2004 worst walleye & perch year - why?

[JoeC]

As everone knows, last spring/summer was one of the worst walleye seasons im memory. Summer and fall perch fishing was also extremely poor. The perch ice fishing season was awful. Is this a just a result of the normal cycle of up and down fish populations or something else?

The reason I ask is that if you recall, early last spring, I notices hundreds and hundreds of dead bass floating throughout Lake St. Clair. I've lived near and fished LSC my whole life and cannot remember such a die off. Although I did not see any perch or walleye floating on the surface along with all the bass, I wonder if the perch and walleye population experience a similar die off at the same time. Maybe thay just don't float whene they die, I don't know??

Could some catastrophic event have occured last spring? Maybe I'm nuts here but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts? On the Contrary, Musky fishing was excellent.

joec

[PencilPlugger]

Are you just talking about LSC? We did pretty good on the walleye in the SCR last spring!

[Canuck136]

We did really well on walleye early in the spring (Geno's and 400 Club). As the fish moved deeper it was a little harder to find limits, however, we still had a good year.

Perch fishing was absolutely horrible this winter that I will concur.

[JoeC]

I' m talking about LSC/Detroit River. I'm not saying I didn,t catch walleye particularly in the spring per usual, but the catches were down significantly. I don't think this is a secret. There were articles in the Detroit News about this... stating that 2004 the worst walleye season in 50 years. I am an experienced walleye fisaherman and I catch a lot of walleye, but my catches were about 1/2 the norm. And the perch fishing was non-existant.

joec

[bolodunn]

yeah i don't know. we fish lake erie & it was the best spring walleye ever! i mean ever! july & august sucked though. & i don't even want to talk about the perch ice season. it really sucked!

[andy capp]

I agree last year was my best ever on erie and the detroit.

[Ed Michrina]

The Canadian side of the lake was real slow on eyes and perch all summer. Spring was great on the det river. the lake was good for eyes in the spring but slowed in the summer. the perch was steady to good in the fall.

All the same fish are in the lake . I just hope they are a little more hungry this year or that the lake has a chance to warm enough to push the bait fish to the old deep water spots. Time will tell.

[Dick Graves]

JoeC, you may have nailed it, musky fishing was awesome ;) Maybe they are eating to many perch and walleyes :sad:

I do remember fishing off of the Basset Channel last summer and seeing a very large number of dead bass floating in that area. Have no clue what killed them. :confused:

Walleye fishing seemed pretty good up to late June, then they became scarce, perch fishing was terrible. Cross your fingers for a better fishing year for 2005, my senses tell me the price of gas will be near $2.75 per gallon on the water, not a good thing :yikes: Any way it is getting closer to time to fill the freezer.

Think Spring :dizzy:

[JoeC]

Dick,

I have certainly considered the Musky expolosion as an explanation (re: perch/walleye). It certainly could explain it?? I live in the Grosse Pointes. The amount of dead bass I observed in this area last spring was staggering and occured all of a sudden. Again, I had never seen anything like it. It would not be unreasonble to conclude that other species died off in significant numbers as well.

As far as some of you saying you did "well" or "great" in the spring...It's all a bit relative, but I'm sure you did. If you know what you're doing, it's hard not to do well in the spring. But I have traditionally continued to catch a lot of walleye throughout the summer, even in th Detroit river when most are out in the lake. After about the mid of June, it was tough, significantly tougher than normal. The lake wasn't much better. I know, and talked to many a old timer river rat who experienced the same thing. I think there is little question that catches were down significantly overall, not necessarily fir everybody. The Detroit News article confirmed this. We all know what happened during the ice fishin season...awful!

Oh, the hell with it....there's always next year...I mean this year!

I sure would like to know what killed all those bass though??

joec

[stinger63]

Are you just talking about LSC? We did pretty good on the walleye in the SCR last spring

Pencil plugger you correct about the spring and the walleye bite was awesome during that time,but after late June and all the way into late fall there were few walleyes caught on SCR.Many anglers up here struggled to catch them and the few we did catch were quite small.I just hope its better this year and that some illness hasnt affected the population.

