jwl

wicked nice fish man, you can see by the pic that the laker still has to grow into itself

that's a pretty good report, nice sized eyes as well, I used to spend alot of time fishing on LSC when I was a teen, my granparents had a cottage in Stoney Point. Good to see those size walleye come out of there, years back most of my grandparent's friends who fished the lake would make the long haul out to Erie to get the fish that size.

nice fish, carp fishing can be a blast for sure,specially on those days where you can get 10-20 or more 20lbs plus fish

check your PM's, I will message you a contact name to send your enquiries too. They will send you some pretty cool info on the fish..like where it was first captured,sex, size when it was captured ect. The reason these jaw tags are put on the fish is for easy "angler identification" and is a vital part of thier studies on the population of walleye on the Grand. any feedback you might have to share about this would be great, I would love to see what they have to say as I am directly involved each spring with the walleye project on the Grand and one of the people directly responsible for that fish you caught making it up to Caledonia

I really appreciate the way Tom took some time out of his day to email me back some answers to this question and also taking time to confer with some collegues in regards to the sancturary areas in Gravelly Bay. I helped with some volunteer work for Tom in spring of 2007 and a few others as well, they are really a great bunch of people and I am glad to help that crew out in the spring, it's not all fun, it's not all perfect weather,rainbows and roses, but it is a great feeling knowing that I am doing a small part to give back to a sport I love and value The MNR will not really actively participate on a fishing forum, but in general are more than happy to try and answer any questions that may be brought up to them and relayed back to the board such as this one. Also as a direct result of people who care about our fisheries and the MNR tips line there has been 1 or 2 new CO's added to the crew here around the Greater Niagara Area..and it's people like us who have influenced this

here is an answer from a contact I have in the MNR..Tom MacDougall, who is a biologist, and part of LEMU he took the time to try and help us out here and I really appreciate that. Once again, the tools are there for us to use if we care to do so..and we as ethical anglers are a valuable resource to the MNR as well as they are to us. here is the email response and a map that Tom sent me..... I think I need to CORRECT what I told you the other day. I’ve never been around Colborne in the spring and had to look up the sanctuary boundaries to refresh my memory. I also spoke to one of our port observers – who participates in putting out buoys that mark the boundaries. There is a sanctuary that is inshore from a line that runs between Sugar Loaf point and the park by the boat launch. When I draw a line on the map, it looks as if only part of the “big bay” is closed to fishing. Most of the area close to the breakwalls is not included. I’m sending along a picture of where I think the line runs. It should be marked with in-water buoys. Use the picture as an APPROXIMATE idea of where the line runs; the buoys will be more accurate Tom I hope this helps you out walleyemen any other questions, I will be more than happy to try and have them answered for you cheers man Jack

thanks for the further input fishing, the info you have posted is from studies related to the type of volunteer work i have been helping with in the spring. The fishladder has not been functional for the last 2 seasons and requires alot of time and money to fix..some of the local clubs have helped to add spwaning habitat over the last few years, and with the tagging efforts i help with in the spring, we manually transplant fish above the dam

no problem, I hope that helped answer your questions about this and may have also helped other board members learn a bit more about this as well. The learning tools are at hand for anyone who cares to use them,being on the exec committee for a conservation club, and getting out there and volunteering the last couple years with the MNR has been a great learning tool for me, and has also helped open up a few contacts for me related to this as well, and I am happy to be able to share info like this along the way. There is way more to a good fishing forum than just sharing a few pics of the big one of the day

