he agreed with the Court of Appeals ruling and he believes the conviction should be affirmed. Ryan declined to comment further as the appeals process is still open and Northrup’s attorneys may still file a petition for the Minnesota Supreme Court to review the case, which Bibeau said he plans to do.

“We have a couple of irons in the fire,” Bibeau said. “We believe we can get this corrected through action by the executive branch.”

Affirming the ruling

Northrup argued the state is without jurisdiction to prosecute him for the charged offenses because he is an Indian, his conduct occurred in “Indian country” and criminalization of his conduct constitutes a deprivation of federally guaranteed treaty rights. Northrup argued Gull Lake “is physically located within the original Gull Lake Reservation, which was originally reserved in the 1855 Treaty with the Chippewa,” the court document stated.

The appeals court stated Northrup is correct — the 1855 Treaty established a reservation encompassing Gull Lake. In exchange for the establishment of a reservation at Leech Lake, the Chippewa later ceded the Gull Lake Reservation land to the United States in unequivocal language in an 1864 treaty. In so doing, the Gull Lake reservation ceased to exist and the land within its boundaries thus ceased to constitute “Indian country,” the opinion stated.

The treaties Northrup relied upon did not provide for any express reservation of rights to Gull Lake, and instead only recognized the Chippewa tribe’s aboriginal right to occupancy of the land, to which the right to hunt, fish, and gather is incidental, Worke stated in the opinion. “This distinction is crucial because the (Minnesota Supreme Court) … also recognized that when hunting, fishing and gathering rights exist only by virtue of the right of occupancy rather than by express reservation in a treaty, the extinguishment of Indian title to the land has the effect of abrogating these use rights as well.”

Northrup argued the 1795, 1825 and 1826 treaties did no more than recognize the Minnesota Chippewa’s aboriginal rights of occupancy to the land, and because Northrup didn’t argue the Fond du Lac Band retained any such rights to the land ceded by the 1855 Treaty, the judges found Northrup failed to demonstrate he possessed any rights to Gull Lake.

The Court of Appeals also looked at Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, a U.S. Supreme Court case from 1999. In his brief, Northrup argued a different conclusion is compelled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in Mille Lacs. At issue in Mille Lacs was an 1837 treaty in which several bands of Chippewa — including the Mille Lacs Band — agreed to sell land east of the Mississippi river in central Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In 1990, the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa filed suit in federal court seeking a declaratory judgment the band retained the rights reserved by the 1837 Treaty. The court held “there is no reason to believe that the Chippewa would have understood a cession of a particular tract of land to relinquish hunting and fishing privileges on another tract of land.”

The appeals court judge stated, “Northrup is an individual private party, he does not represent the Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians, and neither is he a member of that Band. Second, the state does not appear to dispute any of the issues directly decided by the Supreme Court in Mille Lacs, and Northrup does not identify what specific facts decided by the court the state is attempting to relitigate.”

Dissenting opinion

In a dissenting opinion, Klaphake disagreed with the majority’s conclusion the interpretation of Indian treaties didn’t apply to this case.

“But in Mille Lacs, the Supreme Court observed that we apply the canons of construction to treaties to give effect to the terms as the Indians themselves would have understood them,” Klaphake wrote.

The application of rules, called canons of construction, that a court uses to interpret a written document under these circumstances is equally necessary to achieve the goal expressed in Mille Lacs of interpreting the terms as the Indians themselves would have understood them, Klaphake argued.

“There is no logical reason to limit the application of the canons of construction to land-cession treaties,” the judge stated. “Indeed, the United States Supreme Court has applied the canons to treaties that do not involve the cession of land to the United States. ... I would therefore conclude that the canons of construction apply and require an examination of the historical record surrounding the treaty negotiations in order to interpret the terms of the treaties.”

Based on the circumstances of this case, Klaphake would have remanded the case to the district court to make factual findings in light of the historical record.

“As the majority observes, the 1855 Treaty with the Chippewa extinguished all Indian title to the land in question, and with it all the incidental rights to hunt and fish. But it did not abrogate any treaty-guaranteed rights, and such rights must be expressly abrogated. ... Accordingly, I would reverse and remand for the district court to make additional findings of fact on the 1795 and 1825 treaties. Those findings should reference the canons of construction that apply to Indian treaties and whether the Indians understood these treaties as guaranteeing usufructuary rights. I would also allow the district court in its discretion to reopen the record to provide ‘the history of the treaties, the negotiations, and the practical construction adopted by the parties.’”

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Police recover body from central Minnesota lake

Forum News Service — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 20:19:33 GMT

LAKE SHORE, Minn. — A 62-year-old Sartell man was found dead Wednesday, July 31, in Gull Lake near Lake Shore in central Minnesota.

