Walleye Fishing

[darkhorse]

Walleye fishing is surrounded with nostalgia and deep ties to many of our roots. I remember as a young boy looking at pictures of my Dad and his trips to Quinte. Stringers full of walleye and the endless cliches of how tasty these fish were. Walleye became the creme de la creme fish and the golden standard in my mind. Funny enough, I never heard about how hard they fought or anything else that would live to tell a fish tale. I just knew that they were good table fare.

My Dad was right on that point. Walleye is delicious. But another thread on this website has got me asking questions on why the superiority over other fish?

A few questions.

1. If walleye tasted awful would you still fish for them?

2. What would you fish for if walleye closed down for a year?

3. Would you object to a decrease in limit?

I realize that not everyone on this board fishes for walleye exclusively. But it would be interesting to hear the non-walleye response.

[raptorwin]

Hey, interesting questions that you've come up with.
For myself, I fish for fun, and I'll be happy to catch anything that swims.
If I happen to catch a fish that's edible, then all the better.
I'd go fishing still if the MNR lowered keeping limits to 0, but I would definitely argue against a significant decrease in limits, unless it's proven to be absolutely necessarry

[fishmagnet]

Walleye has always been king for me but love anything that's at the other end of my line... Walleye do taste great but I find pike almost as tasty. I only take a few walleye to eat as well as pike but I could live with lower limits..... I mainly fish northern Ontario where the limits are a little better......
Yes I would still fish for them if they tasted like crap.... I do love the challenge of fishing for the elusive walleye!!!!!!



Cheers fishmagnet!!!

[fisherboy]

I like walleye fishing in the kawarthas because it can be more challenging to find and catch them , usually take 1 home to eat and release others i could live with lower limits here

[Fish4Dinner]

I used to target walleye as everyone else hypes up the walleye during season opener. I probably have targets walleye specifically 50+ times since I got my drivers license 15 years ago. Reason for me to stop targeting them is the catch rate. I can only remember out of the 50+ times that I had probably 4 great days with catch in the double digit. So I started to ask myself this question when I go fishing... Do I really want to go out there to catch a couple of fish?

Maybe the rest of you have better luck, technics and lakes to fish for walleye. I just don't feel for this fish much... Get their head out of the water and it's a dead log.

[bluenote]

I'm targetting walleye as is a great fish for eating.

One thing I'm questioning - are there better fish for eating? Recent week catching various panfish has me rethinking good eating fish. Walleye at the larger end of 19" slot can be quite thick vs panfish such as blue gill, crappie and others are thinner - quicker to cook and just as tasty! One could say that they all taste the same once battered up . . .

Maybe (while on Rice) I'll change my target fish away from walleye and more towards the panfish - for the sort term.

Thanks

[Ben]

I fish for fun and not for food as I would like others to have the opportunity to catch them as well. If I was in desperate need of food I would keep some but I can just take a short trip to the grocery store and I'm not effecting the population of the fish many anglers enjoy to catch. I don't mortally target walleye but if I couldn't eat them and I was starving I wouldn't mind some panfish as they are great.

[fishmagnet]

Unfortunately getting your fish at the market / grocery store doesn't help in fact it hurts. Most walleye are gill netted by the hundreds or not thousands just depends where you live.... Hopefully the netting will be gone for good...

[Andy14]

I wouldn't be happy with lower limits but if it's helping a cause I'm for it despite my displeasure. I do love to eat them as well I love the challenge of finding them and even better staying in one spot vertical jigging once you do.
If they tasted bad I think I'd still go for them because I could always eat Pan fish or Smallies for the same flavor.
I do like to fish for Largemouth but don't like the taste and texture.

[greenhead22]

I like the challenge of going for them but too many times do you go home without catching one. I would definitely support lower limits but would be unhappy if the limit went to 0. But if the lake needs time to restore the walleye population (like scugog) I would want the limit to be 0. For the kawarthas in my opinion with the pressure they receive the limit should be 2 or maybe even 1.