[Bluewalleye]

Plenty of studies done on this topic. Don’t matter what your livewell is capable doing. Unless your livewell is Lake Erie. Just because you watch them swim away, 20 to 28% is the mortality rate for walleyes kept in livewells. 2% if caught and immediately released. 100% if I catch a legal one.

I have yet to ever see a dead walleye laying on top of the water on Lake Erie. I am not sure about those numbers. Cause if they are accurate, you sure would see some every once and a while. But I have never seen 1. In my 30 years of fishing the lake.
I have seen perch by the 100's if not 1000's, from the netters on top of the water. I have seen plenty of sheep heads floating as well. Probably some that I put out there to die. Have seen white perch as well. But never a walleye.
Isn't that kind of strange?

 

[doubleAA]

Not how that works. When you release a fish that swims back to the bottom, when it dies it remains there because fish are denser than water. If a fish is injured while in the act of catching or like most I’ve seen beating sheep head off the boat then they have air in their bladders and therefore float. Simple biology.

 

[c. j. stone]

This is a tough question. Nearly everyone with a livewell has done it at one time or other. Asked a "Law Enforcement" section ODNR officer once. He said if it's "alive and swimming", not a problem to cull. I asked specifically abt perch pulled from water deeper than 30 ft with bladders in their mouths(both of us knowing they will not survive if released).(He said 90% of fishermen do not know "how to properly" vent the bladder of fish w/hyperdermic syringe!) Same response. I really think if you asked two of these guys, you'd get two(opposite) responses however! Bottomline, do what you feel "comfortable" doing(I guess).

 

[HappySnag]

This is a tough question. Nearly everyone with a livewell has done it at one time or other. Asked a "Law Enforcement" section ODNR officer once. He said if it's "alive and swimming", not a problem to cull. I asked specifically abt perch pulled from water deeper than 30 ft with bladders in their mouths(both of us knowing they will not survive if released).(He said 90% of fishermen do not know "how to properly" vent the bladder of fish w/hyperdermic syringe!) Same response. I really think if you asked two of these guys, you'd get two(opposite) responses however! Bottomline, do what you feel "comfortable" doing(I guess).

why after bass turnament is increased nomber floting dead bass.
and they were not catched in deep water,
simple anser
they were culing them in live well with the best knoligable people in fishing industry.
if it come to money they forget to do what is wright and wrong.
the turnament fish should be only mesured,lenght and girt and released.
if you worie about cheeting,put extra person on boat to police the catch.

 

[Steimy]

It pains me to read some of these responses............only ever wanted to understand what the ODNR rules were.......................oh my.

 

[Bluegillin']

What I never quite understood is the length limit. For instance, if I catch a 14.5" walleye and it is bleeding, why should I have to throw it back if it is going to die? It could count as one against my limit and seems to be truly respecting the fishery. Even if the fish is not injured, would keeping a limit of 14" fish really affect the fishery versus taking a limit of 16"? Some may ask why take small fish when they don't have much meat anyway which is a valid question. My question is more about releasing small fish if mortality rate is as high as some have mentioned.

 

[doubleAA]

Releasing a small fish or any size walleye immediately after catch is shown to have a 2 % mortality rate. Nobody mentioned a high mortality rate with immediate release. This is the whole damn argument????????

 

[miked913]

I just target big fish then I don't have to worry about it.

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[Meerkat]

I just target big fish then I don't have to worry about it.

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Then you will have somebody tell you you should be releasing the big fish. Oh my!


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[STRONGPERSUADER]

It pains me to read some of these responses............only ever wanted to understand what the ODNR rules were.......................oh my.

