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| Congrats to Scott and Jesse DuFrane on your 8th Place finish! |
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Location: Lincolnshire, IL | Should I be surprised that there were not any 30# baskets? Did the wind/boat control maybe play into that...? The Bay looks like it has a very strong population of 4 lbers right now...I guess what I am really getting at is what I need to shoot for in the FLW League at the end of June LOL!
Before anyone beats me to the punch, I know that 1 fish will be an improvement over the Winneconne event!! 
Edited by Wisconsin Wade 5/19/2008 10:23 AM
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| Wade, given the weather conditions I'd say pretty good weights. 30# baskets, we could be getting to the end of those days due to people keeping limits (5) of 24+" fish. It's like watching your playground get vandalized. 
Props to my good friend Joe. O and his dad David for 6th place. Good job, guys! |
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| Jayman,
Couldn't agree with you more. I am afraid many of the big fish are going away. Each year I am catching fewer big fish although I feel I am improving as an angler. Maybe the big fish are finding new haunts that I have not found. Hopefully the trend reverses. I wish they would have kept the 3 fish limit. I feel like this resource is getting raped. |
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| I agree with Jayman, I think all the tournaments are killing all the big fish on the Bay. The average size of the fish on the bay is getting smaller every year and the numbers are increasing. Anyone who has been to a weigh-in at a tournament will see they are killing all the big females just for sport. I think they should ban all tournament fishing and go back to the 3 day limit. I drove up from Chicago on friday to visit with friends in Depere and I could not believe how many boats from out of state were cominig to the bay to fish. Like it or not, the bay is the new destination of choice for many sport anglers instead of Erie. By the way, I was kidding about the tournament part, I really think the bay is reproducing many more fish and the big ones are just getting beat to the bait. I've fished the bay for over 25 years from north to south and the numbers are increasing in both fish and boat pressure. Everyone had better get used to the pressure it is not going away. I still can't believe how many $50,000 boats are chasing Walleyes these days. I thought I was the only one who could afford a $50,000 Truck, a $50,000 boat and a $50,000 house.
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Location: Chicago IL. | CLAP CLAP CLAP to Joe and Dave.
Hey Dave, I bet your back REALLY hurts today.
Nice job guys. Now go and get that father and son award you guys deserve. |
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Location: DeForest, WI | Congrats Joe and Dave on the 6th place finish!!!
Joe I am hungry. When are we going to lunch?
Be one with the fish. Eat Bait!!
My treat!!
Edited by BOXMAN 5/19/2008 5:34 PM
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| The out of state boaters were probally fishing the MWC tourney or the Sturgeon Bay bass open, I've never seen a whole lot of out of state vehicles at any of the landings I go to, unless there is a big tourny in the area. |
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Location: Fremont, Wisconsin | I agree with everyone. The tourneys kill fish and the public kills fish and the one common denominator is, Green bay is just not as big as saginaw or erie. it can be raped and pilaged. When it was just tourneys, No problem. Now that the general public has found out where to get the fish, they will be out there killing as well. Neither sect of fisherman are wrong. The dnr must have decided that the resource can take that punishment or they would not have upped the limits. The other factor to remember is, alot of the big fish are from the same year class, you can tell by the 8.5#cookie cutters we were catching, and there are just so many to go around. I watched big fish decline 7 years ago and they are slowly showing back up in an area. It takes time to grow and not every year class has that kind of potential.
I am not a biologist, but a 10 year plus fisherman of green bay. I have seen stuff and many of my friends have been there that long or longer. Things are cyclic. Let mother nature take her course and hope man does not interfer to awful much along the way. |
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Location: Waukesha Wisconsin | Some of the doom and gloom observation is unwarranted. You are catching a lot of 4 pound fish because there is an over abundance of that year class in the system right now. Ask the DNR, they'll verify this. Many of you know the effects of what big fish do when a large school of 4 pounders show up to feed in an area. Can you say bye bye?
Is it being raped and pillaged? Is the fishery being overharvested? Again, ask the DNR. I agree with Stacker, I do not believe that the dnr would have extended the daily harvest quota if they believed this was an issue.
Don't get me wrong.
Are there more people fishing GB now? YES
Are there more fish being kept than 10 years ago? YES
Are more trophies being removed? YES
Is the system hurting or in jeopardy? IMHO, NO |
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Location: Lincolnshire, IL | I am not a fisheries biologist either but would tend to lean toward cyclical rather than overharvest...wasn't trying to start anything, I was just a bit surprised that no 30 lb. baskets were weighed. But given the conditions and the numbers of 4 lbers, I guess that was to be expected. I know that one thing to keep in mind is that WI is a no cull state so even if Green Bay has an abundance of larger fish, it is difficult to weigh more than 35 lbs in a 6 or even 8 fish livewell limit tournament.
