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Just my 2cents worth!!!!!The main breeders for walleye are the 2-6 pounders. The 8-10 lb plus fish may have lots of eggs but their fertility rate is much lower than the smaller fish.... So taking a big fish out isnt going to hurt as much as taking the smaller ones. At least thats what the biologist say!!!!!!Same with bass!!!!!
I hope that if any of you guys are deer hunters that you will pass all the 3 1/2-6 1/2 year old bucks you see. They are the most proficient breeders in the herd. Take a couple fawns or young bucks they taste better anyway
This is a very touchy subject on all the forums I frequent ,especially during the Maumee River run. I think subject gets locked more than any other I've seen. Living in Ohio and fishing Lake Erie and the Maumee river my whole life, I have my own opinion on this subject, and they are only my opinions. there's no shortage of armchair biologists out there. At the end of the day, you have to do what you think is best in your eyes, and your wasting your time if you think you can change others views. Some people think just because its within the laws, its the right thing to do. All the numbers of how many walleyes are in the lake are just "estimates" based on formulas plugged into charts. I would personally never look down on anyone keeping a few trophy walleyes........... i personally prefer to eat perch, but if im forced eat a walleye its gonna be a 17 or 18" jack
there is an entirely new topic for deer. ever think of what you or your neighbors are feeding the deer, that you are feeding to your kids? say the neighbor feeds them mass amounts of growth hormones, from some store bought(unregulated) " super nuclear horn grow" junk. what is that doing to the people that eat that deer? talk about a topic to get the fur on end in a deer hunting forum! lol some get all bent out of shape. other people never thought about it that way. kinda scary to ponder too deep though.and im with you on the tender vittles, slabber. nothing like a third of a back strap, from an 80#er, seared in bacon grease, with eggs, in the morning. great now im hungry. lol
Are you sure about that? Multiple free range studies have shown that 1 1/2- 2 1/2 yr old bucks in most areas do 80% of the breeding. Multiple reasons why with the main one being there are just more of them and they do not lay as low as the bigger bucks. In other words the big ones usually don't get big and stay that way by chasing tail all over during the rut. They do breed but only a small percentage and mostly at night. You do more damage taking a great genetic 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 out of a herd then a 4 1/2 because that younger deer will usually breed more does and you don't need a old deer to pass good genetics.
.......BUTThis thread was HI-JACKED...!!!!
I apoligize for hijacking the wall hanger walleye thread was not my original intent. If someone legally catches big walleyes its there right to eat them if they wish. Walleyes in Erie are migratory fish similar to salmon in lake michigan so it would be hard to determine if releasing these fish would have any significant impact on future wallhanger fishing beyond educated guessing. In lake Michigan we have had king stockings cut back as most would know but the size is making up for it. I wonder if lake Erie would be the same way with fewer walleye but gigantic fish. I could only imagine more feed for fewer fish on Erie.
Mike are you goin with or what? I'm ready to go.
OK. I'll be that guy! Why would anyone mount a 10 lb walleye from Erie ?? They seem to be too common?. Not really a trophy out of that water? Paul
Not to go off topic but yes multiple 50"+ fish every year. He is an excellent musky fisherman and I have the pictures to prove it. That's not the point if the thread but pm me and I'll send you the proof if you want it.
i always told myself my first double digit fish was going on the wall, well that didnt happen caught numerous fish that size, finally one day took a 12 and hung it up. now i want a 13-14 lb fish. its all in ur goal. if u want a double digit fish for the wall, go to erie and get one. its all in what makes you happy and the experience doing it. the 12 i put on the wall came during a tourny fishing with my father and was on my birthday, was the big fish of the day for us, and was on a lure i picked after a few hours of trolling and not catching anything.
I told myself that the first pound and a half Bluegill that I caught was going on the wall. But when I finally held that fish, I just couldn't do it. And since that time I have released several more of equal or slightly greater size. Everytime I think "this is the one", I'm reminded of something I was taught as a boy, growing up in an outdoor orientated family.Nearly everyone in my extended family hunted and fished, as a means of putting food on the table. And most of those guys were pretty slick at it too. But no one, not one single person, had a trophy anything on the wall. The way it was explained to me was perhaps overly simplistic, but it's stuck with me for all these years....that being that there are three reasons to kill any animal (including fish)....the three "P's"Profit.....usually by selling fur.Provisions.....to keep your family fed.Protection....self explanatory, if somewhat unlikely in these parts.There's a fourth "P" that was regarded as unacceptable in my family....Pride. To kill something just because it was the biggest of its kind, simply wasn't condoned.That was a long time ago, and a lot has changed since then. And while I respect and acknowledge the deeply personal reasons involved in deciding whether or not to hang a trophy on the wall, I still struggle with it where my own catches are concerned. For me, I've just seen too many trophy "walls"....I still think I would like a trophy Bluegill of two pounds or greater. ONE fish.....not just the biggest one to date. There are big fish, and then there are trophy fish....for me, the trophy bar needs to be raised well beyond the reach of big fish, to include only a once-in-a-lifetime fish. I don't begrudge anyone their right to hang a fish on the wall. If it's legal, and the fishery can support it, and it makes you happy, then I say go for it.Just my opinion, offered as one guy's viewpoint. Not meant to pass judgement on anyone's harvest practices at all.
Here is about the best facts I have seen posted anywhere. Quote credited to Wakina on Walleye.com."Astronomical numbers""Once the 2003 hatch became mature adults there were roughly 35,000,000 adult breeders in lake Erie! Now assuming that only half of those adults were females of breeding age that would be roughly 17,500,000 mature females. The average number of eggs laid by a mature female is roughly 250,000. Please read the last post in this thread in the provided link as it is my source for the average number of eggs laid per mature female."http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/discuss/...ic,1075.0.html"So with 17,500,000 females laying an average of 250,000 eggs each that would be a total of 4,375,000,000,000. ...................... .......http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/discuss/...n.html#msg1644"One more link!"http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_sit...s/walleye.html
UR links don't workNow for your figures. If the 2003 hatch was 35,000,000 then you can't use 35 mill as the adult number. A vary small % will make it to adults. Found the following on this link http://www.walleyecentral.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-5162.htmlTypically, 10 percent of the walleye fry (which are newly hatched walleye) released in walleye rearing ponds survive to become 4" fingerlings. The survival rate of fry dumped straight into a system in far less, maybe 5 percent.[/b]So 5% of 35 mill is 1,750,000. That many will make it to fingerlings. Out of those 1.75mill how many make it to breeding age. Found no data on that so I will take a wild guess and say 25% will make it from fingerlings to adults. 25% of 1.75 mill = 437,500 adults. So now only half of those are females, that figures out to 218,750 females. U say each will lay 250,000 eggs. Then 54,687,500,000 eggs laid, thats allot of eggs.If I'm wrong feel free to jump in and correct. BTW, I have no opinion on the topic. But I caught a 4 LBers a few yrs back at Maxy. I ate it but it was not near as good as the 14-18" eyes. Any fish in the large size to me is flat, whether its gills, perch, eyes, crappy, etc. Its the same with anything. THink about it, would you rather eat a steak from a 1.5 to 2 yr old cow, or a steak from a 10 yr old cow.
