Lake Erie Walleye Management Plan 2015-2019

[Leaky]

Started looking on the internet to see who I could talk to about the poor fishing in Lake Erie this year and found that the Great Lakes Fishery Commision made up this plan for walleye. I found it interesting to read that in Ontario. the sportfisher's opion on Lake Erie is not taken. Commercial gill net monitoring is the only source of information for Ontario. On the US side of Lake Erie it does in fact consider Sport Fishing survey information from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. I think its time for that to change, I encourage everyone to start calling the ministry in Alymer and find out why the ministry does conduct or include sport fishers surveys , in determining Walleye quotas for Lake Erie.

 

[SOUTHWIND]

MNRF Wheatley Office still manages the Sport Fishery Diary program although the number of participants is getting kind of low. The same Lake Erie grid numbers as the commercial operators are used to record your catches, measurements, rod hours and number of trips. Information gathered is compiled annually. Shore fishing and ice fishing trips can also be recorded.

Information gathered could become another form of indexing of various species to determine their sustainability. The more participants the more information gathered. Why not participate?

Wheatley MNRF Contact (519) 825-4684
I believe the co-ordinator is Ms. Meagan Belore ( used ot be Stan Poweell)

 

[Leaky]

Hey Southwind, I used to participate in that program some 25 years ago when I was fishing alot. Work got in the way for several years and I gave it up. I would definately get involved in it again, if the information would be used to help Lake Erie, but the Commision that makes these decisions has clearly stated that it does not look at any Ontario Sportfishing information. It only looks at Sport fishing information on the US side of the lake. A side that does not compete with a very active commercial interest. I fish with two fishing poles and hooks, I can not use a gill or can net. I feel that the lake should be maintained so that an average fisher person could go out fishing for a day and catch someting. They are missing a important part of the story on our side of the lake without our imput.

 

[cmac]

You are spot on with your comment Leaky and thank you SOUTHWIND for the info. The major players here, as we are all aware of, are the government, MNR, Commercial fisherman and the sports anglers. The sports anglers opinions are swept under the carpet as one or two voices mean nothing when competing with the big dogs. We want changes? Lets all get involved and have our voices heard through input. That number is now on my phone and I will use it! I encourage all members to do the same. Our input(statistics) is a very important missing piece of the puzzle.
I have read a lot of threads here with members demonstrating their passion for what is happening to our Great Lakes Fisherys. Here is a starting point ...lets do this!

 

[Leaky]

Talked to MS Meagan today, the reason there are no Sportfisher surveys to keep them advised on the conditions of sportfishing, is because they do not have the money. We sportfishing people of Ontario have no one looking out for us, or voicing our concerns. The MNR uses its funds to gather information from the Comercial fishing Industry in Ontario. I am not sure what our license fees go towards, maybe, they are used to sustain a commercial fishing industry.

 

[myboys fish tug]

No I don't think so leaky as I pay a royalty on every pound I catch which is supposed to go towards monitoring and restocking but nothing gets anywhere other than wages I think for a bunch of employees that do nothing everyday but get paid pretty well so that's probably where your licence money goes as well

 

[mick]

I understand your frustrations leaky...the only thing the MNR has done for us is allow 2 fishing rods per person. Us lake Erie sports fishermen have to work extremely hard to locate are fish to catch...and its not easy.. Realistically there is nothing more we can do. IT is all politics. So if you can convince a member of parliment in Toronto (provincial) or Ottawa (federal) to implement changes to reduce commercial fish quotos so there is more fish in the lake for the sport fishermen to catch.. nothing will change...I feel the resource will only get worse as it has historically. Ask the MNR or a comercial fishermen about our erie walleye and they are going to tell ya its the best its ever been ...the most recent MNR quote told me specifically ..there are lots and lots of walleye in the lake...he went on to tell me to follow the gill nettin tugs...they will show you where they walleye are...lol

Well I am goin to tell ya one fishin mornin in July from clearville to erieau point...I could not catch one pickeral because of just one tug from Erieau...he literally cleaned out that whole basin that morning workin so hard...net after net after net...back and forth..west to east and repeat...back and forth (north and south) right out to 55 fow ..another thing is he wouldn't budge another net he had all mornin on the reef I intended to fish...he was on it right before day light pullin and leavin a net...he would of had to leave the harbour awful early to pull that off..I could not compete with this guy ...I gave up...he won..this started last season...Anyway I was upset with that tug and pulled the boat out fish less..oh he left a few sheep head ...this is absoulute text book gillnettin...erie style...lol ...the kingsville fleet cleanin out leamington water ..I have seen it...same story...remember these are prime erie walleye water locations

 

[caught them by the ton]

commercial quotas are small enough catch half in the spring and the other half in the fall no nets june july and august. good for all.

 

[duck blind]

Did the sport anglers not buy out the commercial fishermen a few years ago on south shore of Erie! Before you come to conclusions on the boys busting their ass out there day in & day out, stop by the pier @ 4:45-5:00 am! Ask if U could come along then your opinion would hold a bit more H20!

 

[Leaky]

Well the great thing about the internet, look and you shall find. Not content with having no voice about walleye fishing this year I contacted the OFAH. I was directed to Tom Brooke. He responded by saying that I was the first negative report he had on Lake Erie walleye fishing for 2016. He is open to hear from all of you regarding perch and walleye fishing in 2016 in Lake Erie. Now is your chance to inform someone that can express your concerns about the walleye and perch fishing in Erie, to the people that make the decisions on keeping the lake well stocked for sportfisherman.


