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Random Quote: whatever it is...... the details make the difference
Nah there is no such thing as a BAD hatch of walleye or a BAD spawn on lake Erie for walleye. I have asked a question from a very knowledgeable person from the Ohio group and I'll post that message back here tomorrow.
2003 was one of the best spawning years in the history of Lake Erie. 2007 and 2005 were just about equal to 2003. There are over 40 million walleye of breeding size on that lake and do you call that a problem? No but I bet before they limit the rec fishermen they will limit the commercial guy's.
__________________ 2007 Lowe FM 185
2007 Mercury Verado 150
Motorguide Wireless
Lowrance LMS 111 HD
Mercury Temptest Plus prop
Hope your right about that. I have fished Lake Erie for 40+ years. Seen lots of changes. Got in the tail end of the blue pike fishing.
Never thought they would be gone.The 2005 hatch was about one quarter of 2003. If we don't have a decent hatch soon it will get harder every year to catch them.
I don't think they talk about a four man limit if they were not worried.
I have heard mixed reports on what you are saying and more say nay that won't happen than say it will. Once I hear back from my buddy I will post the actual report.
__________________ 2007 Lowe FM 185
2007 Mercury Verado 150
Motorguide Wireless
Lowrance LMS 111 HD
Mercury Temptest Plus prop
I think, in my opinion, is that people just "can't see the tree's thru the forest" ... and I certainly open this discussion up to everyone ....
On a related matter, I lived in Maryland for 6 years. EVERY year the BIGGEST outdoor debate was about the Blue Crab population. Every year they told us that the Blue Crabs were in SUCH a decline that they had to change, shorten and close the season, as well as change the amount and sizes of Blue Crabs you were allowed to keep.
Mind you, Blue Crabs "do it all" as far as the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem is concerned. Along with Eel's and Menhaden, Blue Crabs are the #1 food source for the Striped Bass (Rockfish) as well as other fish in the Chesapeake and when the Blue Crabs were in decline, the numbers of Rockfish that were caught followed that decline. It is proven every year, when the crabs suffer, so does everything else from the fish to the fishermen who caught the Blue Crabs for a living.
BUT .....
When the state regulated the Blue Crab limits, everyone FREAKED and the thing that TOTALLY astounds me EVERY YEAR, is that they tell you that the Blue Crabs are in decline BUT, They still allow harvest of the Female Blue Crabs ........
And on a TOTALLY related note, there is a place at the head of the Chesapeake Bay called the Susquehana Flats where the Rockfish go to spawn every year. Thousands of pregnent females and milk bearing males all converge to this area to spawn every year and yet they open the season on the Susquehanna Flats for fishing!!!! Mind you, there is a "catch and release" rule in effect for the Susquehanna Flats but they say the mortality rate is brutal from improper handling and non-use of circle hooks! Yes, people are SUPPOSED to use circle hooks on the Susquehanna Flats, but you see pictures of people using jigs and other lures that have regular hooks on them.
... and if you thought about these two things I just stated, and if you thought about "how can we increase the amount of Blue Crabs and Rockfish in the Bay" .... Wouldn't it just be SO simple to close all harvest of Female Blue Crabs for a certain amount of time and to leave the Rockfish to spawn undisturbed...?!?!?!?!?!?!
I mention all of the above to illustrate the idea that if they closed the Walleye season during the PEAK spring spawning time, and let those Walleye "do their thing" undisturbed, wouldn't you think that the problems with Walleye populations would be alleviated with just a few years..?????
There is another post on this Great Lakes forum where all the fish are either FAT with eggs or FAT with sperm .... and all those people did was remove egg bearing females, and their counterparts from the breeding populace .... ?!?!... Its like shooting a gun and then complaining about the noise!!!
I remember when I was a very young kid living in Ohio for a short time, you could catch ALL the Yellow Perch you wanted. Then they put a bag limit on Yellow Perch and people FREAKED saying it wasn't the fisherman that were causing the decline of Yellow Perch populations, it was the Walleye and Coho Salmon that were eating the Perch ... but all the sudden, after they regulated the bag limit on Perch, BOOM, the Yellow Perch populations took off!
Isn't this the same scenario that can be corrected with the same measures that were taken years before...?
Well there is a 4 fish per day limit during the spawn and then it goes to 6 May 1st.
Like I stated earlier that there are over 40 million walleye of spawning age on that lake so lets say only 3 million of them are able to successfully spawn and by 3 million I am talking about females.
