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MrSimon

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  1. I am very happy to see this thread!! This particular forum always has multiple active threads with pictures of large dead fish, stories of multiple limits being taken, and stories of coolers getting stuffed night after night. Of course that is all legal, but like the original poster said, a body of water can only sustain a certain amount of harvest. Maybe the SLR can handle the current level of harvest, but maybe it can't. You never know until it's too late. Slot limits are great and I support them. But even MORE important are lower creel limits. I like the idea of 3, but I'd even support 2 and maybe even 1. Walleye, more than any other fish, are susceptible to over-harvest. They are fun to catch and taste delicious. They are also sensitive to spawning habitat disruption. Countless lakes and rivers in the Northern US and Canada have had walleye populations crushed due to over-harvest. Southern Ontario experienced this and it has taken over a decade of tough regulations to bring the populations back up. The SLR walleye fishery is very solid right now. It takes some figuring out and some dedication .... but once you dial it in there is no better place for quality fish in the entire US that I know if. Heck, you have to go to NW Ontario to find so many big fish as far as I'm concerned. I'd hate to see that ruined.
  2. I fished the River for a few days around Morristown this past weekend. The fishing was slow. I caught one nice walleye, three 4 pound bass, and two 2.5 pound bass. The fish were pretty big, but they were really hard to find and I never caught more than one in a spot. Lots and lots of moving around and fishing for hours on end without a single bite. Maybe it was the late spawn, maybe it was the weather ..... or maybe the darn gobies are destroying the bass population.
  3. I'm far from an expert, but I've always had to go deep on that river to find fish in the summer. I know they can be caught shallow, but I've had good luck finding big schools of bass in 30+ FOW .... almost always on deep water structure in current, like humps, rock piles, and steep breaks. It's hard though, if you catch them in too deep of water they can die real easy. Personally I don't like to mess with them any deeper than 35 or 40' Large shoals close to deep water can be great early and late.
  4. MrSimon

    Keep vs release

    I can't argue with that. Seeing nice big marks on the screen and getting zero bites is always a kick in the tenders.
  5. MrSimon

    Keep vs release

    I don't think I agree that walleye are hard to catch. It's FINDING them that is the challenge. On bodies of water with huge walleye populations (like the Canadian Shield), finding and catching a bunch of fish is easy as can be. If you are on a body of water that requires a lot of hunting to find the walleye, there's a good chance it's a relatively small population for that body of water. If walleye seem elusive on your body of water, that's a good sign to catch and release.
  6. MrSimon

    Keep vs release

    I found this article about walleye management on Mille Lacs in Minnesota. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/walleye/management.html It's a common story. Loose regulations combined with increased fishing pressure resulted in declining fish population and size .... anglers get angry and complain .... the gov't imposes very strict regulations on the lake (causing more anglers to complain) ... and then over years and years, it gets better. This same thing has happened many times across the US and Canada. Imagine what would happen if the governments were more proactive and imposed more conservative regulations BEFORE the fishing declines. Instead of fisheries going from bad to good, we could have them going from good to great.
  7. MrSimon

    Keep vs release

    Just because something is legal, does not mean it is beneficial for the fishery. Some bodies of water can support large scale harvesting of fish like walleye. Erie seems to be one of those places. Maybe Ontario is the same, I'm not sure. But most lakes and rivers in NY with natural populations of walleye are quite susceptible to over-harvest. I am very happy to see that the "keep what you catch" mentality is slowly but surely being replaced by a more responsible "C&R with selective harvest" attitude. Slot limits and lower creel limits are important, but it's the mindset of anglers that will ultimately preserve the fisheries for future generations. As previous generations learned the hard way, you can't keep filling your freezers and expect the fishing to get better at the same time.
  8. Nope, all fish from the River. But, the shot of me launching the boat was on Black Lake .... I forgot to film me launching on the river.
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