Quote Originally Posted by fishkiller16 View Post
I disagree I think it could be managed a lot better by Ohio DNR, Pennsylvania Game Commission, NYDEC, and especially Ontario's DNR. Everyone will complain after its too late instead of doing something about it now. The limits need to be lowered across the board. I personally thinks its very very poor managment on Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Ontario not to close their walleye season during the spawning season (mid march-may 1st). And the gill nets need to be gone, they outlawed them in the eastern basin in the 80's.
Please educate yourself on the subject if you plan to be a charter captain. There are not that many fish caught during the spawn in Ohio. I think last year (a good year for early season) Ohio caught roughly 100,000 walleye, of which 90% were MALES. A better choice of season to close down would be june/july or july/august when the most walleye are caught out of lake erie (nearly 500,000 for the few months) and of those 50% are females. Seeing that you are from NY that would pretty much shut down all your fishing. It's not the numbers of walleye in the lake and it's not the number of females spawning. after 2003 there were nearly 60 million walleye in the lake and they could not produce an above average hatch. I think the 2010 hatch was the best hatch we have had since that 2003 hatch (or close to it) and as it stands the estimated walleye population is just under 20 million. It's very possible that lake erie can't sustain 60 million walleye constantly. The resources for food, shelter, etc. are not infinite in the lake.