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With all the short/borderline walleye out there this year, I want to make sure that I am measuring my fish correctly. I believe the correct way to measure is from the "nose" to the fork in the tail, but I've seen people pinch the 2 forks in the tail and measure to the tip of the tail. Which is correct?
Thanks.
yes,Pinch the back fin together and measure that to the nose.There is some discussion on walleye shrinking 1/4" in cooler so may want to take that into account.
Thanks Bob. I actually just found this on the ODNR site as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by itsbob
How To Measure a Fish
The measurement of the length of a fish is taken in a straight line from the utmost end of the snout with the mouth closed to the utmost end of the caudal (tail) fin when the tail fin is compressed so that the upper and lower lobes touch or overlap.
Measure the fish with the mouth closed and tail compressed to determine total length.
Good advice about shrinking in the cooler. I personally don't normally keep anything that would be that close to the legal limit but it's still good to know.
Yes,we have been sorting through the fish and usually just keeping fatter 17" fish.Those skinny 15" filets are not any bigger than a jumbo perch.Have also been some discussion about sorting through keeper walleye,with some people opposed to letting 16" fish go,due to fact they may not survive.That would also pertain to people "fun" fishing after they caught their limit.There was a heated debate on another site on that subject that elaborated about rules the ODNR interpet when you cull fish in a livewell.The survival of released fish was also debated.
Yea, never understood fun fishing after a limit. If you would like to fun fish go after so gills, better yet carp. Leave those poor little walleye alone. As far as culling fish, how sure are you those in a live well are 100%? Please don't be greedy. Think conservation thank you.
We were concerned about shrinkage this year and did a test. We bleed our walleyes and throw in the cooler. 16" eyes when caught measured 15.5" when back at the cleaning station. Eyes caught nearer the limit shrunk .25" being on ice a shorter time. We don't keep any under 16" just to be safe if checked.
We've released a lot of 16-17 inch fish this year and I know others have done the same. I can honestly say that nearly every one of the fish that we've released has swam away and appeared to be in no worse condition than any small bass or other species that I've released. I also haven't seen a lot of small walleye floating around dead so I am wondering if there is some data that leads people to believe that these smaller fish are not surviving after being released. I actually feel a lot worse releasing small perch as I doubt that many of them survive.
Not trying to start a big debate or anything. Just trying to learn. I've never been in a position where I had to throw back so many "keeper" sized walleye!
All the data guys reference is from released tourney fish. I haven’t seen many 15-16” fish come in during a tourney. They try to push their beliefs on others using data that has nothing to do with what we are talking about. I sure hope none of these guys keep pre spawn females...Lol. I believe if the mortality rate was very high at all, that Travis Hartman and the ODNR would put an end to it. If you follow the law, do what you are comfortable with. And like you stated, I’ve yet to see a 14-17” Walleye floating on the surface. Guys must be culling sheepshead cuz I see plenty of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by RobM1969