I do have a bit of insight on this as I am the staff representative on the Fisheries Management Zone 19 council and a member of the Lake Erie Percid Management Advisory Group. Canada does provide some recreational angler assessments through a variety of angler creel surveys. There was a lake-wide creel focused on access points in 2015, there was also an aerial component to the creel that involved enumerating vessels that were angling. The lake-wide creel isn’t done every year but the Lake Erie Management Unit is trying to secure funding so that they can at least conduct them on a regular schedule. I believe they conduct annual roving creels that focus on separating out when and where anglers are targeting species and at what depth they are fishing. This year, the lake unit is focusing their creel in the Niagara River of the lake. This data is combined with the U.S. data that is more consistent in that they have the budget to standardize their creel surveys and to have a monitoring component. Most of our monitoring data (e.g. percent catch-at-age and growth analysis) comes through the commercial fishery where samples are provided for MNRF scientists to process.
From a Walleye perspective, the stocks appear to be increasing. As you mentioned, this is reflected in the commercial fishing industries’ total allowable catch which was increased for 2016. Most of the fishing reports that I received from Lake Erie were regarding the poor perch fishing but I didn’t receive any negative reports regarding the Walleye fishery until now. I will be sure to indicate that I received a report when the Zone 19 council meets next.



I hope this information is useful, if you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. I hope that 2017 proves to be an excellent angling year!



Yours in Conservation,


Tom Brooke, M.Sc.

Fisheries Biologist

tom_brooke@ofah.org

I have no objections to you passing my contact information along to other concerned anglers. I can bring summarised concerns to the zone council at our next meeting and I may be able to convey any information that I receive through the MNRF back through you if that is acceptable. Have a good evening.



Yours in Conservation,


Tom Brooke, M.Sc.

Fisheries Biologist

 

[Niagara Baits]

Greg has also voiced concern and contacted the MNR he was forwarded to Brian Locke - lake manager with the ocean and fisheries lake division. His contact info is 519-825-7711 alternative 519-873-4614. Maybe the more people who voice concern the better.

 

[bosc]

Keep these posts going guys and in no time we'll be left with a 2 fish limit.

I fish a lake up north, did good last year, sucked this year. No commercial fisherman or natives around.

Reading the commercial industry bashing threads makes me shake my head. Why not blame the weather networks for forecasting the winds, actually, we should start a weather group to go after these weather guys...I'm sure there is a lawyer here. lol.

Actually lets bring Harper back. Since this new government Erie stocks are going south. Keep voting Lib folks. lol

But seriously, about 10 years ago there was a MNR information day at the one of the hotels in Simcoe, the Best Western I believe. There was a map with the Erie walleye population marked in green dots. 80% of the dots where west and along the south shore. Thinking that stats from Burwell and Nanticoke are an indication about walleye stock in Erie is just wrong. Just because some didn't get fish doesn't mean there wasn't any fish caught. Some years are better than others.

Some one was mentioning the bait north of the lighthouse. Here is a picture I took. Trolled in this for 5 hours without a hit. Hopefully Myboys will do a little extra trawling to take care of this. lol

I'm not a commercial fisherman but like them make a living from the water as many families around here do.
Before we go on blaming the commercial fleet, who in my opinion hardly make a dent in the fishery and have been around longer than we have been alive, have a look along the south shore. There is no limit of these pictures day after day. They are still nailing them as I write this, Oct 6, as I just seen a picture from a huge cooler of walleye caught today.

It seems to me there is no limit on charter boats on the south shore. Every Tom, Dick the Second and Bill Jr runs a charter. Boats are getting bigger. Electronics better. Finer tackle etc etc. than say 15-20 years go and before.
Look at the west end when there is ice. Thousands of thousands of limits taken every day.....and here in tiny Burwell, we are blaming the commercial fleet, who live daily with hundreds of rules, regs, logs, quotas etc. The commercial fleet is shrinking, the sports fishing increasing and putting a huge strain on the resources.

There was a thread a while back about best spawning years and 2003 being a good one. Those fish would be 9-10lb right now. A good spawning year is not like a tap that keeps running, but these fish will one day not be there......

That being said the lake seems to have an abundance of walleye still, judging from our south shore friends's catches. Just that the fishing conditions with all the winds and bait weren't in our favour this summer.

I agree we should all do our part.

But, when we get the 2 man limit..... there will be someone to blame I'm sure.

 

[Leaky]

Hey Bosc, the Lake Erie Walleye management Plan is not about bashing the comercial fisherman. It is a plan that tries to keep the walleye stocks in good heath so that all parties involved can catch fish. The Sportfisherman in Ontario is just one of the parties of interest. their voice needs to be heard.

 

[bosc]

That the lake erie management plan should include more walleye for port Burwell?

I might have put this in the wrong thread. Nevertheless, this one came forth due to the lack of walleye when some didn't get fish when they expected some good fishing.

 

[Bassassin]

I caught less than 1/3 of the Walleye this year then I did last year. I could leave it at that but I will add I fished only 1/3 as much as last year. Too hot, too windy, too foggy and way too hot. If I hit the lake early we had to wait until the fog burned off, in a few hours it was 30C out there. Surface temp one day was 78F, 65 feet below it was 75F. Must be the commercial guys fault.