View Full Version : Where are all the walleye?
eyemanQ
11-30-2002, 10:47 AM
im kinda gettin down on myself cause i havent been catching anything off the peir but then i was thinking, is anyone else catching fish? from what i seen .... not to many!!! what gives out on that lake man. i cant beleive there are no real good night bite at huron. HELP!!!
Mother Nature
11-30-2002, 11:33 AM
Talk to Mother Nature, she calls the shots not us!
Longcast1757
11-30-2002, 12:21 PM
I have been to the huron Pier at least 8 times so far, I havent caught any myself or seen anyone else with any, been to Battery Park in Sandusky at least a dozen times, same results, zilch. Thought this year would be better than last year, but so far its the same.
eyemanQ
12-01-2002, 04:01 PM
well i can see that some people arnt talkin at all about whats happening at huron. but thanks longcast. well im tryin the luck again tonite ill talk tmw.
Lazyeye
12-01-2002, 05:03 PM
eyeman
I hate to say this, but I honestly believe that this is one of those rare moments in history where no one is catching squat!!
We're all hanging in there...
Sundance
12-02-2002, 11:12 AM
Lazyeye,
Thinking about heading out tonight(Monday) but not exactly thrilled with being the only boat out at this time of year. Thinking Kelleys...
Capt Quint
12-02-2002, 02:38 PM
30 knot gales from the north w/snow squals. "Farewell and adieu..."
Sundance
12-02-2002, 02:54 PM
I know..........it was pretty nice and the lake was flat until about 3:00PM then she started blowing again and snowing pretty heavy. It would have been tough to find fairly clean water anyway with all the wind from the past couple of days.
Talking to Den on Saturday and believe that this had to be one of the worst November's ever(recent history)for fishing off Huron. Almost non-stop wind and when it was nice, the water was too dirty.
Lazyeye
12-02-2002, 02:57 PM
Hey Hal
You know I would be there with you if I could. Leave some for the rest of us!
Shoot me an e-mail if you might be interested in a Wednesday night thing. I haven't talked with Marc about it, but it may be a possibility for me.
cbarnet5@columbus.rr.com
eyemanQ
12-02-2002, 05:47 PM
well last year was the same thing man. i hate to say it, but i think im almost done for this year. last year wore me out and this year is doing the same. if no one is catching the fish, where the ##### are they?
WalleyeWiz11
12-02-2002, 05:54 PM
Eyeman, we have been doing pretty good off of the Monroe Mich. shoreline at night.The water is alot cleaner out this way though.
Capt`n Dwayne
WalleyeWiz Guide Service
JustLookN
12-04-2002, 04:57 AM
October wasnt much better, the walleye population didnt get hurt much this fall by very many people I know
Sundance
12-05-2002, 12:46 PM
SW Winds for the weekend....could be good if we could get through the river.
ezmarc
12-05-2002, 01:47 PM
It don't look good Hal plus those will be the typical strong Saturday winds. But.... The forecast for next week looks good for removing the ice if we get a little rain and not TOO much wind. It may not be over quite yet. Keep your fingers crossed.
Airwave(OH)
12-06-2002, 05:16 AM
Marc I haven't forgot, I just keep forgetting to bring your # home. It's in my jacket at the shop. I'll try to remember today or you call me at home . My # is in the book
eyemanQ
12-08-2002, 12:52 PM
hi fellas i have been out deer hunting this past week and while i was sitting in my stand i was thinkin about going out to the rocks. but i havent heard anything to be in a hurry about. i was wondering if ANYTHING was happenin out there latly. thanks.
Hilljack
12-09-2002, 02:06 PM
Just maybe we could catch one or two if the PWT DIDNT SHOW UP LAST SPRING AND HAMMER 10 TO 15 TONS OF FEMALES AND DONATE THEM TO THE FOOD BANK.
Razzle Dazzle
12-09-2002, 02:30 PM
I'm so glad that the expert has finally shown up!
Hill JAcka$$
12-09-2002, 02:56 PM
Hill Jacka$$ needs to get a life.He must be board because his sister is not home.
Erie Guy
eyemanQ
12-09-2002, 04:40 PM
i dont know what the **** hill jack is talkin about. the fish that PWT catches for the tourny, arnt they all released back into water??? i know that they have to be alive when they are weighed in. but i know that has notta thing to do with the winter bite man. but what gives, not one person is catching walleye off the shore anymore?????
Lazyeye
12-09-2002, 06:45 PM
C'mon Hillthing
ezmarc
12-09-2002, 07:11 PM
The fish are there and the few that we are catching are healthy. The screens are lit up just like in years past or maybe even more so. The waters been riled up since mid October, the bait is scattered and abundant and the eyes don't have to move far to eat. They just aren't hungry! That's my theory until someone comes up with something better that's based on science instead of emotions.
Hilljack, you're all wet! The PWT did nothing to hurt the walleye population and as far as I can see I think maybe the ODNR counts might be little low on total numbers. When we have stable weather the fishing is awesome and the fish are huge. 10-13 pounders were being caught on a regular basis before all this less than desirable weather hit us. All those 10 pounders the PWT caught last year will be 11 pounders this coming year. The records will be broken again if they get lucky with the weather like they did last year and that was with spawned out fish too. Just think what will happen if someone finds some prespawn girls to bring to the scales!
EyemanQ, The fish caught in the PWT and every other tourney on Erie last year were eaten and enjoyed by the people that caught them or by the people they were donated to.
Rip away folks!
blue dolphin 2
12-10-2002, 02:26 PM
let me start by saying that this is my opinion and im entilted to one i think. first off the reason why noone is cathcing much right now is because of the aweful weather and that there eating on the bait and not because of what happened last spring with the pwt. Now to the real subject. If you think that taking thousands of fish that are full of eggs out of the lake and eating before they can spawn cannot hurt this lake in years to come your only kiddding yourself. just think if all the walleyes had a chance to spawn maybe just maybe that would have helped the aweful numbers they come up with for fingerling walleye this year thepwtneedslookn to a point system or keeping alive system to preserve what we have which by the way is a awesome fishery but if you keep taking out thousands of fsih that have eggs in them every spring and killing them then how can that possiblly not hurt in the long run. And ya how can a ten pounder be a eleven pounder next year if it allready dead??? I do tournaments and love them i wish the rules were diffferent so if i did catch a fish that was full of eggs that i coud throw her back and get points and still have a chance to win the tourney. Kill tourneys no matter what body of water do hurt along with commercial fisherman. Just ask the people that fish the ocean about kill tourneys and commercial fishing and then ask why all the tounreys are catch and releast point tourney and oh ya by the way the ocean is a hundred times larger that what we have. IN closing it was a awesome year this year the best year i ever had but if you abuse the system and dont preserve it might be all gone in the lng run take care guys . gary blue dolphin 2
ARGEE
12-10-2002, 04:23 PM
WHY DONT THEY LOWER THE LIMIT TILL THEY SPAWN TO 2 FISH....THEN AFTER SPAWN RAISE IT TO 6....
1) the PWT only caught a itsy bitsy tiny fraction of the gals & the same group could just as well have been like the many other freezer fillers out there at that time. (6 of one, half a dozen of another)
2) with the poor reef hatch this year it would have, in hind-site, been a excellent year to have the rivers shut-down to supplement this years poor year class/hatch.
3) I agree "this years 10 lber will be "possibly (it's a tough world out there) be next years 11 lber", I'd like to see more guys fish for the Sport of it rather than the Freezer, but to each his own ;-)
"Just Remember" that the way to communicate with the fish is to drop them a line ;-)
Lazyeye
12-11-2002, 10:50 AM
Could someone please explain the difference between catching and keeping a female fish in the middle of summer and catching and keeping a female fish in the month of March????
By the way, I would say 99% of all fish donated from last spring's PWT were spawned-out females.
eyegetit
12-11-2002, 01:40 PM
>Just maybe we could catch one or two if the PWT DIDNT SHOW
>UP LAST SPRING AND HAMMER 10 TO 15 TONS OF FEMALES AND
>DONATE THEM TO THE FOOD BANK.
Are you saying that if the Central Basin had perfect weather conditions this fall that YOU would still be struggling to catch a big female? Sounds like a personal problem to me. You are only advertising your ignorance or unwillingness to apply successful open water techniques. Here's another thing to consider. It is a paraphrase from Fred Snyder, Ohio Sea Grant. He was answering a question related to walleye hatch rates following a harsh winter.
"...Since the number of female walleye in Lake Erie runs into the tens of millions, the numbers of eggs produced each year isn't likely to be much of a negative factor......The only consistent negative factor that is predictable seems to be winds and water temperatures in April as eggs are incubating. Remember that this past spring, as storms raged during the incubation period, the Division of Wildlife projected that a poor 2002 walleye year class was likely. They were right on the nose."
blue dolphin 2
12-11-2002, 02:59 PM
Lazeye if that is true about the 99% then thats great. I was basing my info from what i heard from at least 10 people not including Darceagen that most of the fish brought to the scales were dripping eggs. as far as your other question. one has eggs and the other doesnt. let her spawn it might be her last year to do it so why not let her lay her eggs. take care blue dolphin
Please goto:
http://www.sg.ohio-state.edu/discus/
If it gets beyond opinions :-)
"Just Remember" that the way to communicate with the fish is to drop them a line ;-)
Matt D
12-11-2002, 03:19 PM
I have to agree with Lazyeye about the fish being spawned out. I prefished the weekend before the tournament and we didn't catch any females that still had eggs at that time. Not to speak for Lazyeye but I think the point he was trying to make was that if you take that female in the summer then she is not there to spawn the following year. So either way she doesn't spawn the next spring.
Lazyeye
12-11-2002, 03:26 PM
Hey Matt
Remember this???
"BINGO!"
Take care
Christian
A lot of it has to do with the weather, it's totally out of your control
Poor spring hatch causes concern
http://www.thefishwrapper.com/news/stories/20021113/topstories/493183.html
"Just Remember" that the way to communicate with the fish is to drop them a line ;-)
blue dolphin 2
12-11-2002, 04:58 PM
and if your not doing a tourney what is the reason for keeping a walleye in the spring full of eggs. just curiuos.at least your not killing one that has eggs rather the one in the summer that doesnt.
Matt D
12-12-2002, 05:11 AM
Christian, It will be a while before I forget that episode. Isn't it amazing how we didn't here about this topic until the fishing slowed down this fall? You can tell most people have put the boats away and are getting bored.