Big Perch

[pappyon]

We made it to fenwicks at 6 am. I knew things were bad when we were not the only boat at the launch..but the only truck with an empty trailer there. We went out in the fog...NE. Stopped at crib..nothing. Casted and caught a few white bass...and a sheephead. Went to trolling. Nothing. The water was clear. I have seen it a lot worse and caught fish. But we could see our lure go down 3 feet or so easily. We casted again. Trying everything. Had 7 charters in a pack. We fished all around and funally had one on. Got him to the boat and he got off. But the dead eyes....my god. You can bet the bottom of the lake is covered with 100,000s of thousands....if not millions of fish. The western end is dead. I hope it can come back. We need to push the DNR to restock. We pay the license fees....they need to return some back to us and restock the lake. I think we will end up east next week. I am afraid a few years down the road this fish kill is going to kill the fishing. No reproduction one year is a huge loss. Been fishing this lake since 83. Have never seen it like this this time of the year.

[pappyon]

Starting In 1983 my dad fished lake erie everyday. Mom and dad would get their limits everyday. When the water started to clear because of the zebras...he started trolling. This was in the mid to later 80's. Everyday....and i mean everyday..he would limit out in a very short time. Noone trolled then..and it was looked down on as a bad way to fish...or unsportsmanlike. We used to drive up...have breakfast...head out maybe 8 or 9 am. Always got back before noon with our limits. Eveyrone would come ot the fish cleaning station and were amazed. When we told them we trolled..they looked at us like we stold the fish. lol They would tell us it wasnt sportsmanlike. Well...look at it now. For the past years it has been tabooo....at least for many years back then it was. What made it ok all of a sudden? We have found that the planners...way out...with leadline produce the best for us. and making a turn send one way out away from the boat...and that one will get a fish almost on every turn. Funny how things change....even the diehard still look at it like unsporting to troll.

[boonie]

Pappyon, is it true over 3 colors of lead core line will sink an offshore planner board? I just purchased 2 leadcore rod and reels and have never used them. Any help would be appreciated

[wakina]

We made it to fenwicks at 6 am. I knew things were bad when we were not the only boat at the launch..but the only truck with an empty trailer there. We went out in the fog...NE. Stopped at crib..nothing. Casted and caught a few white bass...and a sheephead. Went to trolling. Nothing. The water was clear. I have seen it a lot worse and caught fish. But we could see our lure go down 3 feet or so easily. We casted again. Trying everything. Had 7 charters in a pack. We fished all around and funally had one on. Got him to the boat and he got off. But the dead eyes....my god. You can bet the bottom of the lake is covered with 100,000s of thousands....if not millions of fish. The western end is dead. I hope it can come back. We need to push the DNR to restock. We pay the license fees....they need to return some back to us and restock the lake. I think we will end up east next week. I am afraid a few years down the road this fish kill is going to kill the fishing. No reproduction one year is a huge loss. Been fishing this lake since 83. Have never seen it like this this time of the year.

I have been fishing Lake Erie since 1955, in the late 70's early 80's (can't remember the exact year) there was a walleye die off that had everyone who loved the lake worried, no matter where you looked you could see dead walleyes floating but the fact is we still have walleyes and we probably will continue to have walleyes. In the 60's we fished all summer for what we catch now in one or two days of fishing. In the early 2000's and as late as 2004 Walleyes were hard to come by in the western basin due to the very hot summers that set in earlier than normal in those years forcing the fish to head further east to deeper water sooner than normal, it was hard for some of the best charter Captains to get their limit of fish every day and most didn't without a 20 mile or longer run one way.

In the 60's and 70's the ODNR stocked walleyes into the lake to help replentish what pollution had depleted. Some were even stocked in the eastern part of lake erie by air. It was explained to me by an ODNR that if the conditions for the normal wild spawned walleyes were not proper for their survial then most likely those same conditions would not be conductive for the survival of hatchery raised fry either. The return for investment was so low that stocking the big lake was stopped.

I can relate to your concern and I hope that we can get a somewhat decent hatch and survival rate this year. To replentsh our fish and to calm our frayed nerves.

[wallytracker]

We made it to fenwicks at 6 am. I knew things were bad when we were not the only boat at the launch..but the only truck with an empty trailer there. We went out in the fog...NE. Stopped at crib..nothing. Casted and caught a few white bass...and a sheephead. Went to trolling. Nothing. The water was clear. I have seen it a lot worse and caught fish. But we could see our lure go down 3 feet or so easily. We casted again. Trying everything. Had 7 charters in a pack. We fished all around and funally had one on. Got him to the boat and he got off. But the dead eyes....my god. You can bet the bottom of the lake is covered with 100,000s of thousands....if not millions of fish. The western end is dead. I hope it can come back. We need to push the DNR to restock. We pay the license fees....they need to return some back to us and restock the lake. I think we will end up east next week. I am afraid a few years down the road this fish kill is going to kill the fishing. No reproduction one year is a huge loss. Been fishing this lake since 83. Have never seen it like this this time of the year.

I think we all share the common concern over the recent slump in fishing, but I would not venture to say that hundreds of thousands or millions of dead walleyes are lying on the bottom of the lake, and I certainly wouldn't say that the western basin is dead. Yes, the fishing has been poor and the fish kill is peculiar, but I think jumping to a conclusion as bold as the ruination of the western basin fishery is a little far fetched at this point. The last estimation of the walleye population in Lake Erie was around 40 million fish, and I doubt that the death of several thousand jacks has ruined the livelihood of that population. I only ask that you have some patience in making it through this stretch of tough fishing before you post such malicious reports about the condition of the western basin fishery. I fished last monday off west reef and rattlesnake and caught 12 fish in 5 hours of trolling (ripsticks 75 ft back & stickbaits w/ 2oz snap weights) and was very happy with my success, so for anyone thinking about trying their luck I say there are plenty of people catching fish, just choose your location and days carefully.

