An Ohio DOW employee slips an acoustic transmitter—the black tube in his right hand—into a walleye’s belly during surgery. Courtesy of Ohio Division of WildlifeThe jaw-tagging program carried on into the early 2000s, and while it produced useful data, it also had limitations and drawbacks. The only way to know where a tagged fish traveled was through recapture.
Little Jacobs Creek (Sullivan Co.) and Left Prong Hampton Creek (Carter Co.) – Single hook only, closed to night fishing. Williamsport Lakes – Egret and Heron lakes closed to fishing and trespass. Limb lines are limited to 1 hook per line, maximum 25 lines per licensed angler. Reservoir full pool level is reservoir/stream boundary for harvest restrictions, unless otherwise noted in fishing guide. The go-to rig is a Missouri minnow on a No. 4 hook with a small split shot, suspended under an adjustable bobber until the right depth is found.
Matt Faust, a fisheries biologist with the Ohio DOW, has been entrenched in the state’s walleye acoustic telemetry study for the last eight and a half years. At this moment, there is a listening device placed every 7 to 15 kilometers along the lake bottom, plus some in Lake Huron for good measure. (Erie walleyes can move between the lakes via the Detroit River.) They receive pings from walleyes implanted with micro acoustic tags 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In other words, a tagged walleye can’t swim anywhere in Lake Erie without being tracked. Reese Jones at Hook, Line and Sinker in Rogers recommends fishing for black bass with top-water lures early. Later in the day, use spinner baits or crank baits on breezy days or plastic worms on calm days.
Salmon jammin’: A peak behind the scenes as Montana crews net, milk chinook to raise fish at hatchery …
Southtown Sporting Goods in Fayetteville reports fair crappie fishing with jigs or minnows over brush piles. Walleye are biting fair on deep-diving crank baits or nightcrawler rigs behind a bottom bouncer weight 25 to 30 feet deep along gravel and rock points and shorelines. A New Jersey angler trolling for walleye at Monksville Reservoir on October 9 caught a state-record hybrid striped bass.
The implanted acoustic transmitters aren’t visible to anglers, so walleyes that receive surgery are also fitted with orange fin tags. In the early days of the program, there were only a handful of receivers, located at strategic pinch points the DOW thought a large percentage of walleyes would pass through over the year. Now, with so many more receivers underwater—including right in the middle of the lake—there’s very little lag in data.
The six-man crew from Plattsburgh, which Burnell calls “Salmon Team Six,” looks forward to fishing the Salmon River spawn every year. Now that they’ve got Wells hooked on the sport, he’ll be joining the team on future missions. In fact, Burnell said, before they left Pulaski, Wells dropped hundreds of dollars on new gear in preparation for next year’s run. Our relationship is rooted in constant ballbusting, so even when he’s snappy and curmudgeonly, I enjoy it and fire right back. On the way to the bar after that long, rocky day on the lake, I stop to admire the 20-foot walleye mounted on a trailer parked smack in the middle of downtown Port Clinton—the Walleye Capital of Ohio. It’s ready to be hitched up at a moment’s notice for any parade, festival, or carnival that requires a giant dose of walleye pride.
Constance Brownlow is a 38-year-old animal expert and entertainer. She has always been fascinated by animals, and she has spent her entire life learning about them. She knows more than most people about the behavior and habits of various creatures, and she loves educating others about them.
Constance is also an entertainer. She enjoys making people laugh and feel happy, and she uses her knowledge of animals to do this. She has performed all over the world, and she always leaves her audiences entertained and educated.