2011 Limits

[West Basin]

Seems every year the same 'ole debates crop up.

Not enough walleye. Too many little walleye. The limit is too low. The limit is too high. The Canadians are taking all the walleye. ODNR Fishieries doesn't know what they are doing. Etc., etc., etc.

It is a HUGE Lake and Lake System. The entire Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie, have gone through drastic changes over the last 180 or so years. The system is still in a state of flux, as change continues. It is a big job with very limited resources to track, study, and develop methods to predict and manage the Lake Erie fishery. Our fisheries people are the professionals. They know what they are doing, and do it well. You either trust them or you don't.

Lake Erie does not remain constant. The fishery does not remain constant. It will do what it will do and there isn't a lot we can do about it in the short term.

Think of fishing methods. Do we use the same fishing methods / lures we used 20 years ago?

Enjoy the resource responsibly and remember every year is going to be different.

West

[fishkiller16]

I disagree I think it could be managed a lot better by Ohio DNR, Pennsylvania Game Commission, NYDEC, and especially Ontario's DNR. Everyone will complain after its too late instead of doing something about it now. The limits need to be lowered across the board. I personally thinks its very very poor managment on Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario not to close their walleye season during the spawning season (mid march-may 1st). And the gill nets need to be gone, they outlawed them in the eastern basin in the 80's.

[jiginitis69]

Good point WB. Last year we pulled out old Hilldebrandts Gold Nuggets and Silver Nuggets. They caught fish. LOL It was great. We decided we wanted a trip where everyone had to use old lures and cast. What a hoot. The remininci never stopped and we limited. Everyone should give it a try. Sometimes old becomes new. Look at the clothes the kids are wearing today. We should have kept our old ones. lol

Good Luck and Good Fishing

[PZeiler]

Caught more walleye on weight forwards last year than I did on harnesses. Red and white or green and white were the best.

[bocajemma]

I disagree I think it could be managed a lot better by Ohio DNR, Pennsylvania Game Commission, NYDEC, and especially Ontario's DNR. Everyone will complain after its too late instead of doing something about it now. The limits need to be lowered across the board. I personally thinks its very very poor managment on Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario not to close their walleye season during the spawning season (mid march-may 1st). And the gill nets need to be gone, they outlawed them in the eastern basin in the 80's.

Please educate yourself on the subject if you plan to be a charter captain. There are not that many fish caught during the spawn in Ohio. I think last year (a good year for early season) Ohio caught roughly 100,000 walleye, of which 90% were MALES. A better choice of season to close down would be june/july or july/august when the most walleye are caught out of lake erie (nearly 500,000 for the few months) and of those 50% are females. Seeing that you are from NY that would pretty much shut down all your fishing. It's not the numbers of walleye in the lake and it's not the number of females spawning. after 2003 there were nearly 60 million walleye in the lake and they could not produce an above average hatch. I think the 2010 hatch was the best hatch we have had since that 2003 hatch (or close to it) and as it stands the estimated walleye population is just under 20 million. It's very possible that lake erie can't sustain 60 million walleye constantly. The resources for food, shelter, etc. are not infinite in the lake.

[fishindude644]

I know there are yay' and nay's about this topic but it would help protect the prime spawners.