[maul35]

Well said Wallytracker!!!!

[bocajemma]

We made it to fenwicks at 6 am. I knew things were bad when we were not the only boat at the launch..but the only truck with an empty trailer there. We went out in the fog...NE. Stopped at crib..nothing. Casted and caught a few white bass...and a sheephead. Went to trolling. Nothing. The water was clear. I have seen it a lot worse and caught fish. But we could see our lure go down 3 feet or so easily. We casted again. Trying everything. Had 7 charters in a pack. We fished all around and funally had one on. Got him to the boat and he got off. But the dead eyes....my god. You can bet the bottom of the lake is covered with 100,000s of thousands....if not millions of fish. The western end is dead. I hope it can come back. We need to push the DNR to restock. We pay the license fees....they need to return some back to us and restock the lake. I think we will end up east next week. I am afraid a few years down the road this fish kill is going to kill the fishing. No reproduction one year is a huge loss. Been fishing this lake since 83. Have never seen it like this this time of the year.

Same old stuff. Bad fishing must mean the sky is falling and the lake is dead. Here is an update from the Ohio Sea Grant. Please educate yourself before screaming that the sky is falling.



The following update was received today from Roger Knight, Lake Erie Fisheries Program Administrator, ODNR, Division of Wildlife:

Update…
· The kill appears to be in the 1,000s of fish based on public reports and DNR field inspections (boat, aircraft).

· The kill was primarily found from Davis Besse to the islands, suggesting it involved reef-spawning walleyes.

· With a population of over 20 million fish, a few thousand deaths will not have a population impact

· While it is an unusually high mortality event, it happened in the face of unusual spring weather during the spawning period when some fish die each year

· We are on the backside of it … dying fish are not showing up in unusual numbers any longer

· We are testing fish to see if a pathogen (like VHS) was involved, but we suspect that isn’t the case and fish viruses are not transmittable to humans

· The poor fishing in the Western Basin right now is not related to the kill; anglers are marking fish on sonar and healthy fish are being caught.


In short, the issues appear to be more aesthetic than biological from a fish population standpoint. We will continue to monitor the situation and believe that the worst is behind us. Weather is affecting the fishery more than any other factor right now and we expect to see improvements in both over the ensuing weeks.


Roger L. Knight

Lake Erie Fisheries Program Administrator

ODNR, Division of Wildlife

305 E. Shoreline Drive

Sandusky, OH 44870

419-625-8062

419-625-6272 fax


Dave Kelch, Ohio Sea Grant Extension Specialist, Ohio Sea Grant College Program




Logged

[Murphy's Law]

I certainly hope Mr. Knight is correct. If you take an optomistic position on this, you can certainly say that in recent years, there have been thousands of fish taken by us anglers each spring. I know that the "angler take" has to be way down this year. When you factor in the dead fish plus the low angler take, all in all, there may not be that much of a difference in what has been removed from the lake this spring compared to years past. Here's to brighter days!

[Eyezcrazy]

Sorry guys, but I have read the report about the dead walleye and while it sounds good that it could be from spawning stress, I am not buying what they're selling. You would not see dead drum, bass, carp and sturgeon if it were from the stress of spawning. I think someone needs to let us in on what is really going on. I don't think it is worth possible risk to us just to keep the money flowing.

If they can't be more honest I won't feel safe eating anything from the lake right now. And believe me, I am sick about it, I have been fishing the lake religously since the late 80's. I'm praying for some information to ease my concerns.

[wakina]

Sorry guys, but I have read the report about the dead walleye and while it sounds good that it could be from spawning stress, I am not buying what they're selling. You would not see dead drum, bass, carp and sturgeon if it were from the stress of spawning. I think someone needs to let us in on what is really going on. I don't think it is worth possible risk to us just to keep the money flowing.

If they can't be more honest I won't feel safe eating anything from the lake right now. And believe me, I am sick about it, I have been fishing the lake religously since the late 80's. I'm praying for some information to ease my concerns.

Personally I have not heard about large numbers of the other dead species, if they are as high of numbers of the other species as there are of the walleyes then there is most probably something else at play here besides post spawn stress. A few dozen drum could be the results of unethical sportsmen killing them for no other reason than they are sheephead , happens all the time, a rapid change in water temp can also be fatal to almost any fish. I have only heard of 1 dead sturgeon this year and they are not tolerant of muddy or polluted water, that was part of their demise in the past as well as being trapped and used as fertilizer, and one dead sturgeon does not indicate to me that it would be an epidemic of some sort. Bass in large number would be a complete mystery as I am not familar with what they can or cannot tolerate. But large numbers of bass would indicate to me that something else is at play. Most of the dead fish that I have seen floating in the lake during the spring through fall seasons of my years of fishing the Lake have been carp and drum, and drum especially in mid to late June during and after their spawn.

Can you or any one else post some sort of figure as to how many of the other species have been killed or died or seen floating in the lake this spring as compared to the number of dead walleyes. Are they about equal? When the drum died off due to VHS a few years ago they were everywhere from the Western Basin to Erie, PA. I have not heard of many dead walleyes east of the Island area so far. Has anyone else heard of a fish kill East of the Islands?.