The walleye on Lake Erie spawn both in rivers as well as on the offshore reef systems on that lake in the western basin.
There are many of us that fish the lake that do let go the females while they are with eggs.
I honestly don't know how many walleye that are in that western basin at this time of year but this is where a majority of the spawning takes place.
There are many mixed opinions on the status of the spawns on Erie but I can say that there are tons of walleye from the highly successful spawns from 05 and 07. The 03 class is showing up with fish up too 8lbs and that is in just 6 years of life.
Lake Erie is an amazing fishery and it has been said it will be impossible for the rec fisherman to fish out the lake. The commercial boats are a different story. These are in the form of netters in Canada as well as the party boats of both the US and Canada.
Hopefully my friend will get back to me today so I can add some more detailed information.
__________________ 2007 Lowe FM 185
2007 Mercury Verado 150
Motorguide Wireless
Lowrance LMS 111 HD
Mercury Temptest Plus prop
Scroll down to Lake Erie walleye + perch hatch results from ODNR.
They must be lying to us? The 2005-2007 hatch was no way near 2003 hatch.
Like I said, fishing that lake for 40 years. You know when there was a good hatch, the year after one you catch hundreds of them 10-12 inches long. That has not happen since 2005.
David,
The 2003 hatch was noticeable almost immediately. Big schools of small fish could be found in abundance and I havent stumbled upon one in four or so years, have you?
I think, in my opinion, is that people just "can't see the tree's thru the forest" ... and I certainly open this discussion up to everyone ....
On a related matter, I lived in Maryland for 6 years. EVERY year the BIGGEST outdoor debate was about the Blue Crab population. Every year they told us that the Blue Crabs were in SUCH a decline that they had to change, shorten and close the season, as well as change the amount and sizes of Blue Crabs you were allowed to keep.
Mind you, Blue Crabs "do it all" as far as the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem is concerned. Along with Eel's and Menhaden, Blue Crabs are the #1 food source for the Striped Bass (Rockfish) as well as other fish in the Chesapeake and when the Blue Crabs were in decline, the numbers of Rockfish that were caught followed that decline. It is proven every year, when the crabs suffer, so does everything else from the fish to the fishermen who caught the Blue Crabs for a living.
BUT .....
When the state regulated the Blue Crab limits, everyone FREAKED and the thing that TOTALLY astounds me EVERY YEAR, is that they tell you that the Blue Crabs are in decline BUT, They still allow harvest of the Female Blue Crabs ........
And on a TOTALLY related note, there is a place at the head of the Chesapeake Bay called the Susquehana Flats where the Rockfish go to spawn every year. Thousands of pregnent females and milk bearing males all converge to this area to spawn every year and yet they open the season on the Susquehanna Flats for fishing!!!! Mind you, there is a "catch and release" rule in effect for the Susquehanna Flats but they say the mortality rate is brutal from improper handling and non-use of circle hooks! Yes, people are SUPPOSED to use circle hooks on the Susquehanna Flats, but you see pictures of people using jigs and other lures that have regular hooks on them.
... and if you thought about these two things I just stated, and if you thought about "how can we increase the amount of Blue Crabs and Rockfish in the Bay" .... Wouldn't it just be SO simple to close all harvest of Female Blue Crabs for a certain amount of time and to leave the Rockfish to spawn undisturbed...?!?!?!?!?!?!
I mention all of the above to illustrate the idea that if they closed the Walleye season during the PEAK spring spawning time, and let those Walleye "do their thing" undisturbed, wouldn't you think that the problems with Walleye populations would be alleviated with just a few years..?????
There is another post on this Great Lakes forum where all the fish are either FAT with eggs or FAT with sperm .... and all those people did was remove egg bearing females, and their counterparts from the breeding populace .... ?!?!... Its like shooting a gun and then complaining about the noise!!!
I remember when I was a very young kid living in Ohio for a short time, you could catch ALL the Yellow Perch you wanted. Then they put a bag limit on Yellow Perch and people FREAKED saying it wasn't the fisherman that were causing the decline of Yellow Perch populations, it was the Walleye and Coho Salmon that were eating the Perch ... but all the sudden, after they regulated the bag limit on Perch, BOOM, the Yellow Perch populations took off!
Isn't this the same scenario that can be corrected with the same measures that were taken years before...?
