susquehanna walleyes

[bulletbob]

MY 12 yo grandson loves fishing with me, and I take him as often as I possibly can, as I am not getting around well these days. We have been bank fishing the susquehanna here in NY, and doing pretty well on SMB this fall.. Good numbers of fish on jigs, but size has been really lacking past few years and a 13 incher now is a real good one.. he has desperately wanted to catch a Walleye, but they have been decimated in the NY section of the river, and down into Pa. as well.. I had not caught a single one past 2 years in dozens of trips, and neither has anyone else. So last week while fishing for SMB, my young partner starts screaming he has a Pike.. I go running on the precarious rocks to help, about 50 yards or so, and he is flipping out,, Its a pretty good Walleye-22 inches 3 1/2 pounds.. A huge thrill for him as its his first keeper walleye ever.. Only fish we took home that day.. So of course, now he wants to go again, and despite being in a lot of pain I take him again this past saturday.. Again, we pick a few smaller SMB to about 12 inches, but no great shakes.. Water is getting cold up here, and the bass are shutting down. Just before we are ready to leave he hangs a serious fish, right next to me.. a BIG walleye. Again,screaming,laughing, jumping up and down, pictures etc.. Not 5 minutes later I get a big fish on as well, another big Walleye.. He seems just as thrilled that his old papa caught one, as he was catching his own, laughing,jumping,etc,Anyway, we did take them both
home with us.. Yes the population is down in the river, and we both know that.. I just didn't have the heart to not let him take the fish he had been dreaming about catching for the past few years,,his was 25 inches, 6 pounds, mine was 24 and 5.. They didn't go to waste,, He , myself, his sister and parents all ate and enjoyed them.. I felt really awful that they were both big females loaded with eggs,, Now that he has caught 2 this year, I will release any we catch at least for the next few years... They are not the first fish I took home and felt bad about it... I dunno, maybe someone can relate.. Seeing those fish he had wanted so badly to catch, I took fish I would normally let go.. I typically don't take anything home except sunnies/perch/rock bass these days, and it was nice to have some big fish to eat for a change, but still seeing those big roe sacs, and knowing I could have helped out a badly depleted population if only by a fish or two . My grandson knows that now that he has caught a couple Walleyes, that they will be released from here on,at least for a while... Strange situation- Feeling happy my grandson caught and actually got to eat Walleyes that he's been talking about catching and eating for years, and then feeling awful that they were loaded with eggs that would have been dropped and fertilized in 3 or 4 months...

[Broad Bill]

The smile on your grandson's face speaks for itself. A few breeder walleye won't save the Susquehanna, it's fate was sealed long ago with agricultural and urban runoff. It got so bad Pennsylvania hasn't stocked walleye there since 2014. Politicians and corporations period are to blame for destroying the Susquehanna and to many natural resources in this country.

Beautiful fish and glad your grandson connected. For the amount of effort you obviously put in raising him the right way, he deserves that picture which I guarantee you he'll cherish the rest of his life. How could you or anyone else ever deprive him of that, I certainly wouldn't and I'm as much of a conservationist as there is while still agreeing that people are entitled to harvest what is allowed.

Congrats to you and your grandson on a great fishing trip, don't think of it any other way. You both deserve better!

[bulletbob]

thanks for the uplifting words BB.. It really didn't bother me all that much at first until I cleaned those fish, and saw they were both gravid females that would spawn in March... I agree on the state of the river... Something awful has happened there.. There are no panfish, except rock bass and they are only in a few isolated spots, very few Walleyes , still a lot of SMB, but they are TINY compared to even 5 years ago. These Walleyes were fat and obviously very healthy so I don't know why they are so scarce,, Neither does the NYS DEC, and I know that because I called them a bunch of times and asked.. Last electro survey of the river was fall 2023, and they told me that they saw very few walleyes in the river, but the ones they saw were big.. Like the ones we caught I suppose. They don't plan on doing anything about it either, although it would seem habitat is still ok.at least here in NY state. I dunno, the river is still stiff with big channel catfish, and now the Flatheads are up here in NY as well [confirmed by NY DEC, and local catches], so I am not sure if thats helping or hurting, but I do know, you see very few fishermen on he river these days except Oct and Nov when the SMB start feeding heavily as the water cools down. Just not worth the effort any more.. I do believe fishing is still good in the lower sections of the river as it opens up into a massive powerful river close to the Chesapeake Bay.. Up here, its not much more than a muddy ditch with some small rocky sections.[Thats where most of the fish are of course.].. Anyway,, It is what it is.. I don't think the problem is overfishing.. Its always been very lightly fished up here, even when it was full of gamefish... bob