Sunshine, please send me the coordinates on were the big fish go when the 4 lbers. are around. Thanks in Advance!  |
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Location: Suamico, Wisconsin | Wisconsin Wade...we missed you at the Fox River Classic this year. Glad you're still out on the water.
Karl
Edited by Fishguts 5/20/2008 8:52 PM
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| In fall, we can all look back at this post and laugh.. 30lb baskets should be common top 10 baskets in aug/sept. |
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| I'm going to hold you to that, Biggs. |
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Location: Appleton wi | Too much over- reacting by you guys. Lets see flw league event on erie in the past couple of weeks 21# won it and pwt was won with less than 20lb average a day at saginaw bay! Could it be the weather? Could it be a conspiracy? |
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Location: Fremont, Wisconsin | I will second that jayman. |
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| I think it's 'dem cormorants eating all the 10#ers! |
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| wishful thinking, at least |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | I'm going to vote with Ritch on this one. Let the water temps warm up to 60.
Let's see if you want a 30 pound basket for 5 fish, that's a 6 pound average.
Sunday's(5-25-08) MWS is a 4 fish limit, so you're looking for 24 pounds to be as good as a 30 pound 5 fish limit.
I'm going to say you'll need 25 pounds to make the top 3 if not top 5. You'll need the brass throw back 22 & 23 inch fish, unless you get a 27 plus inch fish early.
If you guys see that will you calm down? |
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| Bob, I'm not totally disagreeing with you. But you're talking a 6# average, there once was a time when 8# averages ruled the day. I only commented that those days are going away.
It takes a long time for those fish to reach 28+" 8, 9, 10# class fish (15+years for central and northern GB). With exploitation at a higher rate the stats are against seeing fish make it to such large sizes. 3 fish vs 5 fish. It's just that many more hooks those fish have to make it past.
Is it wrong? I don't know, I prefer to get my eaters at 'Bago and Green Bay has always been my "playground". |
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Location: Port Washington, wisconsin | Consideration needs to be taken on the forage base as well. If the bay is suffering as much as the lake side, you will definitely see smaller fish, Salmon and trout species have been experiancing that for years. I think the forage issue is much more of a potential problem than sport fishing harvest. Everyones catching fish, mmm, biting on everything, mmm, nothing else to eat, could be. Maybe we'll see six fish limits, to protect the forage base. |
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| I was looking through past results of the FLW and RCL tourneys that were held on the Bay and could only find "one" 40# basket, 40.12# to be exact. So I would say 40# baskets haven't ruled the day for awhile now. Plenty of 30# baskets, even last years MWC had some nice baskets in the 30's. |
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| Scottp, go back and look at some of the older MWC weights and MWS weights, keep in mind that it was a 4 fish "daily" limit for many of these tournaments. It's only been recently that there has been a 5 fish limit per person. |
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| Maybe they go to a slot size on tourneys both on bago and the bay that way some of the bigger ones stay out there. I know this may not draw the crowds to come and watch because there won't be the 40# baskets but my thoughts are the weights could be alot closer. More fun and work for us that fish the tourneys. Just my two cents. Thanks for reading Scott in Berlin |
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| I am not sure of the history but there were some factors at play including the weather. In pre-fishing on Thursday our best 5 would have weighed over 30, probably 32-33. We ended up in 2nd overall but didn't break 27 either day. We were fishing the east shore (which was basically the only area we pre-fished) and there weren't a lot of boats probably because it was a real pain to get there and back. I think the 30 lbs. baskets were avilable but Mother Nature was not helping. Anyway, just my 2 cents.
Brad Obermeier |
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| Just take a quick look over at Lake Link and tell me this fishery isn't getting exploited. I wish someone had a better reason for upping the limits other than "This fishery can take it". All it takes is a number of bad spawns or forage collapse, or new invasive to turn this thing the other way. Up the limits, draw in the people, and bring in more poachers. Last year I encountered a few illegals; one had over 100 fish in his freezer, the others were filleting fish on the water and shoving them in compartments so they could take more that their limit. And before anyone questions, yes I did call them in to the tipline. I just think this fishery deserves more. |
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Green Bay MWC