I guess it all depends on what you are looking for as far as you personal boat usage goes. If it's primarily fishing, a tiller may be just what you are looking for and does offer a bit more room in the boat. Our boat was a "family type purchase" . It's laid out well for passenger space and fishing space for the size of the boat (I think some consoles are in a weird spot in the boat and hinder room and getting around in the boat) Although I am a fishing nut and quite content sitting in my smaller tinny fishing all day long,the bigger boat is better all around for family fun and comfy for the whole day to go on boat rides with the family,pulling a tube behind, and gotta admit for an all day fishing adventure it's a very comfy boat to sit in for the day and alot better for putting a few miles on in the quest.As for the protection of a windshield, mine isn't very practical for that, it's more for just a sporty type look, only way it's gonna really protect ya from anything is by crouching your head down about steering wheel level . I have to admit though, bombing down the Lower Niagara on the quest for big steelies in the middle of January with ice pellets bouncing off your forehead it does help a little When I upgrade down the road it will also be to a console model boat, but that's my prefference for what i want all around in a boat. I would just really think about what your all around boat usage would be .

BUMP...for the person who started this thread so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle

here is the answer I got from an MNR Biologist contact that I have who is part of LEMU(Lake Erie Management Unit) in regards to this question brought up. Funny enough in my Email he started that someone had just emailed him with the link to this forum and the question at hand....so for anyone who doubts that the angler's voice does not matter to the MNR...it most certainly does Hi Jack, Good questions. Someone just emailed me the link to the OFC discussion group where I think you are discussing the GR walleye issue. I will try to answer briefly without babbling on too long. You ask about the bio-diversity of the Grand River walleye. Bio-diversity usually refers to diversity of different species within an area however it can also refer to the amount of genetic diversity within a group of the same species There are two types of diversity that we might be interested in with regard to the walleye that use the Grand River: 1. One is the genetic diversity within a group of walleye that interbreed because their ranges overlap or they home to the same spawning area. 2. The other is the genetic distinctiveness of two groups of walleye where no (or little) interbreeding occurs even though they may occupy the same area at some point of the year (or life cycle). #2 is important from a management point of view because it might affect how we manage the two separate groups (e.g. fishing regulations or quotas that treat group 1 differently than group 2) #1 is important because, even if we determine that a separate group or stock exists (e.g. Grand River stock) we would still want to see lots of genetic diversity within this group. Low genetic diversity might indicate that there was some barrier to spawning where only a few individuals were contributing (e.g. if the hatchery was the only source of reproduction and only one male and female pair were used each year). This could lead to a group that didn’t have a lot of resilience to any curve-ball changes that its environment might throw at it. No definitive genetic comparisons have been made between walleye that are found along the ENTIRE length of the river however from the work that has been done on fish downstream of Caledonia (i.e. below the first true upstream barrier to walleye), we think we have a working idea of the genetic diversity and the stock distinctness. Although some walleye move seasonally between the lake and river, and some can be found in the river year-round, this probably does NOT represent two genetically distinct groups. Based on our tagging studies, a walleye can come in from the lake, reside in the river for 2-3 years, and then go back to the lake. In other words, walleye found in the river below Caledonia are probably, essentially one interbreeding group. We consider those in the river and those that move back to the lake as one group. As you know, movement of walleye (and walleye genes) is not completely un-restricted because of the dam at Dunnville. In its absence, more walleye would obviously move upstream, but there would probably be more downstream movement as well. Upstream movement varies annually and depends on the fluctuating efficiency of the fishway as well as the efforts of the clubs/MNR/GRCA etc each spring to manually move fish up. Downstream movement also varies depending on flows and on how inhospitable the river becomes to walleye during the summer. Poor summer conditions (low oxygen and very high temperatures) related to HIGH nutrient pollution (farm runoff and urban water pollution control plant inputs) and impoundment behind the dam, shrink the available walleye habitat to varying degrees and probably influence movement out to the lake as well. Unrestricted movement above and below Dunnville would be advantageous for the genetic diversity of the group as well as for the size of the population (which would probably increase). To make a long story short, downstream of Caledonia, walleye are probably not either a “river fish” or a “migratory lake fish” as they will probably switch strategies at some point during their lifespan depending on population size, harsh summer conditions, and ability to access above Dunnville. The degree to which their colouration is different DOES probably indicate the length of time spent in each environment (i.e. the darker lake vs. the lighter river) Those that move out to the lake mix with walleye which originated from a number of spawning areas around Lake Erie. In the eastern basin in the summer, we can find fish which hatched in Ohio Rivers (e.g. Maumee), on western basin shoals (Ontario and US), on shoals in New York (Dunkirk) etc. Within this mixture, Grand River walleye stand out genetically. They are VERY distinct from other walleye using Lake Erie during the summer. I’ve rambled for a bit here – PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF I’VE NOT ANSWERED YOUR QUESETION OR IF YOU WANT ANYTHING CLARIFIED. Regarding the Sanctuary at Colborne. The sanctuary should be marked with buoys. It is my understanding that everything inside either of the breakwalls is included (i.e. the ‘whole big bay” is included). HOWEVER I will have to clarify this so stay tuned… Tom Tom MacDougall Lake Erie Management Unit Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources of course I replied back to Tom with a thank-you for taking the time out of his day to answer my questions, the reply on the bottom reffered to another post in which I was also trying to help clarify the regs regarding the closed sanctuary in Port Colbourne this time of year and as you can see by his response to me, he will keep me posted with anyhting he finds out. I think this was great that he took the time out to answer some of my questions, so I thought I would share this with the board as the question about Grand River run walleye popped up here. I hope this help out

