Incredible day at Pymie - Saturday, May 14th

fish in a barrel! haha that sounds like a blast i heard one of the guys that was musky fishing had a 30 incher on im sure he wasnt happy but i wouldnt have minded :)

The spawn is over.  They were feeding which makes it even more fun because they hit the lures with a lot harder.  Overcast, choppy water, southern winds always seems to get the walleyes moving around.

The one thing that surprised me was the bass.  We didn't catch many and only small ones.  Thought for sure they would hit more.

With the amount of boats out there, I'm sure the warden was watching close.  I wondered how many guys they would nail.  We saw a few boats keeping what looked like smaller ones from a distance.

people can measure they just want to keep fish to eat and they r greedy.

ORIGINAL: thunderpole

glad they are getting busted thats just stupid throw them back let em grow they are are twenty inchers for next year if you want fish sticks that bad buy them at the store it cheaper

 
for sure....I'd love to see the minimum size increased to 17".

By no means am I a catch and release guy.  If I catch it and it's legal it generally goes in the basket.  I'm not looking to catch a trophy but I do think it would be possible for fish to reach that size in good numbers.  I'm not sure what data you've found to support you evidence that they wouldn't grow to that size.  Certainly if you've found some please share.

How long have you been fishing Pymatuning Lake? If you have been fishing it for any amount of time, for walleye that is, you would know that catching walleyes that were 14.5" was always very common. Why is that do you think? I don't need data from a biologist to figure that one out and neither do you. Due to the heavy pressure for eyes on Pymy, and due to most people fishing it keeping their legal limits is why maybe 1 out of every 15 walleyes caught was always legal. And it will be like that once again. I remember days catching 50 or more fish only to catch a few "keepers". If you increase the size limit to 17", you will merely be increasing the size of what can be kept and eventually the majority of the fish you catch will be 16 to 16.5". In recent years, the bigger fish were more common, however numbers of fish caught down...Less fish, less pressure and fish get a chance to grow with less competition for food to boot...Now do you get it?

IMO, there are only a few things that can be done to increase the chances that fish can grow bigger....1 - NO PRESSURE - to make it C&R ONLY for a few years with continued stocking - WHICH WILL NEVER HAPPEN and 2. LESS TAKE - Cut the creel limits in half along with continued stocking. #1 Partly being the reason why you're seeing more bigger eyes being caught in recent years....Way less pressure due to the walleye fishing being off for a few years due to various reasons (fish kill & Fry not taking well). Increasing the size limit, IMO, is not the answer.

I believe Pymy will be what it used to be in regards to walleye fishing. The numbers are coming back up, the Fry brood are taking well and when you can drift in among 20 other boats like the good 'ol days, you'll be slammin' those 14 and 14.5 inchers left and right with a few 15s thrown in the mix and even a rare 18 to 25". Its inevitable, its called a Put-N-Take fishery!

Shut...let me get this straight.  You're saying the lake can't sustain the population if they were to be required to be at least 17" to keep, but you're suggesting it be catch and release only for a few years.  Call me crazy but putting everything back in seems like it wouldn't even be possible...according to your own description as to why increasing the minimum size wouldn't work.
 
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I'm glad you mention that what is above is in fact your opinion.  Yes I understand the concept of put and take and just how low the natural reproduction is in that lake, but that doesn't mean that it can't sustain bigger fish.

I like the fact that we caught walleye all day long for a few keepers. For me it is better than catching 1 or 2 keepers only in a day which I have seen there before. Catching fish is a lot more fun than than not, even if just under size limit.

The reason why they are 15" is to keep the population down.  If you increase it to 17", the feed in that lake will decrease and the growth of these things will be slow. 

Can you imagine how many walleye would be in that lake if we had to wait another two years for these fish to see 17"?  You'll have another 2 classes in that lake with a very slow growth rate.  There could be a chance that some of those fish never see 17"!

Those fish are stocked with the intent of getting pulled out of that lake so the next class can grow into their legal limit.  As long as the stocking continues, there will always be walleye to catch.

I think it's fun catching 20-40 walleyes and only seeing 3-5 keepers.  If you want trophies, drive another 45 minutes to Erie.

We had a blast as well. Caught 24 in two and a half hours and probably missed at least a half dozen at the boat on Friday night trolling rapalas. I felt like I was back in the boundary waters. All were 14.5-15.5, but all went back. I'd rather eat the crappies and hope to catch those 15.25 inchers next year when the have a little more meat on their bones. My hope is that with the larger population of alewifes in that lake than the "good old days of pymatuning" the next couple years at least the classes of fish continue to grow quickly till the predator to prey ratio gets back in check. We got stopped four times on Saturday by fish wardens, which I'm fine with. I'd rather see them all day long knowing it reduces some peoples urge to keep the sublegal ones, then not see them ever.

Saturday the 14th must have been a great day fishing at Pymy for any species. Check out the KBBC bass tourney results for that day on their website. What a slugfest........

Being a new fishermen to Pymie, where do they go in the summer? Seems like they disappear when the water temp gets hot.

I honestly don't think the feed situation will be a problem in pymy.  The alewife population is unreal.  I don't ever remember going out and seeing the bait-balls like are out there now.  You go out there on a decent sunny day and there are 1000's of alewives in groups all over the place.  One day last summer I had 20 different schools around me with easily 10,000+ fish in it (and that was all I could see right around me).  The other thing is the perch population.  When you catch 75 perch while drifting and the largest is 10", that just means food for the walleye.  The lake could easily sustain a large population of big walleye.

I agree it is nice to go out there and catch 30+ walleye again, but this lake can easily produce trophy sized fish.  When every fish that hits 15" is kept, then of coarse trophy fish will be few and far between.  I know this lake is a put and take fishery, however, with the alewife and perch populations, the walleye are growing quicker then before. 

As an added note, I would also like to see them reduce the limit to 3 or 4.

ORIGINAL: jholl68
holy crap. no ones happy.....

I'm happy.

ORIGINAL: Pork

ORIGINAL: jholl68
holy crap. no ones happy.....

I'm happy.

 
I am very happy!  Can't wait to go to camp this weekend and catch slabs and eyes!