Concerns about fishing conditions.

[poohbear1629]

Is anyone else getting concerned about what seems to be deteriorating fishing conditions on the Lake. I grew up fishing up here on weekends and remember how great the walleye fishing was all summer long, then came the zebra mussels and things really changed. It seems to me that within the last 4 years it is getting harder and harder to boat a limit of walleye and even perch. Not sure if the whatever has been causing the algae problem is linked or what, and the spring walleye kill really got me thinking. I surely hope that our ODNR is really looking into all this and not just writing it off as due to the muddy water this spring.

[steelhead5]

oh yeah, it's written off already. they attribute this to exausted fish and rough weather. they say there is always some mortality but it sure does seem more to it this year than just rough weather.

[Longliner]

Have had a family fishing boat on the lake since the sixties. In the sixties there were not that many walleyes caught. At least we did not catch that many. Then a lot of sewage was being dumped into the rivers. So towns were ordered to stop dumping and build sewage treatment plants. And commercial fisherman took a lot of walleye. Not sure exactly when walleye netting was stopped but then in the seventies the walleye fishing went ballistic. And it stayed that way until as you mentioned the zebra mussels showed up. In the mean time we lived through the white perch invasion and the goby invasion. In the seventies and until the zebras showed up it was not unusual to not be able see your lure more than 2 or 3 feet under the water. I think the fish used their lateral lines to sense prey by vibration more so than sight.

Now with clear water the fish seem more wary. I think they sight feed more now. The lures we used to use do not work as well as they once did. Remember the gold nugget? We used that for many a limit catch. But try to catch something on it now. When you went out and got your limit time after time years ago the fish size average was considerably smaller than it is today. Of course this changes with hatch survival. Today if there is a good hatch who knows how many will be eaten by the gobys and then if they get too large for the gobys then the big walleyes will eat them. The gobys live on the reefs where the walleye eggs are layed who knows how many eggs they eat. Have not got to the lake much due to the weather but the fish we caught were all fat and healthy. The lake has been constantly changing. Back in the seventies there were not the number of charters here are today and the walleye seemed to school more.

So back to your question am I concerned? YES I am concerned this year about the time it takes the lake to clear after a storm. I am thinking that possibly some new contaminant is keeping particles suspended longer than they were suspended previously. Could be a new type of fertilizer or simply farmers using magnitudes more fertilizer which runs off with big rains like we had this spring. Or could just be the weather this year. On the modis imagry pictures of the lake the Maumee river and Sandusky bay look like pure mud.

A little more time will be needed to see if there is a new problem.

[cast party]

A lot of things are combining to threaten the walleye population - voracious small fish (gobies, white perch, perch) eat their eggs, zebra mussels filter out the microscopic food walleye fry depend on, viruses, low or no-oxygen conditions and other effects of toxic algae create all kinds of problems, and now the brutal storms during spawning that probably wiped out this year's hatch on the lake. Enjoy the walleye while they last. I'm afraid we're headed back to the 60s and the government isn't going to do a damn thing to stop it. A lot more money to be made in shipping, farming and generating electricity than there is in fishing, so the recreational fisherman is screwed. Our only chance is to organize and scream our heads off, because we'll never be able to challenge big business' cash contributions.

- Cast Party

[poohbear1629]

I too started fishing lake Erie with my father when I was a young boy in the late sixties. There was no limit on perch back in the late sixties and remember always looking forward to the fall season when you would catch the Jumbo's. You are right I never heard anyone mention walleye fishing back then. I can remember land practically being given away back then. And people that had extra money back then and did buy land became very wealthy people as the lake became The Walleye Capital of the world. As the late seventies and early eighties I guess I became pretty spoiled up there, because a 6 man limit was pretty common back then all summer long just casting Erie Dreariest and your golden nuggets. Then came the Zebra mussels which really cleaned up the water but in turn changed the walleye fishing tremendously. Then the white perch and the Goby came along and also had an effect on the walleye and perch .Dont get me wrong I know there are still fish out there,I was with 5 guys on the North side of Kelly's about 4 weeks ago and while the skipper was rigging up gear to do some trolling we dropped anchor to try to catch perch and catch perch we did, " BIG PERCH " and we ended up just 44 fish from our limit in 2 hours. All the 6 pack boats also started perch jerking and many limits were caught all around us. We would have had ours easily but we had other commitments that forced us to go in. I dont want people to think I dont want to work for my fish, I don't mind that at. all but when I come in and talk to all the other fishermen and 98% of them are having the same luck I know its not just me and I myself think it has gotten worse every year for the l last 4years, right about the time when the algae started showing up all over the place
I know some people are stills doing fairly good catching fish but also think if they are honest they have to admit things are getting tougher. I just hope our DNR is paying. attention too and we can continue to enjoy the Lakes bounty. Gas is getting to exspensive to run all over the lake and not have much at all to put in the freezer.

[Russ Hunsaker]

I haven't caught a single walleye yet this season, and I can tell you have NEVER happened in the 30+ years I've had a boat on the lake. I really believe a lot of the problem is the big winds we had in the spring, the monsoon rains have lifted silt in the rivers that have washed into the lake all contributing to poor fishing.

One thing that I learned when talking to an old timer that has spent more time on the lake than I've been alive is he thinks the netters this year put their nets in prime walleye spawning areas. The commercial guys can't keep the walleyes they net but they end up killing most if not all of them they get in their nets. The walleyes spawned late, the netters had their nets in the shallow water the walleyes normally spawn in, they catch and throw back a whole lot of walleyes that we are seeing floating.

The weather can't be controlled and I don't believe the weather has a lot to do with fish kills, however, I didn't realize that the netters had their nets in spawning areas. How can this be legal? Does anyone have any idea how many walleye were caught in nets this year as compared to other years?

We had the horrible spring weather, netters killing walleyes caught in their nets, and now we have the mayflies coming out. Geez I may not catch any walleyes the way things are going!

Russ

[Fishing Dude]

I blame allot of it on the double dippers more than anything else. I share a dock with a guy who gets all he can hauls them to Fla in the winter and sells them. What does ODNR d about thm? Nothing. So if you have ever double dipped look in the mirror at the problem.

[bobd47fish]

A couple of points:
1) Populations of +2 year old walleye ae down over 60% from a few years ago, no good survival in any year class since 2003 except average for 2007. Thus, we're relying on 2003 year class (best ever) and average 2007 year class. Other years between 2003 and present have been BAD year classes.
2) Although I have no problem with Canadian commercial fishermen from taking their quota (after all, it is agreed upon by the GLC), I do have a big problem with NO Size Limit in Canada. If they are taking millions of 12-16" walleye (and they are), then these fish have not spawned even once.
That hurts the population no matter the arguement (a fish out in July is the same as a fish out in April).

[Fishin Crazy]

I have been hearing and reading allot about the walleye in Erie. Not sure what is going on but I am getting concerned about the fishing. I say that because I have not caught many short fish this year. In years past I almost always caught some fish that were below the minimum size limit. Don't get me wrong I don't like to throw them back but if we are not seeing any small fish what will the future fishing be like. Has anybody else noticed this or are the small fish out there and I am not catching them?

[ReelTime]

I blame allot of it on the double dippers more than anything else. I share a dock with a guy who gets all he can hauls them to Fla in the winter and sells them. What does ODNR d about thm? Nothing. So if you have ever double dipped look in the mirror at the problem.

ODNR Can't do anything about that if they don't know of it. If I knew someone doing what you say your dock partner was doing I'd be turning them in.