nice going man..a 25lberish is very good no matter how you look at it

This might be a great time of the season to buy...I got my Legend package in June 2003, there was a few summer promos kicking around at the time on a couple models...mind ya we got almost $5000 worth of upgrades when all was said and done(upgraded motor ect) but the base price was a pretty good deal Lots of dealerships have some good "get you in the door" packages at this time of year, keep in mind though that the extras add up pretty good depending on what the base price of the package is..and lots of boats come a bit under powered..for example my Legend package came with a 25 Merc on it...it was almost $3000 extra to upgrate to a 40 ELPTO with extended warranty on it

nice fish...all you guys with the nice musky pics are killing me, I can't give it a go until like Sunday or Monday. That must have been the biggest fish caught on that trip, thanks for the big gigantic teaser

that looks like a pretty good trip..that's a pretty chunky musky too, thanks for sharing

"That's the cat's ass" or any quote that uses this phrase in the context of something really great.......never quite understood the whole concept and who along the lines somewhere decided that "the cat's ass" is a good thing

that's the key there.."quick look" see the exceptions on Pg 91 for the Upper Niagara...from the Peace Bridge downstream to the falls ,it's the 3rd Saturday

Alot of the fish that make it up to Caledonia are relocated, every spring the fish we catch and tag on the lower are relocated to the Upper Grand, we relocate about 1000 fish a spring. If you want to know the biodiversity of the walleye on the Grand I can find out no problem from one of the biologists that I work with on the project in the spring. I will email a couple of my contacts to try and find out. Alot of the fish are lake run but colour fades just from being in the brown stained water for so long as most species of fish due when the bodie of water is muddy. I will email the MNR biologist and keep you posted on the response

the 5 fillet method works great for getting the most out of a pike..you get 5 virtually boneless fillets out of it, just some smaller bones to be removed before cooking

there are some 'resident walleye" in the Grand, mainly it's a run from the lake that comes in there to spawn in the spring. I do volunteer work with the MNR in the spring. The MNR electroshocks the water and we follow behind in a catch boat netting up the walleye to be processed(jaw taggged,PIT tagged,measured,scale samples for DNA testing, sex determined if applicable, and collect brood stock for a local stocking program). The tagged fish are then relocated, brood stock collected goes to a local small walleye hatchery project. We then get the fry and raise them in a rearing pond where then after about 6-8 weeks the small fry get netted out of the pond and then get stocked into a different body of water. The reason for this is that these fish that migrate into the Grand River are best suited as brood stock for this project becasue they are genetically adapted to live in the shallower, muddy waters, and thus best suited genetically to live where we stock them. If anyone from the board ever catches one of these fish with the jaw tag(put in place for easy anglercaught fish identification) they can call the numbers into the MNR and you will get the complete history on that fish for example, when it first tagged, sex ect.

