Marie Hudec, who owns a local resort with her husband, says the crappies have made up for the business lost by the walleye crash. The crappie boom is the result of a walleye bust. Years of overharvest by commercial, sport, and subsistence users led to a collapse of the walleye population in the early 1990s. The Red Lake Band banned all netting in 1998. The state reduced the walleye bag limit to two fish in 1998 and then to zero in 1999.
Red Lake is actually two massive, linked lakes.
All of Lower Red Lake's 152,000 acres plus 60,000 acres of Upper Red Lake lie within the boundaries of the Red Lake Indian reservation. Falling within the state's jurisdiction are 48,000 acres on the east side of Upper Red Lake. Red Lake Reservation waters are off-limits to anyone not enrolled in the band. An agreement between the band and the state signed in 1999 called for stocking roughly 40 million walleye fry up to five times during the next decade. It also required a zero walleye limit until the population recoverd and increased enforcement of fishing regulations.