Overharvest on TV

[Het]

Unreal the average size those fish are. What's consider a trophy for lake erie? It sounds like 10 lbers are common there.

I wouldn't say 10 lbers are common, but if you fish a few days in April or October in the right places, and you're a pretty decent stick, I would say you have a very good chance at catching one or more fish over ten.

A lot of people consider a ten a trophy, but most I know save trophy status for twelve and over.

[hawgchaser]

Het,

I did two Google searches one for Lake Erie walleye population and one for Lake Erie walleye population 2011. I read about a dozen articles and didn't find a lot of cause for optimism for walleye numbers or even smallmouth which is our primary target species since my son likes the toothless critters. We mainly fish walleye to give our bodies a break from casting. I'd hate to see the population tank there. It is truly a phenomenal fishing experience. Casting a reef for smallies one year, we caught three 8+lb. eyes in three successive casts.

[JohnMickish]

I just got back from there and I will tell you that the two smallest fish I heard getting caught where one 17" and one 19" walleye. The average fish was around 25" and last I checked the average weight was just over 6 lbs per fish. There just aren't small fish in this part of the lake at this time of the year. Talking to some of the locals, we where told that most locals don't keep fish under 24"!

These guys did nothing out of the ordinary for that area.

[Het]

The brunt of the fish caught during March and April jigging on the reefs will average between 18-23 inches. TRhe occasional 5-6 pounder is caught.

In the mid eighties, they estimated the walleye population at 80-100 million fish, and estimated the average 'angling hours' at 100 million per season. They now claim that the population is approximately 20 million walleyes, with an average of 15 million 'angling hours' per season by fisherman. They haven't changed the way they estimate the population in forty years, and my biologist buddy said they are looking for new ways to do so, since they think the migration trails have changed slightly over the years.

This year has been nothing short of horrible. We had 20+ mph winds, with large waves for over five weeks. There were very few opportunitites to get out and fish. The upside is, very few fish were caught, whereas on a regular season, there would have been thousands and thousands of walleyes caught during that time.

[JohnMickish]

Yes, they said this year was far from normal when I was there. I never thought I'd see a lake that size go from scary to calm in 24 hours.

By the way, we stayed and went out of Port Clinton, that is a very nice town and the folks there were real nice, and the restaurants had great food and pricing!. I will be back for sure.

[Het]

I never thought I'd see a lake that size go from scary to calm in 24 hours.

You should see how fast it can go from calm to scary. I was nine miles out one day a few seasons ago, and it went from flat calm to 8-10 footers in about ten minutes. It took me over three hours to get in, in what would normally be about 10-15 minutes.

The opposite happened last August. We fished a tourney with very strong south winds. There was no small craft advisory, so they sent us out. Our bite was 22 miles out, and when we got there, the waves were true eight footers. About noon, the wind completely stopped, and within a half hour, it was flat as can be.

[JohnMickish]

I can't say it enough, even though Eries bite is off this year due to the weather, I am hooked. Pool 4 of the Mississippi puts out big bags too but the number of 5+ pounders is just astonishing. I hope that Port Clinton is on the FLW schedule again next year.

The rollers can get so big there that they have whitecap waves IN the rollers coming from a different direction. The baitshops sell Dramamine, I thought that was kind of funny.

[Ed Carlson]

The only other place in North America with like numbers of fish over 29" is Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba Canada.

Same situation on many fronts there. Except nearly no summer pressure on the fishery. Big shallow water basin, big big waves, lots of big fish. But you see nothing but sail boats out on it in the summer. A few stray pleasure craft, very few fisherman.

[Down Deep]

I think the catch and keep ethic depends on what the lake can sustain. Erie is a big body of water with a huge walleye population. My guesstimate would be that only 5% of the walleyes in that lake ever see a crankbait. I don't think it's fair to place a Minnesota value on the Lake Erie fisherman. However, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

I like the comment about the "tree huggers being useful". Erie used to be a polluted dead sea until the much besmeriched "tree Huggers" said enough and lobbied for stricter water quality standards.

[jwmiller33]

I like the comment about the "tree huggers being useful". Erie used to be a polluted dead sea until the much besmeriched "tree Huggers" said enough and lobbied for stricter water quality standards.

The Clear Water Act from the 1977 did wonders for lots of fisheries/bodies of water all around the United States. Heck, the Mississippi River didn't even have populations of gamefish for a long time because it was so heavily polluted. We can thank the "tree huggers" for having as good of fisheries as we currently do. Lake Erie and the Mississippi River are the two best examples that come to mind.