You have a great post there. Yes the perfect answer is to close fishing during spawn or to have catch and release.Try to tell all the charter captains that, let alone the sport fisherman.
I think if we don't do anything now the walleye will continue to decline. Wait to you go to your favorite fishing forum and read, I've fished the reefs for two damn days and never had a hit.
David,
The 2003 hatch was noticeable almost immediately. Big schools of small fish could be found in abundance and I havent stumbled upon one in four or so years, have you?
Actually last year we caught lots of 9-12" fish. I heard recently that the 07 hatch was better than originally thought.
Like I said I have seen both sides of this topic and I agree that if the season was closed until May 1 they could do business as usual. Just that month or so from ice out until opener would greatly reduce the numbers of fish caught. They are talking taking out 2.45 million fish this year which is about 1 million shy of last year. Not sure how they exactly track this I know I have never been ask for a daily track of what I catch. But yes a 2 month closure during the main spawning season would help tons even if they only closed it down in the rivers it would be huge.
I almost always get limits when I go some days I have to work much harder then others but its always a fantastic fishing trip. It is good however to stay on top of this to ensure the future has as great of fishing as we do now.
Besides when I get done with my walleye limit there are the 30 perch per fisherman to catch
__________________ 2007 Lowe FM 185
2007 Mercury Verado 150
Motorguide Wireless
Lowrance LMS 111 HD
Mercury Temptest Plus prop
The TAC has been cut and already there is talk about cutting the limits. Of course part of the problem is they can't figure out how to figure the population so they keep changing. Use to say there were 100 million eyes in the 80s, now they have a new way to count so they say 70 million, 30 PERCENT drop. Anyway we NEED a hatch.
Of course, Erie at a low level is probably better than most anywhere else in the world. LOL
Since most eyes spawn in the lake shutting down the rivers would not be anywhere as useful at shutting down the lake. But either would be questionable since the we don't take our quota of eyes, just perch.
Actually last year we caught lots of 9-12" fish. I heard recently that the 07 hatch was better than originally thought.
I too caught lots of 9-12"ers last year. I don't know if you guys form Ohio know it or not but the Michigan side of Erie was closed for the spawn for a few years back in the early 2000’s and I wonder if that had anything to do with the great 2003 hatch? I don’t remember the exact years but I am sure 2003 was one of them. It was the same time Ohio had the 3 fish limit before May.
Anyway I did real well last year and caught fish form several year classes almost every trip out. I sometimes think we got a little spoiled in 2006 and 07 with all the 15- 20” fish form the 03 spawn. Now it’s back to fish form more than one year class. I think we will be telling are grand kids about the crazy fishing we had in 06 and 07 but I do hope it continues.
One of the biggest killers to newly hatched fish is the power plants that pull water from Lake Erie. There recently was an article about how many millions of juvenile and newly hatched walleye's, perch, etc are sucked up and killed on the intake screens at power plants. The Toledo Edison power plant on Bayshore Road was termed a fishing killing machine. Their intake screens kill millions upon millions of fish. Other power plants are required to install measures to reduce fish kills however the Toledo Edison plant has never been required nor offered to install measures to reduce fish kills. As the article said, if any other business or individual was known to kill millions upon millions of fish in any body of water they would be arrested and be subject to massive fines. How is it that Toledo Edison and other known fish killing power plants are able to get away with it?
The Western basin of Lake Erie is known as a fish incubator where fry grow up prior to moving East. Toledo Edison's increase in water usage has caused the water temperature to rise so much that the bay off of Bayshore Road doesn't even freeze any more. Also the area near Maumee Bay State Park no longer freezes consistantly. This has caused an increase in the water temperature which is causing early season algae blooms further killing newly hatched fish.
The article was shocking to me and I have lived in the area my whole life and had no idea.
The success of fish hatches aren't the only thing that is controlling our fish population on Lake Erie.
I would be in favor of closing the season till Ap 15 to let the fish spawn, at least for a couple of years. I am also in favor of using our hatchery in Castalia, Ohio that is run by the state to help propagate the species. New York is constantly stocking Lakie Ontario and look what has happened to that fishery.
On the other hand, how in the world an accurate fish count can ever be taken is beyond me and, I believe, beyond them as well.
Lastly, if you ever really want to get tears in your eyes, go to Kingsville, Ontario when the walleye net boats come in--now that will get your attention. What a slaughter!!
Walleye Hatch 