[William H Bonney]

Ask the Detroit News to quote their sources :rolleyes: . What I'm saying is,, the local newspaper isn't the best source of "any" kind of infomation, especially about the walleye season on lake Erie. Nobody out in the lake seemed to have any problem catching fish in the spring or summer. :rolleyes:

[bripow]

The spring seemed to start off on a pretty solid note in 04, lots of good walleye catches out by Metro / Gino's / 400, but once that big storm hit and all the runoff from the spillway dumped out, it seems that drove the fish out and they never really came back. After a few bad days on the lake after the storms hit we headed out to the dumping grounds and had a pretty decent 2 1/2 month stretch out there until the end of August.
Can't believe April is right around the corner !

[Slimshady]

I fish the river, and have for many years. I know for me, 2004 sucked for numbers, but I caught more fish over 8#s than ever.

I also have two friends that guide on the river and keep detailed records of the fish that they catch year over year. Although 2004 was great for large fish, it sucked in terms of numbers. Both of my friends that guide reported catches that were down 30-40% of previous years. According to several articles that quoted the DNR and Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, this is due to several bad spawning years over the last 5 or 6 seasons. The 2002 and 2004 spawning seasons were supposedly great, so better times should be on the way. The 1996 and 1999 spawning seasons were very strong, which could be why there were a lot of big fish caught. That is what I know about it.

[F-Walleye]

Had a lousy year as a whole for walleye, then switched to musky and had a blast. I will take it either way. Just a diffrence between freezer fish, and catching some awesome monsters that you can let go to to see another day.

[muskiebobxr]

Walleye spring fishing was great the rest of the year sucked. I am so tired of reading post that the Muskie are the reason for poor Walleye and Perch fishing. Please know what you are writing before you post it. The Muskie of Lake St Clair main diet is SHEAP HEAD got that SHEAP HEAD. Then they turn to the Shad, Suckers and other fish of the same ilk. The only time they actively pursue Walleye, Perch ans Bass is when it is on your line. God I wish some people would learn what they are talking about.

I feel that all the fronts we had all summer long is the main cause of the bad fishing for the Walleye. There were so many fronts I lost count. Most of the fishing last year was up and down.

[GOTCHA]

Bob, some how I knew you would be re-sponding to this thread , I got a good giggle out of your post ;) Walleye's were there you just had to fish for them...............

[Czarthree]

I have to agree with Bob about the weather. It sucked last summer. It started with the floods and the water seemed dirtier longer than usual. I know I put in 1/2 my normal fishing time because of windy conditions. As far as fishing for `eyes go, when I wanted walleyes I went to Erie and smacked em. Had a spot off of Fermi that was fantastic everytrip out. Water levels are on the upswing and the baitfish/preyfish will act accordingly. espeicially on StClair. Hope everyone has a great season this year. :grouphug:

[Plug Tug]

Joe C, Muskiebobxe is right about the muskie eating only Sheap Head,suckers, carp and all those other undesirable fish. It makes him feel good about the muskie cleaning up all those trash fish.
Remember last time you were down to Lakeside Fishing Shop and saw all those muskie lures hanging on the wall. Didn't they look like Sheap Head to you???. Wern't they all painted a nice silver color and shaped like a Rattle Trap or bluegill??. What was that hanging next to them though?? Oh!! long and round easy to swallow,kinda shaped like a Perch. And what color were they painted?? Perch I think.
If it makes him feel better that the main food for those Commorants with scales is Sheap Head and not Perch or small Walleye then why do we have so many Sheap Head and such instead of Perch and Walleye last year??.I know Gone Fishing did't get all the Perch.
Not trying to start anything just my observation.

[BigDaddy]

Hmmm........I'm left wondering how bob feels.. ;) nothing like ripping onto people. :rant: :grouphug:

[Plug Tug]

BigDaddy: The last thing I would ever do is try to start a problem with the guys on this net.. It was just my opinion on the main food for muskie. If I wanted to go off on him I would use a P.M. and spare the members our useless garble. Anyway thank you for your reply. I'm getting ready to head up to Caseville after work . I got a call and Perch type things are happening at Bay Port.
I know every year as soon as the ice goes out I start casting for walleye at night in Anchor Bay and catch at least 4-5 muskie in that 4-6 week time peirod. They are sitting just out side the schools of walleye and I wonder what they are munching on. Man do they stink, you have to wash your boat out every time you are unfortunate to catch one. Try bringing one in by hand. When I'm handlining the rest of the year in the river by Stag Island. Thats a pain also . See ya BigDaddy have a good weekend.

