Quote Originally Posted by weekendwarrior View Post
I'd be more worried about commercial fishing, algae blooms and not having a closed season while walleye spawn than people sorting fish that they catch
Commercial fishing is, at least for walleyes, a Canadian problem that the Ohio/US cannot control and there is no commercial fishing for walleyes in Ohio waters! Algae blooms, while not yet controlled is a multi pronged problem that is being attacked in several different ways and areas, you are right that problem could use more attention. Having a closed season while walleye spawn has been proven in Lake Erie to have very litte effect on the overall population. One must remember that the lake can and has in the past had more walleyes than what the lake could sustain as they ate themselves out of house and home buy depleting their food base. It has happened before. Common sense should prevail in the fact that a hen/female walleye is just as much a hen/female walleye in the summer and fall as they are in the spring and they are just as egg laden in the summer and fall as in the spring with the only difference being the eggs are not visably developed yet to the point that a person can see them with their naked eye.