The Cass County Sheriff’s Office was called at 7:06 p.m., and upon arrival, deputies located the body in the water. The body was found near Grassy Point on the north end of Gull Lake near Grand View Lodge Spa and Golf Resort.

The body was transported to the Ramsey County Examiner’s Office for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

The man's name has not yet been released.

Lake Shore is about 19 miles northwest of Brainerd.

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FISH TALES: Haiden Blooflat on Gull Lake

Pioneer Staff Report — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 19:40:40 GMT

Haiden Blooflat, 3, caught this northern pike on Gull Lake on June 14. It was his first fish ever.

Send in your fishing photos to the Pioneer and we will publish them online in our Fish Tales section and also periodically run them in our Outdoors page in the Pioneer.

Please include the names, date, type of fish and where the fish was landed in the body of the email. Send your Fish Tales photos to news@bemidjipioneer.com.

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Gull Lake Christmas Tour on Dec. 1-2

Pioneer Staff Report — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 19:22:01 GMT

TENSTRIKE -- A Christmas Tour will be held Saturday, Dec. 1 and Sunday, Dec. 2, along the Gull Lake Loop Road in Tenstrike.

Tour hours for shoppers will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Travelers on the self-guided tour will start at Tenstrike by turning onto County Highway 29 and following specially decorated tour signs. The Christmas Tour consists of a unique antique and collectable shop and three active and creative artist studios.

Starting the tour, travelers will leave Highway 71 and find Darla Jares’ “Junk and Disorderly” antique and collectable shop. Next up is the Fiber and Basketry artist’s shop of Eve Sumsky. Following that shop is artist/author Don Houseman’s warm and picturesque lakeside studio "Stuff On Paper," where shoppers will find his acrylic paintings, woodcut prints, note cards and children’s books. The Gull Lake Christmas Tour culminates at another lakeside studio of artist Terry Honstead on Quarter Horse Circle to view her creations in paintings, trivets, coasters and jewelry.

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Judge hears claim fish netting on northern Minnesota lake protected under 1855 treaty

Jennifer Kraus — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 20:49:07 GMT

BRAINERD, Minn. - It is now up to 9th Judicial District Judge Jana M. Austad to decide whether a 50-year-old Cloquet, Minn., man charged with illegally setting a gill net in Gull Lake is protected under the treaty rights drawn up between tribes and the U.S. government in 1855.

Austad, a judge based in Cass County, took over the case in August 2017 after four 9th Judicial District judges in Crow Wing County recused themselves.

James Warren Northrup faces charges following an August 2015 incident on Hole-in-the-Day Bay on Gull Lake. Northrup and Todd Jeremy Thompson deployed a gill net from a canoe while a crowd of people stood on shore, without a state license. It is illegal under Minnesota law to fish with a net unless specifically authorized. Charges against Thompson have since been dismissed, but the case with Northrup continues.

Northrup appeared for a court trial Wednesday, Sept. 5, in Brainerd. Northrup, in jeans and a blue Under Armor T-shirt, sat next to his legal team - John Plumer, an attorney in Bemidji, and Frank Bibeau, an attorney in Deer River - holding a feather given to him before the trial started. According to the Indians.org website, feathers symbolize trust, honor, strength, wisdom, power, freedom, among other things.

Northrup waived his rights to a jury trial, while under oath; he also answered "Yes" to having a clear mind. The court trial was less than two hours long and consisted of both legal teams presenting their arguments on the case. Crow Wing County Attorney Don Ryan represented the state. Ryan enlisted Robert Cary, an assistant attorney with the Minnesota Attorney General's Office, to assist on the case. Cary did not speak during the trial.

Ryan told the judge no one was disputing the facts of what happened on Aug. 28, 2015, when Minnesota DNR conservation officers observed Northrup and Thompson in a canoe on Gull Lake. Officers watched Thompson open a blue tote and start putting a gill net into Gull Lake as Northrup paddled the canoe. After placing the net into Gull Lake, the two paddled back to shore. Conservation officers pulled their patrol boat up next to the canoe, identified themselves as state conservation officers and directed the canoe to stop.

Thompson and Northrup refused to stop, paddled to shore, exited their canoe and disappeared into the crowd on shore. Their canoe was quickly loaded onto a truck by other individuals. The canoe did not display proper registration and there were no personal floatation devices in the canoe, the complaint stated.

Conservation officers later made contact with the men, who stated the net belonged to them and they admitted to setting the gill net. They did not have a license or permit from Minnesota and they claimed they had federal treaty rights to place the net in Gull Lake.

