Where are all the eaters?

[walleyemick]

I just got back sunday from a little over a week of fishing at our camp on little bay. Not that I can complain because i had the best week of fishing for big fish i have had in the 14 years i have been fishing LBDN but all our fish were big. We got 33 walleye over all, sounds like alot but it was over 10 days and some of the time there were 5 of us, some time 2 of us and there were about 9 of us for 3 days. We logged the length and weight of all the fish that were caught as we always do and we only had one fish under the slot out of 33 and that one was 22in. I love catching big walleye and really don't mind eating a few of them but it worries me a little that there are no smaller fish, are all the smaller eater fish getting caught by the nets? Or is this a result of cut backs in planting in resent years? or is it possible that i just had the luckiest week of fishing in my life as i caught 15 walleye myself with an 8 pound average, 6 fish over 10 pounds biggest being 11 pounds 8 oz. (that ones going on the wall)

[sho]

Maybe the slot does work? ;)

[walleyemick]

no kidding, i like it, hate to see it go. Big fish are always fun to catch

[The Bait Shop Guy]

I'll gladly trade you location info for "eater" spots in exchange for your "piggy" spots:D

Care to share any pointers - depths, baits, time of day? Got any pics of that big girl that's going on the wall?

[IM MuskyTime]

My guess is the smaller fish were just elsewhere. Any lack of fish shouldn't have anything to do with recent stocking, as LBDN and BBDN have had virtually all of the stocking in our entire district---south central U.P.---for several years now. DNR studies released show it as a self sustaining population with ideal habitat and stocking should be cut back drastically in future years.

The number of big fish lately is impressive....may not have been wall to wall, but sounds like you definitely had some good action from quality fish. I think a lot of guys would have been pretty happy with those results. The grass is always greener...

[walleyemick]

No complaints here, that was the funnest week of fishing i have had on LBDN since the splake fishing was good, just thought it was odd that there were no small fish. I'll post some pics when i get on my parents computer later, i loaded all of them on their computer with the photo printer

[walleyemick]

We fished pretty much the whole week on the banks, depth didn't seem to matter much, caught fish in 14' through 32' along the bank. Had a hole in 24' that seemed to produce most of the biggest fish don't know if there was anything to that or not. Primarily a tip up bite, the jig bite was the worst i have ever seen, fished 5 days with one break off on a do jigger, tried everything from rapalas to pimples to jig head and minnow and put in alot of hours without a bite. Finally switched to slip bobber fishing, which i hate, just so i could fight a fish on a rod.

[walleyemick]

Here are some pics, first is the 11 1/2 pounder i am mounting, second is 11# 4 oz, third is a 10 1/2# that spit up a 11" perch and the last is a 10# 13 oz i released. I released 2 other just over 10 pounds and a few other in the 8-9 pound range but didn't start carrying my camera out on the lake with me for a few days. Since im not a perch fisherman i guess that the only way i'll get those tasty little morsils, it was still floping when she spit it up so i filited it. Must have been a hungry fish

[WalligatorGetter]

Just out of curiosity, were all of your fish caught after dark like the one in the picture, or did you get some in the day time too? I have been trying to get on a big fish bite like that for a couple of years now with no success. I was just wondering if it might be because I usually don’t fish after dark. Also, if it’s not too much to ask, which it might be, did you fish in the northern part of the bay, or in the outer bay (north, or south of Gladstone)?
Thanks.

[BiG ARN]

nice fish!!!!!

[walleyemick]

Just out of curiosity, were all of your fish caught after dark like the one in the picture, or did you get some in the day time too? I have been trying to get on a big fish bite like that for a couple of years now with no success. I was just wondering if it might be because I usually don’t fish after dark. Also, if it’s not too much to ask, which it might be, did you fish in the northern part of the bay, or in the outer bay (north, or south of Gladstone)?
Thanks.

That picture was actually a early morning first light fish, because of the flash it made it look darker i think. We did some night fishing like 10 pm till 1 am and had some luck and got a few nice fish then but i wouldn't say it was any better than the early morning or dusk bite. I would say most of our fish came from 4pm till 8pm through out the week.

[Walleye Slayer]

Thats what i call eyes!NICE catch!Jeff

[walleye stalker]

Nice fish. Congrats on the nice catch. Too bad you obviously don't believe in catch and release. I didn't know they took the slot off allowing you to keep so many big fish.

[walleyemick]

Nice fish. Congrats on the nice catch. Too bad you obviously don't believe in catch and release. I didn't know they took the slot off allowing you to keep so many big fish.

thanks for the congrats, actually i releasesd most of the fish that i caught last week, started keeping fish for mounts then i would get on bigger so that one would get froze to go on the wall. don't worry not one went to waste those big fish taste good too. dont know to many people that wouldn't keep the biggest walleye of there life for a mount. When you fish for 11 days in a row it is perfectly legal within the slot to keep 3 fish on different days over the slot when you have already eaten the others. Thank god for haters though, we wouldn't appreciate good honest fisherman otherwise

[slammer]

To all of you that didn't read the post correctly and think these guys are raping the lake and not following the "slot limit" this catch was over a ten day period and not just one guy. To most of you complainers out there , let's see the pictures of your releases. By the way , my wife and I just ate one of those pigs tonight (although I'm not lucky enough to get one over 30") that I caught a while back and it was delicious and I dare anyone eating it to tell me the difference between a 15"-20" and a wall hanger. Hey Walleyemick , congrats and glad to see the results of some hard fishing. I'm jelous and wish I could say the same this year. Gonna be hard to top that-- Kinda like the kid that went and got his 12 pointer his first year of deer hunting. Good luck in the future and let us know how ya do. That's what this forum is for.
By the way, I don't have a clue who Walleyemick is!! Slammer!!!!

[walleyemick]

Thanks slammer, i'm with ya on the eating, those big fish taste just as good. Heading back up in 2 weeks. I'll give ya the report, not dumb enough to think i'll ever have another week like that one but you cant catch them on the couch, hunting for that 12# pig now. Good luck out there

[BiG ARN]

walleye stalker.....you must be one jealous insecure guy!!! nothing worse then someone talking down on someone whos within the rules! reminds me of this one idiot i see at the river crying about me keeping a steelhead. just because someone chooses to catch and release doesnt mean they should bash the people that legally keep some fish! theres plenty of low lifes out there raping the resources to go after....go get them if your so gung ho

[mbrown]

Walleyemick... Nice Fish!! Congrats!! I will be up this weekend for 3 days of fishing. It occurred to me that is about 1/3 of the amount of fishing you did so therefore I am expecting to catch 1/3 the total fish, including one wall mounter!! SWEET!!! I'll put the taxidermist on standby... :D:D:D

Regarding your original concern about a lack of smaller fish, I guess you can take comfort in the fact that there are bigger fish around, to make more smaller fish every spring...

[walleyemick]

Walleyemick... Nice Fish!! Congrats!! I will be up this weekend for 3 days of fishing. It occurred to me that is about 1/3 of the amount of fishing you did so therefore I am expecting to catch 1/3 the total fish, including one wall mounter!! SWEET!!! I'll put the taxidermist on standby... :D:D:D

Regarding your original concern about a lack of smaller fish, I guess you can take comfort in the fact that there are bigger fish around, to make more smaller fish every spring...

very true, good luck up there. i know theres a few 10 plus i let go still out there plus the 12 or 13 pounder that out smarted me all week

[walleye stalker]

I figured that would stir things up a little bit. Again congrats on those fish walleyemick. That is definitely some fishing to be proud of. Did not mean for the post to sound like I was bashing anyone just figured it would get quite a reaction.