Kelley's Island

[Heath J]

Headed to Kelly's Island on the 18th. We're going to stay on the island from May 19th through the 27th. We went a week earlier last year and the fishing was just average. I've been reading alot of posts and doesn't sound real good. Looking for any advice, where to fish, what seems to be the go to color or lure. We have always just pulled harnesses. Any help would be much apprecaited. Thanks in advance.

[tbiser]

We just got back from 3 days of fishing. Didn't get one. The fishing is terrible. We heard rumors the walleye have a virus and are dying. We marked fish but they were all suspended and wouldn't bite. If in fact there is a walleye virus they are sick and won't bite. I've heard reports of 1000's of walleye washing up on the banks. Who knows how many are on the bottom dead. It doesn't look good.

[boonie]

IDK some fish are being caught, I noticed a decline last year too. Is it a trend of times to come? The smallmouth and walleye we caught were very healthy but too few in between bites. I'm scheduled to come back June 1st but I'm on the fence and will wait to see if better reports show up in the following weeks. I know a decline of walleye will devastate the businesses and people that rely on fisherman like me.

[jjoshin2]

Im not much of a Biologist myself, but we havent had a severe weather spring like we had most of april in quite some time,and i would think a die off happens every spring ,with or without the weather.
As for the spawn run,the Maumee has been the premier spawn site for Lake Erie for quite some time,and this season was no exception,except for the weather.The river level has been above normal all through the normal spawn temperatures,combined with unrelenting winds out of the east for most of April,those fish that did make it up the river had 7 to 10 foot and higher waves to return to coming out of the river.the usual first stops coming out of the river being 6 to 15ft. depths,i cant imagine swimming through that after a run up a swelled river,romping with the cows and dodging a few thousand snaggers.
Most parasites or biologicals generally need warmer temps that up until recently we havent seen,the river only reaching 59 after 2 85 degree days this past week. And as far as those who did catch in the river,the sizes were quite large,many jack in the 6 to 8 lb. range, which tells me a older,possibly ready to die series of fish returned to this area, 2007 revisited with some nasty weather thrown in.
Just my opine,as i said Im not a scientist, just a fisherman who loves a debate?????

[maul35]

Great article post Wakina. Thank you for posting some information that may be going on in the lake.

[spoontang]

A similar epidemic happened a few years ago with Lake Erie drum. There were dead ones everywhere. I don't remember the verdict on the cause. Speculation was spawn stress, virus, bacteria, farming contamination. My only conclusion is there is in no way shape or form a shortage of drum.

My thoughts on the walleye are as follow. There has been very very very little fishing pressure....The weather has been the worst for spring fishing as far as my memory goes for both wind and rain....many many species of fish die post spawn.


I am no biologist but I do not think the population is not adversly effected with this kill as there has been far fewer fish make it to the fillet table. Just as a hunch, I attribute the kill to weather. Remember,,,there are millions of millions of walleye in the lake. I'm not up on recent numbers but 20,000,000 perhaps. Fishermen taking 2.5 mil and commercial fish also about 2.5 mil with both of those numbers droppin about 5% each year.

I think we will be ok but I would like a concrete answer from ODNR. After all, they work for us through tax dollars and license fees.

Now darn it,,,I am ready to fish!

[wakina]

Ohio Sea Grant has updated at the bottom of the following link!!

http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/discuss/...0ad409331a5321

[Mark Komo]

Well, it has been slower than recent years, but fish are being caught. The water betwee upper and middle bass has some nice fish in it. You may have to adjust your patterns though. We ran quite a bit of meat with little luck. Once we moved over to reef runners (whites, and browns/Copperhead) with 2 oz snapweights 5 feet in front, about 50 to 70 behind the board. You may have to adjust to find the bottom, but you should be about 1 off. Those high column fish seem like they are just confused; drunk on mud or something.

[Heath J]

That's not good. I hope that the fishing picks up anytime. Still looking foward to making the trip. I've never heard of a virus that kills Walleyes. I will have to look it up. I have read other posts stating there were dead walleyes along the shores, I surely hope something like that is only hearsay. Thanks for the replies hope to catch some fish will post again when I get back.

[tbiser]

We were told about 40% are healthy enough to eat or chase prey. The others have been slowly dying. We talked to a charter captain and he knows a diver that was out on the reefs looking around and he came across more dead walleye that were on the bottom. Here's a link to something i found. http://outdoornews.com/news/article_...cc4c002e0.html