The question for the court, Ryan said, is if Northrup had a right to net without a state license or if he is protected under the 1855 treaty under the Fond du Lac Reservation Lake Superior Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Ryan said he is not protected, citing several treaties between the U.S and the Chippewa Indians, specifically stating he was enrolled to be a member of the Fond du Lac Band at the time of the incident, but was not specifically a member of the band.

The defense disagreed, citing Northrup is a member.

The defense filed court papers Tuesday - a day before the scheduled trial - on Northrup's status of membership into the Fond du Lac tribe.

Dale Greene of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, outside of court, said the Minnesota Chippewa Tribal Executive Committee, an elected body of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, is the body making decisions on tribe membership. The committee is comprised of six member reservations of Bois Forte, Fond Du Lac, Grand Portage, Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and White Earth.

The Fond du Lac Reservation Tribal Council prescreened all applications seeking enrollment into the Fond du Lac Reservation Lake Superior Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. In a court file, the council stated Northrup is currently enrolled with the Leech Lake Reservation Pillager Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. The council reviewed and approved the request of relinquishment of Northrup's membership with the Leech Lake Reservation and found him to be eligible for enrollment with the Fond du Lac Reservation.

- OPTIONAL TRIM -

Plumer said Northrup believed he had the right to net under the 1855 Treaty, which allows members of the Anishinaabe bands rights to hunt, fish, gather and maintain sacred sites on the land ceded to the U.S. government. Plumer told the judge, in a apologetic way, Minnesota courts do not have a trusting relationship with the bands, as the federal courts do. He said the federal courts have been the government agency working with the bands on treaty agreements - since 1825 when the U.S. government arranged a Prairie du Chien treaty between the Dakota and Ojibwe. Plumer said there are treaties built upon more treaties that were agreed upon over the decades.

Plumer said Northrup is part of the Ojibwe tribe and is protected by the treaty.

The defense also argued a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision concerning Mille Lacs Lake supported their rights to net fish on Gull Lake, a decision which also protects his client. Ryan disagreed, stating the 1855 Treaty did not specifically reserve any rights to the Indians.

"Therefore all aboriginal title was ceded and that cession includes fishing and gathering rights that are incidental to those aboriginal rights," Ryan stated in a court document on the case. Ryan said the defense took this case "completely out of context" in its argument.

Ryan said if the court decides Northrup does not have the rights under the treaty to net, he would be prosecuted like any Minnesota resident would be with regard to hunting and fishing.

After the court trial, Plumer said he thought Austad was open-minded enough to consider his client's arguments.

"We believe ... under the Minnesota Ojibwe Tribe that all the territories of all the different treaty areas are all controlled by the Tribal Executive Committee and that we are one tribe," Plumer said. "This committee determines whether or not people have rights to go outside the area they were historically enrolled in.

"We don't believe it's as clear cut as the (state) believes as far as aborigination of rights that existed at the time of the treaties of 1854 and 1855. ... We believe unless it's clearly and unrequitedly surrendered that they continue to exist and we believe that is the case here."

"The state of Minnesota is a great state, the United States is a great country and it's been our sacrifice that has made the United States a great country," Greene said. "It's our sacrifice that we're still feeling the repercussions of that has made this state of Minnesota a great state. The brownstone, the sandstone, the timber, the raw resources made this a great state. All we are asking is to honor the treaties that we made with the United States that made this state possible. (We are) exercising our hunting, fishing, gathering of properties as it is our property rights. We want to guarantee that people have pristine drinking water. We want the sport fishermen's grandchildren, great-grandchildren to enjoy the sport that they love while we enjoy what the creator gave us.

"It may look like we are taking fish or doing this or that but we are doing it at 1 percentage of what is taken throughout the fishing season. ... We're not the bad guys. We have poverty, historical, social and economic conditions that we are still paying for those treaties."

Austad, who has taken the case under advisement, has up to 60 days to make a decision.

Judge hears claim fish netting on northern Minnesota lake protected under 1855 treaty

Anishinaabe Todd Thomson carries his gill net away from the Hole-in-the-Day access after being cited by the DNR with fellow netter Jim Northrup for illegal fishing with a gill net. Thompson and Northrup set a gill net in Hole-in-the-Day Bay on Gull Lake. Steve Kohls / Forum News Service file photo

Area DNR officer Tim Collette issues a citation to Anishinaabe Jim Northrup III while his boat partner Todd Thompson videotapes the event at the Hole-in-the-Day access to Gull Lake last year. The two men were cited for illegally taking fish with a gill net. Steve Kohls / Forum News Service file photo

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