We've been starting to catch good numbers of throw back sized walleye recently, mostly the 8-10 inchers. These fish seem to be off by themselves. If we're catching these little guys, we don't find many keepers in the school. It seems to bode well for 2010. Are you guys seeing the same?
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We caught a bunch of those little guys over 5 days aboard the Draggin' Flies. Our observation seemed consistent with yours Mike...if you were catching them you were not catching keepers.
Seemed they were always in the vicinity of the larger fish though, usually in the shallower water we were fishing (a bit warmer/dirtier). Not sure why...maybe safer in there...
The data I've been reading on the '04-'07 hatches has not been good. Granted, some of that seems to have a degree of "guesswork" involved, by my jaw seriously dropped when I read what Hamilton Reef posted on M-S.com last week.
That article postulated that in 2005, there were 42 million walleyes in Lake Erie. In 2007, there were 21 million walleyes in Lake Erie.
How does a fishery lose 21 million fish in 2 years???
Regardless, we are due for another good hatch. Hopefully 2008 was a good one.
BFG
Official Ohio Delegate to Team Heavy Super-Sized Fishing Specialists bfg@educatedangler.com
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On Friday we caught about 14 or so of those little fellers. We were trolling on the MI/OH line out in front of the 2 stacks (is this now referred to as the 2-1/2 stacks?) in 22-23 ft of water. Saturday we made the run out to West Sister and didn't pick up any little ones, but got some decent eyes along with some sheephead which wanted to rip the rods out of the rod holders. One of them went 9 lbs.
I do think all the little guys bode well for the future.
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Not sure how many walleye the Ohio DNR and Ontario DNR plant but the state of Mich. has cut way down over the last five years. These numbers were all in the Detroit Free Press as reported by Eric Sharp their outdoor writer. These numbers refer to Lake Erie plantings but The DNR plants in Saginaw bay also. The Michigan total for all waters inland and Great lakes used to average 25 million walleye per year. In fact there was no walleyes planted in 2006 and none in 2007 due to VHS. The DNR didn't know how to manage VHS. Normally they plant 10 million Lake Erie fingerlings a year. This year 2008, they only planted 1.5 million Lake Erie fingerlings all due to VHS. In 2004 they only planted 5 million fingerlings and in 2005 only 5 million fingerlings due to budget cutbacks. So in a 5 year period that the Mich DNR usually plants 50 million Lake erie fingerlings, they have only planted 11.5 million. On top of that, the estimation of VHS fish kills is in the millions. The cormorants population is almost 300,000 in the great lakes basin and the biologists estimate that 125,000 is a good sustainable number. The cormorants also eat 1 lb of fish per bird per day. Little Dandy can tell you that I have said for three years that I've noticed the walleye population is in decline. The only reason we're doing so good is the amount of time on the water and the amount of networking we've done. We know where to go and what to use.
Hey BFG, any info on what the Ohio DNR plants? Are they planting less? I know the Ontario commercial quotas have been increased and I have word that they regularly violate the quotas also. These are all reasons to be concerned about our fishery. If you remember at the start of both the last seasons I had several postings asking if anybody was catching dinks, our future fish. I could tell there is decline.
The first year that the 2003 big fish that we're now catching, could possibly have been old enough to start spawning, was in 2006. In 2004 these fish were 4 - 6 inches. In 2005, they would've been 8 - 12 inches (At best. Remember all those dinks?!). In 2006 12 - 15 inches. So last year was the first big spawning year for them as they would all have been just entering their spawning prime. I've got my fingers crossed. In the meantime, the 2000 - 2002 fish had bad spawning years in 2004 and 2005 according to the DNR biologists. Little Dandy, you've been the most optomistic of anyone. I hope you're right!
I've noticed when we find the dinks that the bigger fish are usually somewhere nearby also.
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I checked with the DNR website and it appears Mr Sharp numbers are pretty accurate. There is only one walleye hatchery of the six hatcheries. Wolf lake. The strains are form Muskegon and Tittabawasee. Only 12 million released in the whole state in 2004 - 2005. Some inland but most in Lake Erie. The state used Saginaw bay stock from Tittabawasee and Muskegon so no walleye were releaesed in those areas.
Fish Planting From Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery 2004-2005
Species Strain Age Number Weight (kg)
Chinook Salmon Michigan Spring Fingerlings 1,098,842 8,317
Lake Sturgeon Black Lake & Sturgeon River Fall Fingerlings 7,639 570
Muskellunge Northern Fall Fingerlings 30,304 3,923
Northern Pike Bay De Noc Spring Fingerling 6,799 18
OH and Ontario place 0 fingerlings into Erie, and I was/am pretty sure that MI does the same. I have always read from the Sea Grant (Ohio's Lake Biologists) that no state on the Lake Erie places fingerling into the lake as it would have little to no effect on lake wide populations due to high mortality rates of YoY walleye.
The article, as I read it, states that they can no longer draw fingerlings from Erie, but I didnt read where it states that they ever placed fingerlings into the lake.
They may place some tagged walleye into the system, but I think that is about it.
JD
Jerome Dorlack Team Reel Naughty
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JD - this article explains that they (Mich DNR) do normally release walleye into the Great lakes system but for the time being only at the Muskegon and Little Bay de noc areas. Due to the previously mentioned VHS. Read through to the end. Michigan has always stocked walleye into the great lakes. Mostly through the river systems all around the state. This is the way they stock all of the species into the Great lakes. Same as Chinook, coho , e.t.c. Into the rivers. Eric Sharp of the Free press said they raise normally 25 million walleye. In this article from the DNR they said they typically raise 30 million annualy with ten million fingerlings but this year only 20 percent of that for 2 million fingerlings whereas Eric Sharp reported 1.5 million fingerlings this year and he reported that they do normally raise 10 million fingerlings. Hmmm.... Like I said his numbers in the paper were pretty close. I'm sure he got them from someone at the DNR.
What article are you referring to? Can you post a link?
No Ontario or Ohio stocking? That figures. We always get screwed by them!
This is from Ohio and is lenghty but is good reading! The 2007 hatch according to Ohio was average. It is their annual fish survey and assessment of Lake Erie 2008. I think you're right - Ohio not stocking. I couldn't find anything on it! The Sea grant is Ohio state university's training program. I went to their site.
On pg. 53 - 55 is some interesting info The males are sexually mature at age 1! The females are mature at age 3. On pg. 60 it tells the sad story: poor spawning since 2003 with a slight uptick in 2007. This is the yoy fish caught in the table.
On pg. 65 it says the average length of yoy fish are 191 mm. just over 7 inches. pretty good! On pg 66 it says 1 year old fish are 379 mm or just about 15 inches. I didn't realize they're growing that fast!
Let's keep our fingers crossed that 2008 was a great spawning year seeing as there is little or no stocking right now and there has been poor reproduction! Obviuosly numbers are down.
Mike sent me this link. It shows that almost every county that touches a great lake has had walleye stocking through it's rivers. He's right that Saginaw bay gets the most attention. I was amazed at all of the stocking there! According to Mike's site there isn't a lot of stocking in the lake Erie rivers. Eric Sharp must've assumed that those numbers were for Erie but I think now they were for the whole state.
As far as I know, Ohio does not plant walleyes into Lake Erie or any of it's tributaries. The steelhead that are planted around Cleveland and East of there are Manistee strain, an exchange program for channel catfish fry from Ohio.
Official Ohio Delegate to Team Heavy Super-Sized Fishing Specialists bfg@educatedangler.com
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