MP Of Kawarthas "Save the walleye"

[fishermccann]

I have fished Cameron Lake for over 40 years and the walleye fishing has never been better. I am no scientist, but I fish that lake 5 times a week in season, and I know what I catch.

Edited June 2, 2017 by fishermccann

[Sinker]

You experienced something I didn't. I was there at closure and there was a lot of anger that the Feds were taking away the fishery. None of the fishermen I saw and talked to were lamenting the "delay" in the ban.

So that's the problem with first hand observation, in that you can have two totally different accounts of the same thing and sometimes that isn't an innocent thing. Strictly going on the opinions of others to make huge decisions can lead to incredibly bad decision making such as the US pulling out of the Paris Accord today. There are a lot of opinionated people telling me that climate changes but are totally clueless about the science behind when a changing climate is more than just weather.

Granted, but my point was that there isn't enough input from the people who are on the water the most.

 

S.

[Garfisher]

Balsam never needed a slot. It had fabulous amount of fish in every year class. The problem was they used trap nets that sat in 8 ft and went to shore missing 99% of the walleye.

You're right they should have set gill nets so that they could cover more areas (and remove those walleye instead of being able to release them)

[OhioFisherman]

 

Shore lunch, problem solved! LOL

[scuro2]

Granted, but my point was that there isn't enough input from the people who are on the water the most.

 

S.

 

Seems there is..."I believe that there is a wealth of knowledge that longtime residents and anglers can provide to science", and then he quoted passed along ideas and observations.

 

But what is surprising to me is all the personal reports how the walleye fishing is at it's peak ever or getting to it's peak in all the lakes even though Skugog is closed and the other lakes have slots. That doesn't compute with what the MP states unless either all the lake have had a fantastic rebound at the same time or personal reports could reflect a bias.

 

Not that anyone is doing this in this instance but I might just report the fishing as being better than it is and crap all over those who manage the fishery if I were at all fearful my lake would be closed or get a slot that I didn't want.

 

I love hearing those first hand reports and rely on them for my personal fishing but in the end give me the cold hard data for management issues.

 

Edited June 2, 2017 by scuro2

[OhioFisherman]

https://jamieschmale.ca/walleye/LarrysReport.pdf

 

" Fishing lodge records show that almost half the guest were Americans. This was a boom time. "

 

" The number of walleye decreased year by year. The American fisherman became increasingly frustrated by the size of their catches. The once flourishing tourist trade collapsed. "

 

I am old, so maybe a clearer picture of the chain of events? Or just a different view of them?

 

Walleye fishing in Lake Erie went to heck in the 50's, fishermen from Ohio, PA, NY, Mi and other states headed north to catch them. Once the rebound in Lake Erie started the need to travel hundreds of miles to catch them became unnecessary? I know very few people that used to head north for walleye that still do.

[jimmer]

Yep, it had in impact on tourism. One of the trailer parks on the lake I live on always had their cottages full in the spring for the early walleye season. They tore the cottages down and replaced them with trailer sites due to lack of walleye.

[OhioFisherman]

Yep, it had in impact on tourism. One of the trailer parks on the lake I live on always had their cottages full in the spring for the early walleye season. They tore the cottages down and replaced them with trailer sites due to lack of walleye.

 

Oh I am sure, but there are a wide variety of factors? Society has changed? and a much wider choice of ways to spend your recreational dollars? Why spend your money on travel and lodging costs?

[jimmer]

Agreed!

[Garnet]

The problem is even deeper. As a stock investor I'm always studying economics, trends. A whole bunch of states signed right to work legislation in resent years. Union busting. And the rich convinced the public it was good for them.

 

Basically allows rich business owners to pay crap money to employees. (Wal Mart model). Now they can't buy any products because of no disposable income can't travel same reason.

 

The biggest distributer of fishing tackle in the world went from 90 million a year to 35. And that's only the start across the board every major fishing industry is down b 50%.

[Rattletrap2]

 

Shore lunch, problem solved! LOL

I think I would rather eat their landing net!

[OhioFisherman]

I think I would rather eat their landing net!

 

LOL, and here I sit trying to boost Canadian tourism! 60 years ago if you told someone here you were going to Canada to fish for carp they would have thought you were crazy? They still would today, we have much bigger carp, and seemingly an endless supply of them!

 

LOL, now the depression is setting in, my biggest carp outweighed my biggest ski by about 10 times?