[JohnMickish]

You make a good point but unfortunatly the zebra muscles also played a huge part in clearing up the water on Erie. Those darn things are thick in Erie as goose droppings are around here.

[Het]

I think the catch and keep ethic depends on what the lake can sustain. Erie is a big body of water with a huge walleye population. My guesstimate would be that only 5% of the walleyes in that lake ever see a crankbait.

Erie has 10,000 square miles of water. The ODNR claims that 90% of the walleye population heads to the reef area, which is not that big of an area in the grand scheme of things, during the spawn. We had the FLW here this past weekend, with 131 boats (which most showed up at least a week early to pre-fish). We also had a local circuit tournament on Saturday, with 60 boats. Next week, we have the MWC, with another 100+ boats, than another 60 boat circuit the weekend after that. All tourneys launched, and will launch in the reef area. I am by no means 'anti-tournament', but I think something should be done to space them out a little more when the fish are not as concentrated as they are at this time.

[Het]

For your enjoyment, here's one of the boats during the FLW

[JohnMickish]

Lol. Where did you get that. I think all boats did that on thursday!

[Het]

Lol. Where did you get that. I think all boats did that on thursday!

I had a few buddies that were in chase boats and camera boats. One of them sent me the picture.

[JimBuck]

Did these guys do anything illegal or are you just upset they kept some fish with in the laws allowed.

As far as I know, no. It was just surprising to me as a Minnesotan to see so many large walleyes harvested. It's a different body of water in a different state with different regs, I don't have a problem with that. After all, they are only walleyes.

[itchmesir]

I went ot a weigh in for a local circuit last year, and it was a bit depressing. The circuit was asking for the anglers to donate their fish. At the end of the weigh in, they had ten very large cooloers full of eight to twelve pounders, and couldn't even close the lids on the coolers. 43 pounds won the tourney (five fish).

What exactly is wrong with this scenario? Were the fish donated for fertilizer? Unlikely.. Were they donated to feed lesser fortunate people? More than likely

[Het]

Actually, they were used for the circuit's annual fish fry. It's just a bit disheartening to see all these huge fish hanging out of coolers. The Lake Erie biologists say that a thirty inch fish is approximately 25 years or older. The 'bigger' fish lay more eggs. More eggs mean better chance of a bigger hatch. If you check out my post a few replies up, you'll see that there are a large number of tournaments in the area that the majority of the fish spawn in. The MWC last week was won with 84+ pounds for two days, five fish a day. That's a large average per fish.

[Northlander]

For your enjoyment, here's one of the boats during the FLW

Thats just plain old dumb! No need to do that. I cant imagine what that does to a guys equipment.

[goblueM]

Actually, they were used for the circuit's annual fish fry. It's just a bit disheartening to see all these huge fish hanging out of coolers. The Lake Erie biologists say that a thirty inch fish is approximately 25 years or older. The 'bigger' fish lay more eggs. More eggs mean better chance of a bigger hatch. If you check out my post a few replies up, you'll see that there are a large number of tournaments in the area that the majority of the fish spawn in. The MWC last week was won with 84+ pounds for two days, five fish a day. That's a large average per fish.

25 years or older? seems unlikely, i believe maximum recorded age of a walleye is 29 years... and from what i understand, lake erie eyes grow faster than usual, so 25 year old fish (or many) would seem rare

[LMITOUT]

For your enjoyment, here's one of the boats during the FLW

Photoshop?

[Het]

25 years or older? seems unlikely, i believe maximum recorded age of a walleye is 29 years... and from what i understand, lake erie eyes grow faster than usual, so 25 year old fish (or many) would seem rare

Not at all. Erie fish grow fast out the gate, but once they reach a certain size, they grow extremely slow. Here's a chart the Lake Erie biologists made after extensinve studies. I may have been a year or two off, but close, nonetheless.

http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/docs/walleyeagesummary.pdf

[Het]

Not at all. My buddy was driving the camera boat when the photographer snapped the picture. They talked to, and showed the driver the pic at the ramp at day's end, and he claimed he hit a wave from either a headboat or the ferry that goes over to the islands. neither him nor the co-angler enjoyed it.

[goblueM]

according to your chart, the average age of walleyes in the 30 inch group is 15 years... with a max age of 22. a little bit different than your claim

[Het]

according to your chart, the average age of walleyes in the 30 inch group is 15 years... with a max age of 22. a little bit different than your claim

My apologies. I do not have the whole chart committed to memory, but will work on it in the next few days just for you.