2017 Walleye Project help
Some of you may have read my similar post last year. I have started a project to take underwater video of walleye and other fish in the Western Basin of Lake Erie. The purpose of this project is to gather video data of walleye distribution and behavior, as well as other things going on that can't be measured or collected in any other way. Trawl surveys and other net surveys, radio tagging, and creel surveys tell us a lot, but nobody really knows what those walleye are doing on a daily basis. The only way to find out is to get video, just like we do with terrestrial animal species (think trail cam).
What I need help with is Lake Access - getting out on the water to deploy the cameras. I don't at present have my own boat, so I need to go out with those that do. The process is pretty simple. Go out fishing like usual, but we'll stop and deploy the cameras. Then go fish for an hour or so (camera battery charge). Then go back and retrieve the cameras. Then back to fishing. That's pretty much it. Drop the camera system over the side, set it, then go away for an hour or so. Come back and pick it up. We'll stay in the area to keep an eye on the system.
There may be other times I'll be scuba diving to both take underwater video during the dive or to set up longer term cameras on the bottom.
Either way I am relying on some good folks here to help out.
The video I hope to get could shed some light on how Lake Erie walleye behave, where they go at different times of the day, how big their schools are, and even how they attack prey. Some of this video could be quite useful for fishing. Which is part of the reason I'm doing this - learn some things to help out with fishing success. The video will be posted for all to see, especially if I get some really interesting material.
If this sounds like something you'd be willing to do, send me a personal message here or e-mail me (prefer) at westbasin (at) cs(dot)com. I know the Lake well from 30+ years of fishing and boating on it, and I'm very "low maintenance." It doesn't really matter to me what the boat trip is for; fishing, swimming, island hopping, even sailing, or just to get out. I enjoy it all.
Thanks,
West Basin
