This may sound strange but I keep a log of all the Eyes I catch at Pymie. I am a sport fisher. Last year I fished Pymie 23 times for eyes. I caught 143 of them. The largest 23", the smallest well let's just call it bait. My average fish length was 14.23". I kept 8 fish for the season. It's just me and my wife and she doesn't like to eat fish. So I will only keep a fish between 18" and 20" anything under or over that length I throw back. In the spring I caught a lot of sub legal fish. In the fall pretty much the same but caught most of my larger ones in the fall. What are your thoughts and guesses on Eye size this year. Do you think all those sub legal guys grew up or do you think as soon as they reach legal size they go into the meat hunters freezers?

In da freezer
 
BH

That's why they're in the lake.  If it's legal it's going home unless it's over 20"+.

The lake is rebounding to what it was once known for, just 5 years ago if we caught eyes they were usually, not always but usually, nice size, meaning 20''+. Last year we caught 74 eyes in about 6 hours of trolling over the course of 2 days and only 6 were legal. barely. We threw them back, give it a few years for all these sub legal eyes to reach a better size then the cycle will repeat. Years where theres less eyes youll get bigger size, more forage. it goes in cylces.

jmat it is sportsman like you that will help preserve our resources. i am a catch and release only fisherman and i fish pymatuning at least 150 days a year and have landed and released all of my fish. im not saying u cant keep fish god knows we all paid for them through fees but when guys tell me they caught hundreds of walleye and  other species and put in thier freezers only to throw away in the spring for fresh fish that just stinks if they are are so called expert fisherman shouldnt they be able to catch them at anytime and have fresh fish not frozen

Pymy is a put and take reservoir. There is a reason why OH and PA stock it with walleye fingerlings and fry every year. If both states are comfortable with a year round season, 6 fish daily limit at 15" then you should be too
 
 
 

Any fish i kept tasted real yummy :) except for the ones i traded to a buddy of mine for some canned elk mmm fair trade in my opinion

Just wish the weather would break, melt off the ice, and let me get the waders/boat out.  Being cooped up in Greenville with nothing to do and just waiting to cast is killing me.

Put and take lake since time begain. I don't feel bad about keeping every legal one get, I never keep and eye thats 15 inches on the button because I want no warden hassles but 15.25 on the rope. I perfer 16-18 inch fish because I think they taste better but all eyes taste fine.Big fish are fillet (twice) so ther not real thick and all red meat trimed away.

You nailed it Tuna ! Best eating size no doubt.