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Radio-Equipped Fish Helping Researchers

Posted on: Friday, 13 April 2007, 12:00 CDT

By Steve Pollick

Sandusky River anglers again are invited figuratively to tune into radio station "WALY" this spring and participate in research aimed at eventually boosting the flagging stocks of walleye that annually make spring runs up to the Fremont area and Ballville Dam.

The way to do this is to catch a fish that has a radio antenna-wire protruding from the belly. Then call in the fish's size, location of the catch, and jaw-tag number to the state's Lake Erie Fisheries Research Unit at Sandusky, 419-625-8062.

If you want to go whole-hog with it, release the fish after taking down the details. If you keep it, at least call Sandusky and arrange to return the transmitter and antenna. It would be much appreciated.

Walleyes that make spring spawning runs up the Sandusky River and Sandusky Bay are a discreet stock, and they have fallen on hard times since the army corp of engineers destroyed much of their spawning grounds by building a floodwall and dike system some 35 years ago to protect Fremont's aging downtown district.

So to help understand what might be done to help restore this declining stock, Ohio Division of Wildlife biologists implanted 50 fish with radio transmitters in 2005-2006 in an extended project with a threefold purpose:

--To examine precise movement patterns of walleye in the river and bay.

--To locate additional as-yet unidentified spawning sites in both river and bay.

--To document the amount of repeat spawning across the year that occurs in this population.

"The suspicion is that some fish might not be spawning every year," explained Jeff Tyson, supervisor of the research unit. "This population needs help."

Travis Hartman, a biologist in Tyson's shop, noted that state electrofishing survey crews had no trouble shocking and tagging 850 walleye Monday night in the Maumee River, where the fish are running heavy and thick. "But we had to run all up and down the [Sandusky] river to find 200 on Tuesday night."

Of the 50 fish that received radios, 34 were detected in 2006. This year so far at least nine have been located. Expected battery life for the transmitters is three years, so biologists hope to squeeze at least another year's worth of data out of their work.

The radioed walleye among other things so far have shown just how far and wide they travel. Five were harvested last year, one each at downtown Fremont during the spring run, one by an Ontario gillnetter off Port Stanley, at Barcelona, N.Y., harbor, west of Pelee Island on the Canadian side, and one off Cranberry Creek near Huron, one of the tagging sites.

"We got the transmitters back," said Tyson about the harvested radio-fish -- a sign that fishermen want to cooperate.

Besides the river -- the traditional spawning zone is the area between Fremont's Ballville Dam downstream through the riffles downtown -- there also may be unknown spawning sites in the bay, Tyson noted. "But we never have physically collected eggs there."

As a result, crews have placed spawn collection mats on the bay bottom in strategic sites, based on where they have recorded fish hanging out for extended times, possibly in spawning mode.

Having as much information as possible about the Sandusky river-bay stock will be important as well if and when Fremont gets around to upgrading its water supply. That could mean building a properly designed upground reservoir to replace the nearly silted-in river-pool behind the aging, nearly century-old dam.

Dismantling the dam would free up something like 16 miles of prime walleye spawning habitat, all the way to Tiffin, and surely would rejuvenate the Sandusky stock. But that means clearing bureaucratic and political hurdles that have been thrown up as excuses for action. In any case, fisheries biologists want to be ready -- if and when.

In the meantime, keep an eye out for the radio-fish.

One tagged in the fall of 2005 off Huron, a female, according to radio-return data spent about a month in the river, a week spawning at Fremont, "then out of the river in just three days," Tyson said. "Once she decided to go, she went." The fish, he added, "did the same thing this year."

So as they say, stay tuned. WALY is on the air.

--

As far as the catching on the Maumee and Sandusky in the last 10 to 12 days, slow is the word. Blame the cold, wet, windy weather and fairly low flows in the streams through midweek. The rain Wednesday in the watersheds, however, is bringing up the levels somewhat, however, and that may trigger a new surge of fish up to popular spawning rapids and riffles.

On the Maumee River, be sure to pay attention when wading out to Blue Grass Island at Side Cut Metropark during periods of rising water. Otherwise you might make it out to the main channel but you may not be able to wade back and end up stranded on the island.

State electrofishing crews found huge numbers of walleye still in the Maumee through midweek especially in deeper holes near riffles, and good numbers in the Sandusky.

Fishing activity is expected to improve as water temperatures and weather warms into next week. Best bets for terminal tackle on spinning gear remain Carolina-rigged floating jigheads in bright colors with bright, contrasting tails or Berkley Power Grubs.

Western Lake Erie's popular jig-and-minnow season for walleye has proceeded by fits and starts, thanks to the erratic weather.

Dan Tucker and Jerry Meyers Sr., caught limits of 17 to 19-inch fish on Tuesday around the near-shore reefs off Davis-Besse, and Ross Robertson did well around the islands Easter Sunday, saying, "long story short -- big fish, and lots." But overall effort along the lakeshore from Toledo to Sandusky has been spotty because of wind, rain, sleet, snow, and what-have-you.

The northeaster through midweek dirtied the water and muddied the action, said Rick Ferguson at Al Szuch Live Bait on Cooley Canal. But when things settle in a few days, and possibly warm up, try purple or blue hair-jigs baited with shiners in 12 to 13 feet of water.

Add a stinger hook for improved hookups if you are fishing outside the no-treble-hook zones in Maumee Bay and Sandusky Bay. See the 2007-2008 digest of fishing regulations for details, or visit on-line at www.ohiodnr.com/wildlife, where a chart can be found under fishing regulations.

Remember that the daily creel limit is four walleye through the end of April, and the minimum keeper size is 15 inches year-round. Also note that an executive order by Gov. Ted Strickland last Monday reduced the daily creel limit for Lake Erie yellow perch from 40 to 30 as a conservation measure. A discussion of the order is planned for the outdoors space here on Sunday.

Steve Pollick is The Blade's outdoor writer E-mail him at spollick@theblade.com Read more Steve Pollick columns at www.toledoblade.com/pollick

Source: The Blade

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