Quinte Fishing

Something I felt I wanted to share




Noticing ALOT of photo's from this weekends Opening Day here locally on the St Lawrence ( Cardinal area ) of guys keeping big female fish. The water is only 39-40 degree's , we are PRE-SPAWN, the females are feeding and being caught, and kept - NOT GOOD
The fish will spawn between 44-48 degree's here locally on the river as they do each year

Personally I feel the Ministry should have done something, but they didn't and our fishery here on the St Lawrence is surely going to pay for this in the coming years

Hope more local guys realize that keeping big females only harms our fishery here....it's come a long way and we should be thankful for it
This is a very rare year where the fish haven't spawn because of our brutal winter. ...BE RESPONSIBLE
The small males will there for the taking in another week or so

And they're better eating by far

Just my 2cents


Here's some STATS I wanted to share:

As few as 10 percent of a female Walleye's eggs will hatch and 50 to 75 percent of the hatched fry will not survive. Studies in the wild indicate that fewer than 10 percent of the hatched Walleye fry will live to be 3 years old.



an average adult female walleye lays approx 400,000 eggs
( ministry stats approx 300,000 for 5lb female, up to 500,000 for a 10lb fish )
with the percentages ABOVE the final survival rate of one 7lb fish can be 750 future fish or more

keep that in mind the next time you think about keeping a big fish full of eggs


Everyone wants to catch a trophy, Myself included, and this year is one of the best years for that to happen, but get a nice picture , take your measurements and release


Cheers
Spenc

PS: Pre-Spawn female fish shown, weighed and released last night

I was there, witnessed it...we threw back 8 fish from 7-9 lbs. In about 3-4 yrs you'll notice a little slower fishing in that area I predict.