Asian Carp; An Interesting Environmental Science Experiment.

DNA from the invasive Asian Carp has recently been found in nearby Lake Michigan.  Biologists fear that this large invasive fish can cause ecosystem collapse, as these fish are voracious feeders.  So far, DNA from these fish have not been found in Lake Erie or Presque Isle Bay, however, based on past events it may be just a matter of time.

When I was a child, my grandfather used to tell me about the blue pike fishery.  He told me that boats would go out in the early morning and return with literally hundreds of blue pike.  No one ever thought that blue pike could be fished to extinction.  Now the blue pike are gone.  Yellow perch numbers are strong and sportfisherman now catch many more perch due to the cessation of commercial gill-netting which was a great move for all but commercial fisherman.  Walleye numbers are pretty good.  Steelhead numbers are excellent. 

But what happens when this big fat carp gets into our lake?  Well, all I can say is this; I did not know what zebra mussels were before they invaded and I did not know what the heck a round goby was until I actually caught one.  Now, both of these invasive species can be found almost everywhere you look in both the bay and the lake.

Many fish are using both of them as food sources.  I certainly don't want them in the lake but one must admit that the lake is a lot clearer than it was 30 years ago.  Fisherman are also catching Lake Trout off of the piers so it is possible that the zebra mussel has benefitted the Lake Trout. 

For the shore fisherman, the round goby is a royal pain in the neck.  They attack the bait very quickly and usually strip the hook before a nice perch can find it.  I don't know about you but the government should do everything in their power to stop this Asian carp before it gets here unlike they did about the zebra mussel or round goby.  If the Asian carp feed as aggressively as the experts say they do, it is possible they can cause the depletion or total extinction of other native fish species.

So far, agencies have failed in stopping the spread of invasive species into the great lakes.  Let's hope that for this one they can finally do the right thing and use every means possible to prevent this alien fish from entering our waterways.  Should have kept it in Asia.

One group that is watching this issue closely is Save Our Native Species.  Please consider donating to them or another organization that is working for the benefit of the great lakes ecosystem. 

New York State Fishing

This past Saturday while I was up in New York, I ventured out onto Chautaqua Lake near Jamestown NY to see how the ice fisherman were doing.  It was sunny and about 30 degrees and it seemed like everybody was catching a lot of bluegills.  I stopped and talked to a fisherman who had about 30 big bluegills on the ice and one whopper crappie.  While I stood there for a few minutes I saw quite a few fish being pulled out of the holes.  It must have been a great day to be out fishing or Chautaqua Lake is an excellent place to ice fish. 

Next year I am going to buy a New York license and fish Chautaqua for a few days.  A couple words of advice, though.  The ice on Chautaqua does not look like good ice.  It is very thick (14 inches or so) but the top 8-10  inches are snowpack ice.  Snowpack ice melts quickly so I would be very careful venturing out after a warm front comes in.  Good Luck fishing!

My Biggest Bay Perch Ever!

This afternoon was a good day to go out ice fishing. The winds were from the west and it was not too windy on Presque Isle Bay. I was going to fish off of Chestnut Street but the parking lot was full so I decided to try off of the fourth parking lot on Presque Isle. There were about 30 other huts all clustered around 400 yards off of the parking lot. I asked my brother if he wanted to hike out that far and he said "sure" so we parked and started unloading our gear.

A couple fisherman were just coming in around 12:30 pm so we asked them how they did. They showed us their bucket and there looked to be around 30 perch between the sizes of 8 and 10 inches in one of their buckets. We asked them where they were at and they said they were in 16 feet of water about 100 yards before the rest of the pack. After thanking them for the info, we headed out to what we thought was about where they were. The water depth was about 16 feet give or take so I thought we would catch a lot of fish.

I was in the water for only about 5 minutes when I got a big hit. I set the hook and my drag started zipping out. I thought for sure it was a steelhead and after a few minutes I saw a pretty big largemouth bass coming up my hole. My brother grabbed him as the jig popped out of his mouth. This was my largest bass caught through the ice ever and it measured about 18.5 inches.

About 10 minutes later, on the same rod, I hooked into another heavy fish. This fish turned out to be my biggest bay perch ever! It measured 14 and an eighth inches and I later weighed it at my house on a very accurate digital scale. It's weight equaled 1 pound 9 ounces. Now that's a jumbo perch!

All of a sudden the wind shifted direction and it began snowing. The magical fish turned off like they do and my brother and I sat there for a hour without a bite. I did catch 2 more perch; one that I threw back (7.25 inches) and one more that I kept (8.75 inches). I also had a very large bluegill up to the hole but my jig popped out and he dove back into the depths.

My brother unfortunately got skunked for the day. It was very interesting. I caught all of my fish on the same rod out of the same hole. It must have been jig color. The hot jig today was a glowing red with a white eye.

Well, once again I went out at the wrong time. The guys before us caught a lot more fish in the morning, although I was pretty happy with only a few. I am going to go back out Monday or Tuesday morning and try it again. Good Luck!