Spiel

Live emerald shiners the most important bait in catching yellow perch Outfish biodegradable, rubberish artificial shiner imitations packed in stinky liquid January 4, 2010 / www.great-lakes.org Recently, when yellow perch fishermen have stopped by their favorite bait shop on the way out for a day on Lake Erie, they’ve discovered a “Sold Out” sign over the tank of emerald shiners—the preferred bait fish for yellow perch. The shortage is directly related to the arrival and spread of the fish disease viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) in the Great Lakes region since 2006. The federal government and various state governments have issued restrictions to limit the transport of susceptible fish, making it illegal to move some bait fish across state lines, privately or commercially, even within the same body of water. Since most bait fish sold in Ohio have traditionally come from commercial trappers in New York, shortages of live emerald shiners have hit Ohio fishermen, as well as fishing businesses, hard. Those businesses have started trapping the shiners themselves in an attempt to relieve the market stress, but fishermen have also started to get more creative. “Some anglers, when there’s a shortage, switch to artificial shiner imitations,” says Curt Wagner, Biologist for the Ohio DNR, and member of the Ohio Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (OCAFS). “Particularly popular are biodegradable, rubberish bait packed in this stinky liquid. It’s supposed to have the look, the scent, and the appeal of the real thing for yellow perch.” However, no one was sure that the artificial baits were as effective as the real thing, so Wagner put together a study for OCAFS members during their annual summer meeting. Since the meeting was to be held at Stone Laboratory, he applied for and received grant funding from Ohio Sea Grant for NOAA shiptime aboard the Gibraltar III research boat. The weekend of the OCAFS meeting, 13 anglers set out to a spot between Lake Erie’s Rattlesnake and Middle Bass islands, prepared to test four different types of emerald shiner baits: live, frozen, brine preserved, and artificial. “In advance, we assigned a random rotation of bait types so that each angler fished each of the four baits for 30 minutes and not everyone was fishing the same bait at the same time,” Wagner explains. “We would blow a whistle and everyone would switch to a different bait type. We wanted to get a fair, side-byside comparison.” Using identical fishing rigs, each participant was instructed to fish all four baits the same way, letting it go all the way to the lake floor, then cranking it up one or two times to get it a little bit off the bottom. Their findings were surprising: out of a total of 59 perch caught within the two-hour timeframe, 27 were caught using live bait, 18 on frozen shiners, 14 on brine-preserved shiners, and none on artificial. From a management perspective, the data indicate a potential need for Ohio businesses to begin to cultivate emerald shiners to keep up with demand. However, Eugene Braig, assistant Director of Ohio Sea Grant who took part in the study, believes that anglers should simply start planning ahead for their bait needs. “Emerald shiners are available in Ohio waters in the spring each year, so it may be a good idea to stock up early in the season and preserve them so you have enough to get you through fall,” Braig says

I always figured that laying 'em out in the snow (on the ice) in sub zero temps to get an accurate measure of whether or not you have to release (or can keep) is likely killing more fish than just taking your first 2 and moving on. Let's face it, if you don't have to measure them you could decide what to keep and what to release while they are still in the water. No exposure to the cold and no excess handling. IMHO slots sizes during the ice fishing season is asinine.

Red Green would be proud!

Thanks for the update Mike. I hope all goes well for your Dad today (tomorrow?).

Seems like a no brainer to me. If you know your going to be traveling over frozen water, wear some form of flotation device. A floatation suit or better yet a survival suit is your best option. Looking cool means nothing if your dead!

I would.

That was always the beverage of choice when rod standing steelies on the cold wind swept shores of G'Bay in winter, and occasionly the warmer days of fall.

That is some devotion Lorne and way cool, literally! Kudos to you for proving that carp angling is not restricted to the warmer months. I hope you garner some sort of prize for your efforts.

Nothing in Hamilton.

I'm guessing a little to cold for a test run with the new boat Albert.

Interesting. Here's an off the wall idea, why not epoxy an alligator type clip to it, add rubber tubing to the jaws and set your micro bait into it at the desired depth. Auto micro jigger.

Too funny....

You know at times it floors me how insensitive some can be! We've had members come and go, some leave quietly and some come on board to say goodbye. Perhaps it's because they would like to inform friends that they'll need to seek another avenue to stay in touch, whatever. Is that so wrong? For those who feel the need to piss on this I suggest you find another avenue to vent. If you have nothing nice to say, shut-up!

The extra "C" is for "corporation", it's on their home page.

I just saw that while perusing some links for the fishing news and thought I'd post it here. But proud Papa beat me to it! Congratulations to the Blowes family, pretty cool.

The 20th could be good for me Terry, perhaps sooner, hard to know at this point. Innisfil is my choice, the walk out to deep water from Sibbalds is a little far.

I'd have loved to get out with you guys for a spell or even meet up for a few cold ones after your fishing day but alas it'll have to wait till next year. 2010, the year of Spiel.

There was some talk about that model here last week GBW. Sorry I can't be of any more help as I have no personal experience with it.

Well I hope you got all the info you needed spinnerdoc.

I could show you but if you want to catch fish as well you best go with the guy quoted below.

At this point I feel it's fair to say "I hate you".

That's what I was thinking along with, who's gonna teach you to use them John.

That's just what I was thinking. 2009, the year of Lew...... Congrats Lew, nice looking ride and as previously mentioned it'll look great pulling that new boat!

Choose a different skin.