Why I hate Fishing in Ohio
- Thread starter Jackalope
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The growing seasons being longer makes sense to me regarding southern water. What doesn't make sense to me is how much better northern waters are than what we have here. Their growing seasons are much shorter than our's, yet the fish I catch up there on average are much, much larger than anything I'd catch here. Water quality is by appearance, way better too. The waters I fish around here look like coffee. What I enjoy most about fishing elsewhere is being able to see fish in 10-12 FOW.
This "great" lake turns neon green and toxic. ODNR says it doesn't effect the fish though...
And what year did it catch on fire?
OK....gotcha
Here is an article that took me less than 1 minute to find.
Lake Erie "contains more native fish than all the other lakes combined," Kaptur said. "We must protect this valuable ecological treasure, and the local multi-billion dollar economy it supports."
Kaptur’s boast about Lake Erie containing "more native fish than all the other lakes combined" sounded like it might be a fish story, so PolitiFact Ohio decided to check it out.
We consulted Ohio Sea Grant College Program Director Jeffrey M. Reutter, an expert on Lake Erie. He said Kaptur’s statement is largely correct, although there are caveats. He said that Lake Erie always produces more fish than any of the other Great Lakes, and invariably outstrips Lakes Ontario, Huron and Superior combined. Occasionally Lake Michigan produces enough fish so that its total, when added to the other three, exceeds the total produced by Lake Erie. He also said that some of the fish that populate the lakes - such as common carp, as well as salmon and trout that have been stocked in Lakes Michigan and Huron, are not native species.
"The point I am a little unsure of is the native vs. non-native portion," he said. "That is a hard one to state accurately because, for example, the common carp, which is very abundant just about everywhere, is not technically a native species and the large salmonid fishery on Lake Michigan is not native."
He said that Lake Superior contains 40 to 50 percent of the water in the Great Lakes, but just 2 percent of the fish. Lake Erie contains just 2 percent of the water, and 50 percent of the fish. He said Lake Erie produces more fish than the other lakes because it is the farthest south, the shallowest, and therefore the warmest lake. Lake Erie also is surrounded by farms and urban residential areas that stream nutrients into its waters. The nutrients feed algae and zooplankton, which feed Lake Erie’s fish. Lake Superior is deeper, colder, and is largely surrounded by forests, so it gets fewer nutrients produced by human intervention and produces fewer fish.
"Personally, I would say that she is arguably correct in her statement and let it go," said Reutter. "Congresswoman Kaptur has heard me speak on Lake Erie many times and I am sure she is attempting to accurately repeat something she has heard from me. I would say it’s close enough to be OK."
Ohio Department of Natural Resources fisheries biology supervisor Jeff Tyson confirmed Reutter’s observations, noting that the sport and commercial walleye and yellow perch fisheries in Lake Erie far exceed the harvestable fish in the other lakes. White bass, white perch, rainbow smelt, freshwater drum and channel catfish are also found in Lake Erie.
Tyson noted that isolated specimens of the Asian carp that Kaptur fears could devastate the Great Lakes have already been found in Lake Erie, most recently in 2003. He said those fish were probably put into its waters as part of a tradition among Asians, in which two live fish are purchased, and one is eaten and the other is released for good luck.
"We think these were isolated incidents and have no evidence of an established population," said Tyson.
Tyson said that Asian carp eat huge amounts of the same plankton consumed by larval walleye, so their introduction would hurt the walleye’s ability to compete.
A Michigan Sea Grant Extension study of Great Lakes Commercial Fisheries bears out Kaptur’s contention that Lake Erie produces more fish than the other lakes combined, although it did not break out native vs. non-native species. In the year it examined - 2000 - it found that the Great Lakes produced 46.7 million pounds of fish. Of that total, 26.1 million pounds came from Lake Erie, about 56 percent of the total. Lake Erie’s haul included roughly 7 million pounds each of walleye and smelt, 4.4 million pounds of yellow perch, 3.4 million pounds of white bass, and more than a million pounds each of carp and lake whitefish.
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission also keeps data on the amount of fish produced in each of the Great Lakes. In 2005, the most recent year for which complete data is posted on its website, Lake Erie’s fish production exceeded that of the combined other lakes by a 3-to-2 margin.
There’s no doubt that Kaptur is correct in her overall point that Lake Erie has by far the most productive fishery on the Great Lakes. Her contention that Lake Erie contains more native fish than the other lakes combined is slightly problematic. It’s true that the fishing haul in Lake Erie usually exceeds the combined total of the other lakes. But some fish that are commercial staples in the Great Lakes are not considered "native" because they were introduced from other areas, although their presence isn’t as unwelcome and devastating as invaders like zebra mussels have been, and Asian carp would be.
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Ohio's fish size problem is overfishing. Mississippi in 2014 had a population of 2.99 million people. Ohio's was like 11.57 million. So almost 4 times the people. And with the gulf coast their options for fishing are greater than here. Less pressure = bigger fish. If it was "growing season" I shouldn't be able to go 10 hours north of here and catch bigger bass than down here...