[muskiebobxr]

Well I see it doesn't make any sense to try to explain things to people that don't have an open mind. Just check all the records and you will see I'm right because I research what is going on. I don't just post for the fun of it. Sheap Head is still the main target of Muskie no matter what anyone says according to the reports I have read over the years. I"m done. Thats my last two cents on this subject. Good fishing All. Bye Bob

[Dick Graves]

Wow, add a little humor to this post and you get a lesson on what Muskie eat or do not eat :confused: Personally I have never opened up a muskie, all are caught and released, my guess is when they are on the feed and you get to close, you are history. :bash: meaning you as any species that swims in LSC. :dizzy:

Weather, poor spawing season, predators, who knows what causes a slow season. But here is another thought "Gill Nets".

With that said, it has been a long cold winter, I am ready for some sunshine, warm weather, a few cold ones and some better fishing.

Relax guys, life is to short, if you are able to read this you received another gift this morning when you awoke, the alternative is not pretty. :tdo12:

[muskiebobxr]

One more thing. I really don't like to come off as a SA because I'm not. We ate Muskie for years when I was younger and 95 percent of their belly content was either Sheap Head or Shad. They was also at times every other type of fish swimming as they are an eating machine. I did not say they don't eay eat Walleye and Perch I just said those are not their main meals. Bass eat a lot more Perch then Muskie do and so do Walleye. If I stepped on anyones toes I'm sorry. This will be my 77th year on this body of water and I have loved every minute of it. Peace. Bob

[BigDaddy]

bob.....sorry. I didn't mean to start anything with my comment. Let's all just hope for some good weather and get out on some soft water very soon!! :grouphug:

[tubejig]

I guess I would have to say that it was a down year for me. I got married at the beginning of july which ruined a ton of opportunities to fish and I had a sinking boat all spring due to bad rivets. Thank goodness the rivets are fixed and somehow I am still married. :bash: As far as numbers go, it was a down year but I did meet a great new friend from this site that showed me how to really whip up the eyes in the SCR. If it wasnt for that I would still be pullin wire all by myself and now I have my wife to fish with me since she likes the whippin thing. 2004 was a wash as far as Im concerned so bring on 2005. Before I forget, the skis dont bother the walleyes. Hopefully the dink perch perch we have caught all winter will bring buckets of eyes. Sorry, I mean coolers full of eyes. :D

[Slick fishing]

Last year was my worst year ever and I hope the last. sO WHO IS READY FOR SOME WARM WEATHER? Cya Slick

[gilly]

You definately had to cover water to find 'em last year. They were in some new holes and not some of the old faithfuls. I am talking from a drifting point of view on the upper SCR which means early am and before dark hours. It is hard to compare to whipping as that takes place at the best time to fish for eyes- after dark. I had a little different scenario as we caught more undersized eyes than ever before- good sign for the future. I don't think it can get worse as some of the high spawn year classes should come to legal limit this year. Also, no Canadian slot limit this year will be a bonus for us. Unfortunately, it does look like the season will be behind though- unless the weather turns quickly and stays that way to get the water temps going. Good luck guys with the eyes this year.......

[mintgreenwalleyemachine]

:fish: Last year was a great year for me. I still have about 70lbs. of eyes in the freezer (i eat eyes every week). It started out slow and took off in may. I fished the SCR every weekend (nite) and pulled two man limits every time. Find the fish and stay on them and life will be a lot more enjoyable. I stayed in the river when most were bunched up at the bridge. I never had too much company but a guy fishing the canadian side with a down rigger. But be careful near the canadian shoreline cause last year i had these kids drinkin and fishin off shore and would throw rocks at me and my boat. This happened 5 times in 2004. and i was pssssssssssssssssssd. Thats My .02$ Good Luck in 2005!:fish: