Professionals?????

[Disgruntled]

This past July I was at the same resort as a group from Shimano. For years I had been under the impression that representatives from the big sporting goods companies were true believers in conservation and keepers of the land. Imagine my surprise to find someone from their party had butchered a 26" walleye. Needless to say, I was disappointed and disgusted. Makes one wonder if they should continue to patronize firms like this when their people have that kind of mentality. Hate the thought of getting rid of all those reels.

[Wag]

What's Shimano got to do with it?
Maybe they were from the bicycle division?
Unenlightened beginner-type fishermen wear all kinds of "hats".
Everybody goes through that stage where they feel they must catch and keep numbers of fish. You can tell if someone is still in that stage or not. Just ask them how many they caught. They will know the number everytime. Ask a veteran fisherman and he will say something like: "Well, it was good. I don't know....we probably caught 15-20 and some were pretty nice, too".

[Reels]

It is not a sin or unethical to eat a 26" walleye. Guys gotta eat. If that is what they caught, and they caught it legaly, then so be it.

Would I have kept it, probably not. But again, if it was the only fish, and we planned fish for dinner, maybe.

Is there more to the story why this got you so upset?




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[Vitreum]

i'd go hungry before i'd eat a 26 incher.

[bigfish1965]

Don't know if I've ever caught one that small. ;)

[Thunderstick]

My, my...aren't we righteous? You use the word "butcher" as if theae guys committed a crime. Didn't they merely clean and fillet the fish? And I'm sure they'll be glad to know that they were being observed. I suppose that they should be grateful you didn't take pictures or a video like everyone else in this country seems to be doing. I'll bet that if I spent my time watching your life, I'd have a few interesting things to say on the internet. If you were really so outraged you would have confronted them on the spot and really made their day. Instead, you wait until you are in the comfort and non-confrontational safety of your own home and use this forum to whine and make yourself out to be some kind of conservation hero. Next time, mind your business and when you catch a 26" walleye of your own, you can throw it back and go to sleep knowing you've been a good boy.

[Hump1]

I too do not agree with filleting that big of a fish. To be honest, if it was legal, than so be it. Some people are not aware of what catch and release and slots do for a fishery or that the big ones are females(most of the time) and lay the eggs. Very few hatch from those layed.

A friend of mine just filleted a 9 lb. waleye. I could talk until I am blue in the face and it would not make a difference.

So i try and practie what i preach. I made a mistake in Ontario(honest), but felt like a real criminal when read my rights!

[bigfish1965]

Don't paint all walleye with the same brush. When fishing Erie, many 9 pounders are eaten. When you drag them up from 60 or 70 ft down, you'd better be prepared to eat them all.

[ex pup]

Since you sort of came in at the end of the movie you cant be certain what the situation was. You have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Once I came accross a big walleye that was flopping around on the surface that someone had released but for whatever reason was not going to make it- the gulls were hanging around. My wife and I were having a bad day of fishing so we picked it up. I dont know if what we did was right or wrong but we needed it worse than the gulls. so if you dont know the whole story its better to let the dnr do their job. A lot of things are not what they appear to be.

[Hump1]

You are correct. Excuse me.

[Smokey]

Well the way I see it, if the lake has a healthy population and they are within the legal limits then there's no problem is there. I personally perfer the samller ones to eat but maybe they perfer them bigger. So enjoy the fishing and lets not worry about other's business unless its against the laws and rules.

Mike

[Disgruntled]

Yes, there is more to the story. They were not from the bicycle division, I can assure you. It was on Lac Seul, which we all know has an abundance of larger fish, no, it was not the only fish, they had a cooler full of nice eaters. It seemed that one in the party wanted to take a big one home. Which is legal! You only have to be in the cleaning house, without your video camera, or even spying, when someone plops a large fish up on the cleaning table it does tend to draw some attention. When camp owner talked to them there was no mention of injury or taken from great depth. Just embarassment. The point made by the camp owner was "it's awful hard to convince guests to release big fish when they see others doing this". The point of my original post was to draw attention to these "semi-professionals or professionals" that they do in fact set an example. Which in my humble opinion, was a darn poor one! And to the person justifying keeping the big ones cause you planned on fish for dinner, if you are so hard up for food that you'd have to eat a 26'er, come over to my house and I'll feed you, may only be a hamburger and beer, while we argue the merits of releasing big fish.

