Concerns about fishing conditions.

[cast party]

A lot of things are combining to threaten the walleye population - voracious small fish (gobies, white perch, perch) eat their eggs, zebra mussels filter out the microscopic food walleye fry depend on, viruses, low or no-oxygen conditions and other effects of toxic algae create all kinds of problems, and now the brutal storms during spawning that probably wiped out this year's hatch on the lake. Enjoy the walleye while they last. I'm afraid we're headed back to the 60s and the government isn't going to do a damn thing to stop it. A lot more money to be made in shipping, farming and generating electricity than there is in fishing, so the recreational fisherman is screwed. Our only chance is to organize and scream our heads off, because we'll never be able to challenge big business' cash contributions.

- Cast Party

[poohbear1629]

I too started fishing lake Erie with my father when I was a young boy in the late sixties. There was no limit on perch back in the late sixties and remember always looking forward to the fall season when you would catch the Jumbo's. You are right I never heard anyone mention walleye fishing back then. I can remember land practically being given away back then. And people that had extra money back then and did buy land became very wealthy people as the lake became The Walleye Capital of the world. As the late seventies and early eighties I guess I became pretty spoiled up there, because a 6 man limit was pretty common back then all summer long just casting Erie Dreariest and your golden nuggets. Then came the Zebra mussels which really cleaned up the water but in turn changed the walleye fishing tremendously. Then the white perch and the Goby came along and also had an effect on the walleye and perch .Dont get me wrong I know there are still fish out there,I was with 5 guys on the North side of Kelly's about 4 weeks ago and while the skipper was rigging up gear to do some trolling we dropped anchor to try to catch perch and catch perch we did, " BIG PERCH " and we ended up just 44 fish from our limit in 2 hours. All the 6 pack boats also started perch jerking and many limits were caught all around us. We would have had ours easily but we had other commitments that forced us to go in. I dont want people to think I dont want to work for my fish, I don't mind that at. all but when I come in and talk to all the other fishermen and 98% of them are having the same luck I know its not just me and I myself think it has gotten worse every year for the l last 4years, right about the time when the algae started showing up all over the place
I know some people are stills doing fairly good catching fish but also think if they are honest they have to admit things are getting tougher. I just hope our DNR is paying. attention too and we can continue to enjoy the Lakes bounty. Gas is getting to exspensive to run all over the lake and not have much at all to put in the freezer.

[Russ Hunsaker]

I haven't caught a single walleye yet this season, and I can tell you have NEVER happened in the 30+ years I've had a boat on the lake. I really believe a lot of the problem is the big winds we had in the spring, the monsoon rains have lifted silt in the rivers that have washed into the lake all contributing to poor fishing.

One thing that I learned when talking to an old timer that has spent more time on the lake than I've been alive is he thinks the netters this year put their nets in prime walleye spawning areas. The commercial guys can't keep the walleyes they net but they end up killing most if not all of them they get in their nets. The walleyes spawned late, the netters had their nets in the shallow water the walleyes normally spawn in, they catch and throw back a whole lot of walleyes that we are seeing floating.

The weather can't be controlled and I don't believe the weather has a lot to do with fish kills, however, I didn't realize that the netters had their nets in spawning areas. How can this be legal? Does anyone have any idea how many walleye were caught in nets this year as compared to other years?

We had the horrible spring weather, netters killing walleyes caught in their nets, and now we have the mayflies coming out. Geez I may not catch any walleyes the way things are going!

Russ