Catch & Release

[Knute]

What are your thoughts on catch & release ? I've read many reports on guy's catching their limits and continue fishing the remainder of the day, claiming to catch 30-40 or more fish for their group. Do you think this is wise to do with pre-spawn fish ? Handling, throwing them on the ice, rubbing protective slime off of them. Holding them by their gills to take a picture to show their buddy's. Please Respond !!!

[MasterKraft]

You can expect a big debate on this one. I once posted my thoughts about keep females prespawn on a maumee river run forum. Hell, I was looking over my shoulder for a lynch mob. The way I accept the lashing I got was.... if people are obeying the laws and regulations then leave italone. Our opinions on this one are typically very strong one way of another.
I'm sure you're gonna see facts and statistics on the issue for both sides. Sounds like there was a good hatch last year so I put my faith in our dnr lawmakers and catch my limits and go home. Fish On

[Jawbreaker]

This is just like the shooting hens debate in duck hunting. Studies show it doesn't matter, but many don't believe the studies. Everyone has their opinion, and you know what opinions are like.

[Madd Matt]

Lol....hahaha....

Someone needs to just lock this thread.

Knute, that is an interesting first post for a new member... makes me think either you aren't new and you are just one of us regulars having fun or you really are a new guy that is looking for a battle right off.

If you are new. Welcome. Have fun...

By the way. I know the correct answer to your question, but I'm not going to tell you. That would be like me giving my GPS coordinates to my favorite "honey holes" in a public forum.

Enjoy,
-Matt

[MasterKraft]

I was wonderin the same. Seeing the identical post on another forum I am a member of got me thinkin maybe knute wants to get a bunch of people fired up. Have fun with it, I'm outta this one. Keep it civil, guys.

[Jawbreaker]

I see alot of talk on this forum about trolling, but usually of a different kind.

[mkalink]

Explain to the DNR that you are playing catch and release with your limit of walleyes in the cooler your sitting on. This topic has been beat to death over the years. Here are a couple of things I have learned over the years.

1) There is no such thing as a boat limit. If you caught 3 walleyes and I caught 9 I am 3 over the limit. It is really hard for them to track this but you never know. A couple years ago on a head boat out of Port Clinton. ODNR had agents on the boat and cited people for over the limit. A father was hooking fish and allowing his son reel them in, father was cited for over the limit. A couple of other gentlemen were all together and one of the guys caught 8 or 9 fish that they kept between the 3 of them. The one that caught the most was cited.

2) When trolling take turns reeling in the fish, you never know who's watching.

3) If you limit out in the morning don't go back out in the afternoon. (refer to #2) A buddy of mine went out with friends and were back with limit #1 for the day by 9:30 am. Put fish on ice, had breakfast, and back out by 11am. Back in by 2pm with second limit, ODNR at dock. How did you guys do? Great got our limit. ODNR How did you do this morning? They had pics and video. Everyone on the boat lost their license for the year.

4) I asked a game warden about catch and release after I have my limit and he told me once you have your limit in the cooler you are done with that species for the day. If you can keep walleye alive as bass fishermen do then you may cull your catch. Walleye don't fair well in the live well.

5) ODNR Biologist told me that there are not enough females caught through the ice or during the spawn to effect the spawn. He said only about 100,000 walleyes caught through the ice and during the spawn.

[Bggeary]

Knute, EVERYONE on here so far has been very polite and firm on they're thoughts to your question. There has been a few times when I have caught a big female early on and nothing else the rest of the day.....awful glad I keep that one! Please don't try to stir up trouble.

[Madd Matt]

Anyone who says that it is illegal to continue fishing once you have a limit of walleye in the cooler isn't thinking too clearly.

If you have a limit of walleye then you can't keep anymore. Now if you want to argue culling... that is another story.

However, if the DNR checks me while I am out trolling and we have our limit of walleye... then obviously I am no longer fishing for walleye... I am fishing for white perch, sheephead, yellow perch, catfish and steelhead. Duh!

If I am fishing for sheephead and I catch a walleye is that illegal? No. As long as I don't keep the walleye.

There is no law that even remotely comes close to saying that once you catch your limit of one species then you are done fishing for ANY species the rest of the day.

There are MANY days where we have limited on Walleye, and then gone and anchored and perch fished.. While fishing for perch we caught a walleye. We threw it back. No laws where broken.

If I catch my limit of walleye through the ice and continue to fish, then its pretty obvious that I'm hoping for yellow perch now.

[wakina]

The first thing that I would like to clarify is that the first part of this post is only my opinion!

I do not target the post spawn nor the prespawn females during the jig bite. I just go out and jig for walleyes and what ever I catch that is of legal size goes into the cooler as part of my legal creel limit for that particular day. It makes no difference if it is a jack or very large egg laden female which almost never happens.

In the past I had trolled for the large females, unfortunately on one occasion I caught a very large female that was what appeared to be well over 10lbs. I released that fish and as I watched, that fish went belly up on the surface never really getting out of sight. I pulled my lines and went back and repossessed that fish and added that fish to my daily creel limit. Since that time I stopped all catch and release of legal sized walleyes unless forced to release one because of multiple hookups while only needing one more fish to fill my daily creel limit.


I do feel that some of the post(s) on this thread are not quite correct and at least one is almost totally wrong. So! Here is something to think about to apply to the few post that I am talking about!!! I think we will all be able to sort those post out.

Here are some examples/scenarios that could take place on the lake hundreds of times on any given day while fishing for eyes.

While fishing by yourself and needing only one more eye to fill your daily creel limit, would you be limited to just one rod since you only need one fish? Would you be breaking the law if you happened to hook 2 eyes at or about the same time? Would you release the first fish that you brought to the boat if it was an eye not knowing what was actually on the other end of your 2nd rod? If you put the first eye in your cooler making it your final fish to fill your daily creel limit would you then be illegal if you brought in the 2nd fish and it turned out to be an eye even if you released the 2nd fish immediately?

Now if there would be 4 of you and you only need one fish would you limit your group to just one rod or would you continue to fish with 8 rods? If you continued to fish with all 8 rods would that make 3 of you illegal?

I think we all know the answers to the above hypothetical scenarios/questions don't we.

Catch and release means exactly what the phrase implies. Deliberately going out 1,2 or more times in one day and catching and keeping several fish over the daily creel limit is not catch and release but it is exactly what it appears to be! It is over bagging/poaching and it is not, nor is it related to, catch and release.

The ethics involved with catch and release is a personal choice so long as it is within the law as written. If it is done outside the law then it is illegal and no longer a question of personal ethics but is criminal. We all know how honor among theives works don't we?

If a fellow fisherman does not believe in the laws as written and feels there should be a change made, they should lobby the proper agency to change the law which in this case is the ODNR. Chastising those who are following the law does not get the job done but does cause quite a bit of animosity among us fellow fishermen. It is nothing more than preaching to the choir, we all know that does not work don't we?