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Economic Hostage. I screwed up and bought a house here at the peak of the market in mid 2005, right before the housing market collapsed in 08. The house is going back on the market in a couple of weeks.
I don't hate Ohio per say. But the negatives far outweigh the good. The primary thing we all care about is outdoor related activities. The deer hunting is still fairly good when compared to other states but nothing that it was 5-7 years ago. It's flipping over now however; other states who saw our rise in hunting popularity made changes to benefit their state while Ohio made changes to decimate theirs. The "top whitetail states" of 7-8 years ago are quickly being replaced by states like Kentucky and indiana. the inland fishing has always sucked due to stream and river pollution from farming and factories, the reservoirs are tiny compared to the surrounding populations so they're way over fished and lack cover, the lack of available public land that isn't overrun is slim to none.
Economic wise. We have the 44th highest taxes in the nation, we're ranked 23rd Nationally in education earning our education system a grade of C- , cities are run down and poverty stricken because the factory jobs left 20 years ago, even your sleepy Mayberry towns are nothing but heroin houses anymore. You can't find a decent daycare because they all take government childcare assistance but also charge the working class 300 a week to keep their kid. Meaning you have to pay for an expensive daycare to send your kid there with trash. Expensive private schools accept a certain percentage of trash kids for free yet wantt to charge you an exuberant tuition. You can't even move to a small country town with a country school because they all allow open enrollment and bus in trash from the closest city to prop up the failing inner cities school scores. The populations of trash continue to grow while townships, counties, cities and villages put more and more of the tax burden on the working class to support them and the city. People are rude, they don't say thank you, hold open doors, say excuse me, and generally have zero manners and lack common courtesy to others. And if i see one more neck tattoo i'm gonna lose my shit.
Positives................. We have some nice deer and if you want to drive 4+ hours you can catch a nice walleye... Hold the phone it's a sportsmans paradise! Oh wait.. That motto is taken. It's Louisiana.
Was just saying. I haven't been on the site in a while and one of the first posts I saw was you bashing on Ohio again. Was wondering what the story was. I have no kids, and a good paying job based in Ohio that gives me two weeks of paid fishing trips to Canada on a private island. And "hopefully" took a OBBC 8 point last year.So Ohio has treated me well.And I'm getting too old to be so negative all the time. I would go off on people if I was...
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Oh come on bud I don't do it that often. I only ranted once about the DNR this year.. lol.. But we should call a spade a spade also. Sometimes the truth hurts man but that doesn't make it any less the truth. Maybe we need to look outside our little bubble and see what other places have to start to making changes here.. If we just accept it for what it is, and never know any better, we get complacent and complacency is the enemy to progress.
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If you love Canada you owe it to yourself to head to a deep south state and fish. It's hot, and the skeeters are crazy, but you'll shit your pants at the variety and size of fish. The State Championship Crappie tournament was held recently on Grenada lake Ms, it was won with a 14 crappie bag weighing 35 pounds.
This is the best 4 from a 7 fish 15.6 pound bag. They look like smallies.
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Ha. That's another thing.. Here we call it the Mad "river", back home that would be a creek. I'll never forget the firs time I hunted southern Ohio and this old timer gave me some directions, he said to drop over a couple hollows and follow the creek up.. I never found a creek and eventually figured out he was talking about a wash.
I guess if ya like spider rigging crappies Ohio may not be the place to be. But there realy isn't any denying what erie has to offer. Great panfishing which is overlooked, world class walleye and smallmouth...The harbors also offer superb largemouth fishing with most green bass tournys taking 20 plus lb bags to win. And its within a couple hours of half the state.
Mosquito and pymatuming lake in eastern ohio also have pretty good fishing.
The lakes in Ohio that stink are the lakes which they use for flood control and drop the water levels in winter.
Mosquito and pymatuming lake in eastern ohio also have pretty good fishing.
The lakes in Ohio that stink are the lakes which they use for flood control and drop the water levels in winter.
I'm shocked the amount of trash on the banks hasn't come up yet. That's one of things that has really pushed me away from fishing so much. It got to the point that I would start packing a full size trash bag with me to pick up other "anglers" trash.
I will also add that I grew up fishing Lake Erie and its tributaries. Fish can always be caught, just isn't always the fish mentioned. As someone else said, you can go catch fish until your out of bait...but you still go home with no meat.
I will also add that I grew up fishing Lake Erie and its tributaries. Fish can always be caught, just isn't always the fish mentioned. As someone else said, you can go catch fish until your out of bait...but you still go home with no meat.
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By definition, a river is a waterway exceeding 100 miles. Makes no difference the depth or width.
Don't get a deer every time I go out and sometimes don't catch fish every time when I go either but the reason I go is because I love it and it's not a deer hanging or a cooler of fish it's just being out in nature and having a good time. Have had some of the best times of my life fishing this great state!!!
Very good point. I may have been a little strong with my words. Thanks for bringing me back to reality a bit.