Helpful ReplyKeeping fish while full of eggs

Author
jat1007
Avid Angler
  • Total Posts : 193
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2013/09/24 09:57:36
  • Status: offline
2016/11/09 08:40:56 (permalink)

Keeping fish while full of eggs

first just let me say i understand that salmon and steelhead are different but....
 
i don't agree with keeping fish that are clearly full of eggs... especially in bodies of water where that specific species is no longer stocked or stocking numbers are LOW .... i witnessed this last year at a local river last year as i sat and watched the future fishery walk up the hill......
 
any thoughts, comments, etc.....
 
 


#1
Big Tuna
Pro Angler
  • Total Posts : 1882
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2001/02/04 16:31:51
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/09 09:00:44 (permalink)
First of all is there really any proof of natural reproduction. Pa.waters are put and take Bass Panfish and musky and pike probably do but I doubt if eyes and steel do. I do a lot of ice fishing and perch and crappie are usually full of eggs all winter,and yes I ice them. Just like everybody in the spring does.
#2
Smallsac
Avid Angler
  • Total Posts : 123
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2014/11/01 14:07:23
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/09 09:05:03 (permalink)
Will usually keep only one or two females, use the eggs for winter and spring.
#3
CAPTAIN HOOK
Pro Angler
  • Total Posts : 2384
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2002/09/28 22:31:08
  • Location: N.W. Pa.
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/09 13:26:33 (permalink)
Big Tuna
First of all is there really any proof of natural reproduction. Pa.waters are put and take Bass Panfish and musky and pike probably do but I doubt if eyes and steel do. I do a lot of ice fishing and perch and crappie are usually full of eggs all winter,and yes I ice them. Just like everybody in the spring does.


I have to agree, if any natural reproduction occurs it's very minimal. (wish it was better)
 Imagine what Pymatuning would fish like with out stocking ! 
4 million Walleye fry and fingerlings stocked every year helps keep the fishing numbers sustained. 
#4
Divemaster
Expert Angler
  • Total Posts : 744
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2015/03/22 10:03:58
  • Location: Pittsburgh, PA
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/09 13:41:29 (permalink)
CAPTAIN HOOK
Big TunaFirst of all is there really any proof of natural reproduction. Pa.waters are put and take Bass Panfish and musky and pike probably do but I doubt if eyes and steel do. I do a lot of ice fishing and perch and crappie are usually full of eggs all winter,and yes I ice them. Just like everybody in the spring does.

I have to agree, if any natural reproduction occurs it's very minimal. (wish it was better) Imagine what Pymatuning would fish like with out stocking ! 4 million Walleye fry and fingerlings stocked every year helps keep the fishing numbers sustained. 


I know of a few patches on Erie Tribs that were full of wild smolt earlier this fall, but for the sake of protecting the small amount of water suitable for spawning in PA Tribs, I won't say where here. Still not enough to support a thriving fishery, but more than the general angling public thinks.
#5
jat1007
Avid Angler
  • Total Posts : 193
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2013/09/24 09:57:36
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/09 14:29:28 (permalink)
wasn't talking about salmon and steel... seems like we've talked about that a million times on here.... but i do think some natural reproduction occurs... there's gotta be one fish somewhere that survived.... obviously no large numbers tho... dive master that's interesting wonder if they were stocked trout that didnt get caught or didnt die or smolts that for whatever reason didnt go to the lake...


#6
Divemaster
Expert Angler
  • Total Posts : 744
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2015/03/22 10:03:58
  • Location: Pittsburgh, PA
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/09 14:31:59 (permalink)
jat1007
wasn't talking about salmon and steel... seems like we've talked about that a million times on here.... but i do think some natural reproduction occurs... there's gotta be one fish somewhere that survived.... obviously no large numbers tho... dive master that's interesting wonder if they were stocked trout that didnt get caught or didnt die or smolts that for whatever reason didnt go to the lake...


This is the most specific I'm going to get, but...hint is gone, don't want too many interwebz people seeing it :).
post edited by Divemaster - 2016/11/11 12:14:06
#7
fisherofmen376
Pro Angler
  • Total Posts : 2215
  • Reward points: 0
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/11 11:36:13 (permalink)
diarrhea of the keyboard mouth

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
Matthew 4:19
#8
jat1007
Avid Angler
  • Total Posts : 193
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2013/09/24 09:57:36
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/11 11:41:13 (permalink)
fisherofmen376
diarrhea of the keyboard mouth


 
elaborate...


#9
rmcmillen09
Expert Angler
  • Total Posts : 827
  • Reward points: 0
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/11 18:45:30 (permalink)
seems like the keyboard runs like a ducks ****
#10
FiveMilePete
Pro Angler
  • Total Posts : 1131
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2004/10/13 21:36:32
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/12 15:01:19 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby genieman77 2016/11/12 16:42:21
Divemaster
jat1007
wasn't talking about salmon and steel... seems like we've talked about that a million times on here.... but i do think some natural reproduction occurs... there's gotta be one fish somewhere that survived.... obviously no large numbers tho... dive master that's interesting wonder if they were stocked trout that didnt get caught or didnt die or smolts that for whatever reason didnt go to the lake...

 


This is the most specific I'm going to get, but...hint is gone, don't want too many interwebz people seeing it :).

I've seen smolts way too small to be stocked smolts, and much too small to be stockies. and at wrong time of year to be either also.  Not recently though.
 
#11
chartist
Expert Angler
  • Total Posts : 925
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2008/10/18 13:01:54
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/12 15:16:19 (permalink)
You're asking the wrong crowd...In Erie, they only want the eggs as bait for their next fishing trip...They don't care about reproduction or else they would catch and release....This a fishery where they believe in rope em and smoke em.
#12
genieman77
Pro Angler
  • Total Posts : 2534
  • Reward points: 0
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/12 16:58:16 (permalink)
Natural repro absolutely  happens.
some places more than others
 
enough to sustain a fishery??
'course not
 
but anyone with half a brain could figure out where the best possible chances would be.
Thing is,  neither Ohio or Pa clips fins, so you'll never know if a stocked stray or natural born .
 
..L.T.A.
 
#13
CAPTAIN HOOK
Pro Angler
  • Total Posts : 2384
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2002/09/28 22:31:08
  • Location: N.W. Pa.
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/12 17:09:14 (permalink)
Same with return fish.....nobody knows anything. Nothing !
 
Percent of return ? 
#14
jat1007
Avid Angler
  • Total Posts : 193
  • Reward points: 0
  • Joined: 2013/09/24 09:57:36
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/14 08:14:53 (permalink)
"first just let me say i understand that salmon and steelhead are different but...."


#15
genieman77
Pro Angler
  • Total Posts : 2534
  • Reward points: 0
  • Status: offline
Re: Keeping fish while full of eggs 2016/11/14 09:15:31 (permalink)
CAPTAIN HOOK
 
Percent of return ? 




For natural repro.....some  of the rivers in Ohio like the Grand, I wouldn't be surprised if 20% was natura.
Due to it's size and depth in many  places, there's not opportunity for hoards to tramp every redd like Pa
 
There's another river that doesn't get stocked,  so it's by passed by 97.48% of steeleaders due to very low numbers of fish. 
Wouldn't be surprised if 30% or more of the few fish there weren't born there
 
With all the posted areas in Pa, there may even be more natural going on than the 2% suspected 
 
But again, it don't madder...cause you'll never know If natch or not
 
 
LTA
#16
Jump to: