Outdoors notes

The 2005 duck season will open Oct. 1, the DNR said.

Bag limits and season length will be announced in August after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's flyway meeting. The DNR selected the Oct. 1 opener due in part to opinion surveys that showed a preference for that time period.

Season length and bag limits will be based on the number of mid-continent mallards and pond numbers. Biologists will gather those numbers in the coming weeks, as most species of waterfowl complete their spring migration and begin nesting.

Mike Carroll named DNR northwest region director

Mike Carroll has been named northwest region director for the DNR by Commissioner Gene Merriam, effective June 1.

Carroll currently is the DNR's forestry division director. He and his family live in Park Rapids. His new position will be based in the DNR's regional office in Bemidji. He's a 25-year DNR veteran who has served in a variety of forestry positions, including area forestry supervisor in Park Rapids, superintendent of the Badoura State Forest Nursery, forest resource management program supervisor, and regional forest health specialist.

Carroll has a bachelor's degree in forestry from Syracuse University and a master's degree in entomology with academic distinction from the University of Missouri. In 1995, he served as Minnesota chair for the Society of American Foresters. During his DNR tenure, he has received numerous awards for outstanding achievement.

Carroll succeeds acting regional director Roger Tietz, who will return full time June 1 to his job as the DNR enforcement division's regional supervisor in Bemidji.

DNR seeks watercraft inspectors

The DNR needs watercraft inspector interns for the upcoming boating season. Inspectors are stationed at public accesses on lakes and rivers infested with invasive species. Application deadline is March 18.

Other duties include assisting with access posting, conducting invasive plant removal and other natural resource projects. These are full-time, temporary internships that start in April and run through October, with flexibility for students still in school.

Positions are available in Brainerd, the Twin Cities area, Wright and Chisago counties, along the Mississippi River, and in Duluth, Spicer and Willmar.

Applicants must have a valid Minnesota driver's license. Phone (651) 297-4891 for more information.

Anglers caught with 106 fish over the limit

Two men were charged with having 106 sunfish over their limit. Jeffrey Allen Meuleners, 52, Montrose, and Donald Peter Gabrelcik, 58, Delano, were each cited for possessing 53 sunfish over the limit.

In early February, DNR conservation officer Chris Vinton, Detroit Lakes, received a Turn-in-Poacher call that a group of anglers were fishing for sunfish on Tulaby Lake in northern Becker County and were taking more than 100 fish at a time. The statewide limit for sunfish is 20 per angler.

In a garage near Akeley, Gabrelcik then produced two buckets of sunfish that were in the rear of the pickup. He said they had more hidden in one of the portable shelters. There were 85 sunfish in the buckets and shelter.

Lang returned from the cabin and said there were four bags with 61 partially frozen sunfish. Vinton said, "Both anglers kept commenting that they could not stop and the fishing was just too good."