2012 season

The 2012 season is drawing near but still a ways off. Some people are talking about limit changes and algea. The limits are announced sometime early April, Total Allowable Catch (TAC). Hearing rumors of this and that on the walleye or perch limits, are only rumors until announced officially. Yes, there could be a change as there are changes every year in some aspects. The algea will not get better for awhile, at least until regulations help change what is getting washed into the lake or pushed into the lake. 2011 was the wettest year on record if you havent heard, that holds alot of weight for the conditions on the water. I fished all of the west end all year and Ashtabula during late summer, and the best water clearity was Ashtabula. The bite up east was good for perch and sporadic for the big walleye I usually get but the water was clear in Asht. The west end showed the heavy rain didnt help things for the spring and early summer as the water didnt clear up alittle till Memorial day. Then the walleye started to bite with a very good summer bite on most days. Then all that silt started to make algea. Each year brings new problems that we have to deal with. I am personally hoping for a drier year and a good walleye and perch hatch. Lets see if all the stars are aligned to bless Lake Erie for the this year and future years to come. Just because we have a few set backs, it does not deter me. Over 30 years on this lake and its just another thing to deal with. I fish hard everyday the weather permits. no matter what. April 1st will be here before we know it so get your rods ready and spinners tied.Guess I was long winded or typed.

The limits will be what ever it is and I will still fish as the catching and keeping part is only a bonus for me. So if they lower it to 4 or 5 that wil not even be a consideration for me as off to the lake I will go to fish for walleyes. I caught Walleyes into September this last year and I did not have a bad year numbers wise and I caught and released alot of 10 to 15 inch eyes, Something like 1 little one to every 3 or 4 keeper size eyes. The wife caught 7 eyes at C can on the firing range perching one day that were only 3 to 5 inches long, and several singles the other perching days, they had to be from that non-existent 2011 hatch that we had this past year. Had plenty of reports of those small eyes from all over the western basin during August and September.

Ya, I know that non-hatch from 2011 was so bad. It does seem funny how all these little walleye we caught, minnow netters caught some, all those12-14s. Seems to me that the hatch of 2003, that the weather just sucked bad like 2011. I personally think we had a decent hatch but only a few people think the same. We will see if all this hype of "no walleye" holds true if the boat traffic is slow this year. Its true that this past spring was not the greatest walleye catch rate. It took 6 weeks for the water to clear up and the bite was on. On average, the troll bite or amount of fish in the box was twice that of the drift bite. This is on average as I know alot of captains that fish by trolling and drifting both and that was the average for the catch rate after the April 14th blow until the end of May. IF the limit goes down or if it stays the same, then the total allowable catch will have told the story. I just hate rumors. I dont know about some guys but my spring and summer schedule is filling up much faster than past years, hopefully its a good sign. 13 weeks till boat launch time.

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Originally Posted by gregnwtf

Ya, I know that non-hatch from 2011 was so bad. It does seem funny how all these little walleye we caught, minnow netters caught some, all those12-14s. Seems to me that the hatch of 2003, that the weather just sucked bad like 2011. I personally think we had a decent hatch but only a few people think the same. We will see if all this hype of "no walleye" holds true if the boat traffic is slow this year. Its true that this past spring was not the greatest walleye catch rate. It took 6 weeks for the water to clear up and the bite was on. On average, the troll bite or amount of fish in the box was twice that of the drift bite. This is on average as I know alot of captains that fish by trolling and drifting both and that was the average for the catch rate after the April 14th blow until the end of May. IF the limit goes down or if it stays the same, then the total allowable catch will have told the story. I just hate rumors. I dont know about some guys but my spring and summer schedule is filling up much faster than past years, hopefully its a good sign. 13 weeks till boat launch time.

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Agreed !!!

Also agree....