STEELHEAD OR WALLEYE?

What does the River look like at Jamestown Dam or at Shenango Dam?  Not sure I want to fight the crowds this Saturday at Elk Creek.  I was looking for some Walleye fishing. 

Looking at the gauges the river up in Jamestown is ok, but high from Shenango Lake downstream.  I would go for steel since you can catch eyes year round, and if you walk just a little you won't have to fish shoulder to shoulder.  And although they might not tast better, they fight a lot better! Whatever you choose they're both good.  

  You can catch walleyes at Pyme year round, but that's in the lake proper ONLY. It does not include the outflow, the lowhead dam etc... . Many people [ for some reason ] are under the impression one can harvest 'eyes at the outflow with the same regs as the lake, but that is definitely not accurate. The season, size limit and daily limit for 'eyes at the outflow are the same for PA inland waters. Considering the time of the year and expected forecast for this weekend, personally I would opt for the'eyes, but that's just my opinion. If your time permits, perhaps you could do one day at Erie and the other day at Pyme. Whatever you choose, you should have an exceptionally fun time. It will be a great weekend to be on the water.

fish5000

  You can catch walleyes at Pyme year round, but that's in the lake proper ONLY. It does not include the outflow, the lowhead dam etc... .

So you can't CATCH walleyes year round in the river?lol  I never said anything about keeping them, just catcing them.  The law doesn't say you have to keep the fish you catch.

TheBlueLagoon

I will only fish for Steel Mid week...and later in the fall....I see no fun in fishing shoulder to shoulder....I Vote Walleye...and they taste a lot better!

 
I'm with you on that!  Wednesday is the new Saturday on Elk!  Doesn't mater WHAT day you go on this time of year anymore!!

fish5000

troutguy

fish5000

You can catch walleyes at Pyme year round, but that's in the lake proper ONLY. It does not include the outflow, the lowhead dam etc... .

So you can't CATCH walleyes year round in the river?lol  I never said anything about keeping them, just catcing them.  The law doesn't say you have to keep the fish you catch.

Sure you can catch them and not keep them, but the law is that you can't actively fish for a species that is out of season which is what you might be doing depending on what time of the year it is. It wouldn't matter that you aren't keeping them except that if you did, the fine would be worse. Right now you're safe to catch them there. And yes, if you were out of season you could always say to a WCO that you weren't fishing for walleye, but that isn't an automatic reason for innocense [ whether true or not] and your trangressions may not be favorable. In short, you still might end up with an unwelcomed citation. Why put yourself into a potentially difficult situation that is avoidable? You may have to attempt to sway the opinion of someone who has power over you and that usually doesn't go very well.

I am not trying to be smart here, it is a real question. You say it is unlawful to target species of fish out of season, why it is ok for the millions of bass fisherman to target bass out of season? I watch them pull fish after fish off of nests in the spring. Never heard of any one getting wrote up for that, even though they are out of season.
 
It wasnt a few years ago they were out of season on lake erie and it was and still is the thing to do is get small mouth in the spring up there. There wasnt any citiations that i know of.
 

I've always understood it as follows:  Unless specifically noted (examples are Catch and Release Bass on Susqy/Juniata or the Approved Trout Waters, the 'fail to immediately return unharmed' language applies. 
 
Technically, that means one could target Bass, Walleye, or Musky 'on beds', as long as they return them unharmed, since the same blanket prohibition doesn't exist. 
 
As a sporstman who appreciates the resource and wants to see it thrive, I've never considered targeting species out of season.  Originally from Tionesta area, and fished the Outlet of the Dam to River extensively.  Would often catch Musky or Bass when out of season while targeting Crappie or Perch.  Just released unharmed.  As recently as last May, while fishing Tionesta Ck. between Outlet and River for Trout w/ Panther Martin, inadvertently pulled 3 HOG Smallies off of beds.  Released unharmed, hoping that they found their way back.  But wasn't targeting them, was using a Trout spinner.  If had been using a 4" Rapala, hard to argue you're going after a 12" stocked Brown Trout . . . although, technically wouldn't be 'illegal' as long as it was released unharmed, at least as I read the inland waters regs. 

anzomcik

fish5000

troutguy

fish5000

You can catch walleyes at Pyme year round, but that's in the lake proper ONLY. It does not include the outflow, the lowhead dam etc... .

So you can't CATCH walleyes year round in the river?lol  I never said anything about keeping them, just catcing them.  The law doesn't say you have to keep the fish you catch.

Sure you can catch them and not keep them, but the law is that you can't actively fish for a species that is out of season which is what you might be doing depending on what time of the year it is. It wouldn't matter that you aren't keeping them except that if you did, the fine would be worse. Right now you're safe to catch them there. And yes, if you were out of season you could always say to a WCO that you weren't fishing for walleye, but that isn't an automatic reason for innocense [ whether true or not] and your trangressions may not be favorable. In short, you still might end up with an unwelcomed citation. Why put yourself into a potentially difficult situation that is avoidable? You may have to attempt to sway the opinion of someone who has power over you and that usually doesn't go very well.

I am not trying to be smart here, it is a real question. You say it is unlawful to target species of fish out of season, why it is ok for the millions of bass fisherman to target bass out of season? I watch them pull fish after fish off of nests in the spring. Never heard of any one getting wrote up for that, even though they are out of season.

It wasnt a few years ago they were out of season on lake erie and it was and still is the thing to do is get small mouth in the spring up there. There wasnt any citiations that i know of.

I didn't take it as you "trying to be smart" and I know that you didn't imply that I did take it that way. You were trying to understand what you witnessed and why nothing was done about it. Apparently from Porks' post, it depends on what waters one fishes whether or not it is illegal. As Pork wrote, it's OK in some waters if the fish is returned immediately. I was under the impression that it was illegal in all waters, so I apologize as I was given incorrect information [ multiple times from different anglers ]. It sounded logical, so I didn't research it which is really what I should have done. I saw there were two good responses to your question. Porks' was excellent as he quoted his sources and Jesters' was excellent as he demonstrated good sportsmans' ethics. I don't have much to add to what they have already written other than to state it is up to each angler whether or not to pull fish off the beds during the mating [ breeding ] season. I have friends that do and friends that don't. Personally I won't specifically target fish out of season. As far as WCOs' not writing citations, just like police officers, they don't always write when they can. One reason, paperwork and having to show up in court to prosecute. That's not my opinion, it's what I've been told by several friends that are officers. That is assuming that the particular fishermen is on a waterway where it is illegal to target out of season. You brought up an excellent point troutguy about if a fish dies while bringing it in. It wasn't the intention of the angler to gut hook the fish or having it die, but there would be consequences as you wrote.

I thought this was a walleye/steelhead thread.

fishink

TheBlueLagoon

I will only fish for Steel Mid week...and later in the fall....I see no fun in fishing shoulder to shoulder....I Vote Walleye...and they taste a lot better!

Even mid-week is no guarantee. In early November I fished midweek and it was still shoulder to shoulder, even in holes hundreds of yards from the nearest road.

very true, I have no enjoyment in shoulder to shoulder fishing. So I fish local lakes for other species most often. But if I do go up it's always mid-week.