looks like a pretty great time everyone,.great to see a big group of people getting together to share some fun

this is one of those stupid "grey areas" walleyeman as far as the sanctuary in there goes...they need to make things a bit more clear...seems kinda dumb at best at the same time that you can not fish in one spot cuz it's a sanctuary but paddle 2 strokes over and it's ok. makes it tough to know where you can fish, specially this year with some areas being closed in the spring ect that have always been open for pike for example. I never fish a few spots this time of year just for the simple fact that the closed areas and stuff are some dam confusing so I just don't fish em until I know for sure they are open, kinda leaves ya feeling like this Just for curiosity sake I am gonna try and ask a couple of the MNR contacts I have from some of the volunteer work I do in the spring for some walleye enhancement projects about this. They are out in the field, help set the regs, help regulate the commercial fisheries and set consumption guidlines as well as 1 or 2 biologists and they are also part of LEMU as well ( Lake Erie Management Unit) and see if we can get some answers..cuz if they can't give out a clear cut answer then it's time to step up as anglers and stuff and contact them with some concerns from the anglers side of the coin. The MNR actually really values alot of angler input when it comes to deciding areas that should be sanctuaries, biodiversity studies..such as the angler's diaries that the NPCA put out and alot of this info is then in turn used to decide if any changes are needed...ya just can;t do it in a pushy kind of way...ya can't make it seem like you are storming in on them calling them out saying stuff like how come it took so long to get the regs out?...how come this and that kind of thing..you have to "work" with them cheers man, I hope it didn't seem like I was trying to cause trouble or call you out ect on the board..I am way not like that at all, these are things I want to know too...I always try to keep up on the regs, always have..always will and some stuff still confuses me and like I said there are some spots over the years I simply don't even fish until the whole area is open

nice fish but you might have been fishing in a closed sanctuary not trying to be a crap disturber..check pg 91 of the regs

incidental catches are one thing, but if you take time to read back in the forum you will see lots of discussion about going prepared for the big ones. If you are headed out with the purpose of trying to catch a hog musky, you need to have the right stuff to do it for sure, not only for your own safety but for the fishes as well. A big net,heavy rod/reel/line combo to adequetly fight the fish, and yepper some sort of good cutters just in case....I don't generally go musky fishing by myself alone in the boat so also having a buddy with ya to help when you start to get into tag team landing a fish is always good as well. Over the lastfew years I have tended to shy away from musky fishing with big body baits loaded with trebles, I tend to use over sized spinner biats and plastics and such with only one big hook on them...I may not catch as many as some guys do on the big body baits at different times of the year, but if I do get a really big one..only one hook to deal with. Personally I don't like the way big pike and muskies hammer some baits and get a face full of hooks, I don't want to kill a fish I intend to release becase it's mouth got mangled from my hook. Read up on it and stuff,get some info off some of the die hard musky guys from the board or try and talk to someone from Muskies Canada and such. This past winter at the conservation club we had a great guest speaker from Muskie Canada who did a great presentation on this topic..safety being the main issue for both the angler and the fish.

nice, white jigs are always a go too bait of mine...I like to use the 6 inch twisters, have caught everything from rock bass to muskies on them as well as big trout. I noticed ya have a green or chartruesse colour jig head..I find if I use plain jig heads I catch more fish..dunno why, I think it may be partly due to if the painted ones get dinged up and chip, I think the fish shy away from them. I also find that if I am fishing waters with a "greenish" tint to them like the Niagara River for example, white is a hot colour of choice, but fishing more northern type lakes that tend to be more "blackish" like at my trailer for example..yellow seems to be the hot ticket. thanks for sharing the pics,looks like a great time, twisters are a great fishfinder