[Reels]

I think everyone here will agree releasing big fish has merits. However, if someone legally catches a fish, it is up to him to do what he wants with it. Even if we dissagree. It is withing the law and limits. It does not make them an SOB or a poor example.

Burger and beer sounds good for debate, but your gonna need more than one beer for this one. :-)



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[Stevie B]

I'm going to have to go against you on this one Reels. A big fish like that does belong back in the water. Yes it is with in the slot and perfectly legal but that doesn't make it right! Ont just made same sex marriages legal but does that make it right?...I think NOT!!! Not only that these if guys are pro's they need to look at the message that they are sending. There are alot of people out there that look up to these folks.

Fish ON!!

[DLF Woods]

How do you know this fish wasn't seriously injured when the guy caught it? I agree with Reels. Normally, I would release a 26 inch walleye, but I reserve the right to someday keep one for some reason unkown to me now!

[steelhead-1]

If you were to have fished a "catch and consume only" lake you would not be talking about this.

[Devils advocate]

Ont just made same sex marriages legal but does that
>make it right?...I think NOT!!!

Then it's OK to keep as many fish as you want, or drink and drive, or what ever! Irregardless of what Ont law says, just because you personally think it's right? x(

[bigfish1965]

Yes the comparison to same-sex marriages was ...well...dumb.
Also consider that if the fish was hooked and injured badly, it would have been illegal to return it to the water in Ontario.
25 years ago NO ONE would have kept the smaller ones. I remember the days when we only kept bigger fish. You were an idiot back then for 'not letting the small ones grow up.'
Now we know better. Some habits die hard.

[srj]

Seems like a good place to ask this question--you just caught a large walleye that won't release. Maybe your buddy dropped it on the floor and knocked it silly, maybe it was hooked way deep or had a treble in the gills, maybe it's just old and too weak to right itself and swim away. What do you do with it? I try to eat walleyes from 14-16" but occasionally my boat will get a fish that doesn't seem to have a reasonable chance to survive a release. Now I chunk them up and they are great. My Mom had an awesome recipe for egg baked walleye but she would only cook it with a 4 lb or over fish. She's gone now but they sure were good a couple times a year. I would rather see someone keep and eat an unreleasable fish rather than feed it to the gulls.

[The Great Guide]

Release or not release a 26 incher is a value judgement to be made by the fisherman. I once carried the C&R torch to the extend that I started to tell other fishermen my opinion while in the cleaning house. One night I was set straight by a rather irate fisherman when he threatened to pitch my butt back into the water.

There is enough info on C&R. If it is legal it is up to you.

TGG

[Backwater Eddy]

Each particular system may have different size concerns for harvest. Nothing wrong with harvest for use if it is legal, selective, and fully utilized.

I may not agree with a 26" harvested on one water, but on another it may be the bumper crop that is in need of thinning.

That is why data collection on systems is critical to insure a healthy fishery for the future.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

"Piggy's are my business, and business is good"

><,sUMo,>

[ChadM]

Disgruntled,

I dont see a problem.
You state "It was on Lac Seul, which we all know has an abundance of larger fish, no, it was not the only fish, they had a cooler full of nice eaters."

A bunch of guys out fishing had a cooler full of eaters and one 26". I might be turned off if they had a cooler of 26"'ers and one eater. Sounds like you are blowing this way out of proportion.

Yes, we need to keep the selective harvest mantra going but no need to go over board. We also want people to get excited about fishng too without worrying about being hit over the head for taking one fish.

[Dan2]

This thread to me begs the suggestion that we all should be fishing barbless. Ontario should change the rules and follow examples like Manitoba's.

Barbless = much much less like to injury big fish and only makes sense if you believe in letting the hogs go.

[Mike Kansas]

Barbless is best.....Have been fishing Barbless for years and havent lost any more fish than when i fished Barbed. Im 100% sure that more of my catch and release fish survive barbless.

[On up north]

Do you guys all belong to PETA or just the whiney ones??

[Dan2]

Hummm ... let me guess .... you like playing baseball and especially like to be playing way out in left field?