{"id":129,"date":"2010-09-15T07:39:24","date_gmt":"2010-09-15T11:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/?p=129"},"modified":"2010-09-15T07:40:09","modified_gmt":"2010-09-15T11:40:09","slug":"fishing-update-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/?p=129","title":{"rendered":"Fishing Update 2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re at the end of another great season of life on the lake and I would like to take a moment to let you know where I think the fishing situation is on our lake.\u00a0 <\/span>The last update was from last spring and some things have changed, but for the most part the fishery is doing great.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One big change this summer has been the number and size of the Northern Pike.\u00a0 <\/span>Last spring the pike numbers had been fairly low and the sizes were small.\u00a0 <\/span>This year the pike are twice as big and there seem to be a lot more off them.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve personally caught them up to 30 inches.\u00a0 <\/span>I believe that with the mix of species we have in our lake this should not cause a problem except to the anglers who lose baits from being bitten off.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As far as bait fish go the minnows are in full force.\u00a0 <\/span>Lots of baby bluegills, big balls of baby shad, and I\u2019ve also seen pods of baby bullhead.\u00a0 <\/span>These are all great sources of food for the bass, pike, and walleye.\u00a0 <\/span>In 2004 we stocked fathead minnows for forge along with the walleyes but with the amount of baby fish we have now I don\u2019t see the need in having to buy more minnows.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>There may have been some confusion from the last update as far as the Catch and Release suggestion went.\u00a0 <\/span>As a general rule bass are usually considered a Catch and Release species for the reason that they\u2019re not very good to eat but they are fun to catch.\u00a0 <\/span>Returning them is just a way of giving others a chance to enjoy the thrill of catching them.\u00a0 <\/span>For walleye, as long as they are over 15 inches, they\u2019re legal to keep.\u00a0 <\/span>All the walleye we planted in 2004 should be well above this length and ready for the skillet.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another change I\u2019ve witnessed is the catch rate of the walleye is dying down.\u00a0 <\/span>I believe that the walleyes that were planted in 2004 have done extremely well over the years and our lake is suited well to sustain these fish.\u00a0 <\/span>The issue with stocking walleyes is that reproduction in lakes with sandy bottoms and no current is minimal at best.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve been in touch with Stoney Creek Fisheries in Grant and explained our lake and our fishery to them.\u00a0 <\/span>They say that most lakes that they deal with do an every other year stocking to keep the walleye numbers stable.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I would like to start an every other year stocking this fall.\u00a0 <\/span>If we can raise money and get our order in before the end of the month, then we can have a planting around the end of October.\u00a0 <\/span>The fall is the only time that they recommend planting walleye, so if not this year then we\u2019d have to wait until next fall.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The money we use to buy the fish is going to have to be donated as it was the first time we did it in 2004.\u00a0 <\/span>The walleyes are 6-9 inches and cost $2.40 a piece. The number of walleye we plant will obviously depend on the amount of money raised.\u00a0 <\/span>A good range would be anywhere from 150 to 300 fish.\u00a0 <\/span>Any extra money raised could be set aside for further plantings.\u00a0 <\/span>Anyone willing to donate can drop off money to Jason Engstrom or me, Scott VanderVeen by Sunday, Sept 26.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ll be making the order on that Monday to ensure delivery this year.\u00a0 <\/span>Any questions feel free to contact me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scott VanderVeen\u00a0 <\/span>5663\u00a0 <\/span>18th<\/sup> ave\u00a0 <\/span>889-4502<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Jason Engstrom\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>6068 16th<\/sup> ave\u00a0 <\/span>890-8818<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re at the end of another great season of life on the lake and I would like to take a moment to let you know where I think the fishing situation is on our lake.\u00a0 The last update was from last spring and some things have changed, but for the most part the fishery is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main-site","category-public-interest","category-recreation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129\/revisions\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.georgetownshores.org\/private\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}