Right! Talk about overthinking it. I got half a headache reading this thread. Lol. 15” is legal. Anything under.. release it. With this bite, anything under 18” goes back over the transom on my rig. It’s a personal preference. 1000’s of these “just under 15” were thrown back last year. We were all whining about it. And now we are limiting on the same fish in no time at all. Culling is legal... do what you want. But your going to have to cull a lot to get a fish maybe 2” bigger. Everyone’s a wannabe marine biologist. When these wannabes start making the rules, I’ll follow them. It’s been the best fishing in years because of these same rules and regs, just enjoy it. Nobody is going to win this debate. We should all put this energy towards perch fishing, we won a big one last year against our enemy the commercial fishing industry in the central basin. Now that’s worth whining about.

 

[gw2kpro]

Lake Trout were very prominent in Erie historically. They’re supposed to be in there.

I think its prudent to be sure we don't give more credit than is due, nor more criticism than should be applied. An awful lot of what happens from year to year is out of the control of the ODNR.

The planting of lake trout in Lake Erie will soon become the next great fisheries management challenge. I cringe at the thought of those things being put into the lake 40,000 at a time every spring. To me at least, that is a complete and total mismanagement of Lake Erie.

 

[WATER FOX]

I think its prudent to be sure we don't give more credit than is due, nor more criticism than should be applied. An awful lot of what happens from year to year is out of the control of the ODNR.

The planting of lake trout in Lake Erie will soon become the next great fisheries management challenge. I cringe at the thought of those things being put into the lake 40,000 at a time every spring. To me at least, that is a complete and total mismanagement of Lake Erie.

They released them near Put in
Bay we haven't seen them since. lol Has anyone on west end caught any..???

 

[Meerkat]

They released them near Put in
Bay we haven't seen them since. lol Has anyone on west end caught any..???

Lake Trout need water colder than 55 degrees. So in the summer they will hang out on the eastern end of the lake. There was one caught last November off Cdr Point when the water was nice and cold. I know the guy who caught it.

 

[bustedrod]

cull no cull , everyone has done it , if you ever threw a fish back you culled, whether because it was too small , wrong species, whatever. jeez just like high school now. this is stale bread now. I think im falling asleep. there I threw the wrench in lolololo

 

[Spongebrain]

Id rather catch and eat sheephead than lake trout...not a big fan of that species. Come in like dead weight

 

[multi species angler]

I don't think anyone else has said it so I will. If you have you're limit of 6 in the boat and catch 1 more, you are over the legal limit at that time. If the limit is 6 then you should have no more than 5 in the boat at any time. LEGALLY

 

[Burkcarp1]

I don't think anyone else has said it so I will. If you have you're limit of 6 in the boat and catch 1 more, you are over the legal limit at that time. If the limit is 6 then you should have no more than 5 in the boat at any time. LEGALLY

that is not correct. There was a forum on that earlier this year. As long as you don’t keep more than 6 your 100%legal to catch and release as many as you want.

 

[Brahmabull71]

I don't think anyone else has said it so I will. If you have you're limit of 6 in the boat and catch 1 more, you are over the legal limit at that time. If the limit is 6 then you should have no more than 5 in the boat at any time. LEGALLY

Dead wrong. As long as the fish you’re culling is alive and well you can catch them until the cows come home. Called DNR and specifically asked them posted here on the matter before.

 

[fishforfun]

I don't think anyone else has said it so I will. If you have you're limit of 6 in the boat and catch 1 more, you are over the legal limit at that time. If the limit is 6 then you should have no more than 5 in the boat at any time. LEGALLY
Then everyone that fishes for fun after a limit is not legal ? This topic reminds me of deer hu nting when people shoot more then two does over a season. To me fish be legal and have fun if people want to cull so be it. I think the thread should be closed starting to beat a dead horse now.

 

[multi species angler]

I stand by what I said. I was told this by a DOW law enforcement officer. If it is wrong, he was not I.

PS. Look at it like this. The possession limit is 6. If you've got 6 in the boat and land a 7th you are now over the possession limit technically. What happens if you have 6 on ice and land a 7th and it has your bait tangled up in its gills. You just killed 7.