Lester Jig
03-30-2009, 11:33 AM
Has there been a determination as to what the impact of this illegal netting has done. Reduced daily bag for the sport fisher or better yet No commercial fishing of any kind.
CaptainKenLee
03-30-2009, 01:15 PM
From what I've been told by reliable sources, the illegal netting has been going on for a few years. I certainly disagree with it and hope the individuals involved are punished for their actions.
Will it have much of an impact on the fishery? Probably not. The exploitation rate of Little Bay de Noc walleyes is very low, I believe around 3.6%. The DNR doesn't even start worrying about a body of water until the exploitation rate reaches 25 %. The Michigan DNR keeps very good tabs on the fishery out here, through tagging studies, trawl netting, etc., and I tend to believe their data. Phil Schneeburger works his tail off studying the Bays de Noc and has always been a wealth of knowledge and more than happy to provide me with information whenever I've asked. A few years ago he told me that the angler harvest in Little Bay de Noc has no effect on the overall population of fish in the bay. This is a hard concept to accept for many people, but when you see the rivers black with walleyes in the spring and every gravelly shoreline from the head of the bay to Cedar River full of spawning fish, then you get an idea how many fish there are in this system.
Personally, I had my best year ever last year for numbers of fish per trip. True, it is getting harder to catch fish at times, but that's not because the fish aren't there, it's because of other environmental factors like zebra mussels, quagga mussels, new food sources (gobies), etc. Because of the clear water, it seems that the fish move more now than ever before, relate to weeds more than ever before, and are deeper than ever before. We've caught walleyes in 90 feet of water on the bottom! 10 years ago I would never have imagined even fishing in that deep of water, but now they can be anywhere. I look at it as a challenge, I know the fish are there, it's my job to figure them out. Some days we do, other days the fish leave you scratching your head.
I wish there was no netting at all on the bays, but unfortunately liberal judges have determined that certain individuals have that right. There are laws in place to police the netting activities, spearing, etc., and now we are seeing some of those laws broken and enforcenent action taken. Again, hats off to the DNR for a job well done.