Gobies, Good or Bad?

I recently read an article, that talks about the benefits of the invasive round gobies. Apparently walleye and smallmouths have acquired a taste for them.
I know the Simcoe smallies love them as well, and maybe they are helping the bass fishery thrive. I personally kill every one I catch as instructed by the MNR. What are your general thoughts on this fish?

Here's the article:
The round goby spawned fearful headlines when it was first spotted in the St. Clair River between Lake Huron and Lake Erie in 1990.

Experts predicted the small Russian fish with a big appetite would swallow the eggs of fish native to the Great Lakes and bully them out of the best nesting sites. Two decades later, it appears instead to have brought some unexpected benefits.

Round gobies, which hitchhiked from the Black Sea in ships' ballast water, are now helping to sustain an economically important fishery in the Great Lakes. Native smallmouth bass, walleye and stocked trout have developed a taste for the invaders, resulting in more stable populations of these sport fish.

Cormorants — native to the Great Lakes — nest above a bare forest canopy on East Sister Island in Ontario. The birds have become so abundant that wildlife managers have blasted tens of thousands with shotguns, destroyed nests and covered eggs with oil to smother developing chicks. (John Flesher/Associated Press)
Cormorants are also making a meal of the gobies. And that's good because native cormorant populations have bounced back so spectacularly since the 1990s that their appetite for sport fish was becoming a serious concern. With the birds' fancy turning to gobies, more sport fish are being spared.

And though round gobies are shaping up to be an important prey species, they are also one of the few predators of the invasive and highly destructive zebra and quagga mussels.

"I was worried about the gobies," said Mitch Franz, a member of the Lake Ontario Fisheries Coalition and owner of Mit-She Fishing Charters in Henderson Harbor, N.Y. "But maybe the gobies were a blessing. They filled a void."

Full Article is Here

Interesting article. My understanding of the cormorants is they are an invasive species also. Or did that get put to rest like the Eastern Starling?

I can't keep up with it anymore but I will not release any gobies alive,,,for now.

The Cormarants in Onataio ar native and were down to less than 25-50 nesting pairs in the late 60's. They made a dramatic comeback.actually overwhelming in certain locations.

yes, many predators eat the goby, but what is not being mentioned is that gobies which do feed on zebra mussels which filter out a lot of toxins/chemicals from any wter they infest are consumed by the Gobies....whcih in turn are now staple food for Smallmouth, Walleye, you name it.

Food for thought?

Yes, but zebra mussels also eat plankton which is food for minnows. Less minnow food, means less minnows = less sportfish

Yes - in Simcoe and Erie, smallies certainly seem to be benefiting from the large goby population. However, like Longshank mentioned, with the gobies consuming zebra mussels, they are getting supercharged with toxins, which of course move into the top predators. Therefore, if you are consuming walleye, for example, you may get an extra dose of toxins as well.

Personally, I would have preferred to keep the food chain all natural, but obviously that is just a dream. I don't typically keep bass for consumption, but I sure do enjoy hooking into a nice 5lb + smallie on Simcoe.

I was fishing a pier on lake erie this spring and this guy next to me was hammering the perch. When I went close to him, I noticed he had half a dozen dead gobies on the pier. he was cutting them up and using bits of them as bait. A few words were exchanged, and I told him it was illegal to use gobies as bait, he told me, only if they were alive. Is this true? Seemed fishy to me.

Several lure manufacturers are now making goby style lures. Most are soft plastics designed to be presented on a tube jig head. These things are amazing. SO lifelike you would swear you're actually using the real deal. But as for using real gobies as live bait, nope. Illegal.

Interesting read, i find tons of gobies in the stomachs of erie walleyes. Didn't know about the toxins in gobies. Losing my appetite here today.

Here is some dialogue between an angler and CO in the states:

QUESTION: Goby... The law is very clear that "Live" goby can not be used as bait. What is the "LAW" on using dead ones as bait ???

ANSWER:
You are correct: the law is clear that persons shall not use "Live" gobies for bait. Unfortunately, the language is silent on the use of dead gobies for bait. So, technically, you can use dead gobies.

We already have the restriction in the Fishing Guide about the use of live gobies. It's the very first thing listed under the Unlawful section. We remain silent on the use of dead gobies because we really don't want to encourage the use of gobies for bait--this would only encourage anglers to move them around the state, which is something we really want to avoid as it is important to keep them out of the inland lakes.
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Followup question: The state might address this as more and more are using them for cut-bait ect. If a total ban on using them as bait "dead,live,parts" would help prevent any more contamination.

Follow up answer:
Using the same logic, a complete ban on their possession (dead or alive) is unnecessary. We're not concerned about the use of dead gobies as bait, especially if they are used in the same waters where they were caught. Our concern is the movement of live gobies to waters that currently do not have them, thus the reason for the prohibition on live gobies.

Went out fishing with my father. We were about 1km off shore from old keffers marina fishing for perch with spoons this is what he caught. Biggest I've seen.

A lot of the gobies I caught in Erie last summer were about that size. I thought that was a normal size.

That's the first one I've seen caught ever, besides pictures so don't know what the normal size is. I hope that they don't become the normal to catch when fishing for perch. Oh and we were in 30 F.O.W

caught 50 plus on day out there last ummer fishing perch drifting with a worm

How did it taste?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

not good the batter wouldnt stay on the small fillets