Don't be Tempted

[Superdad]

Sometimes you're fishing and you get a small fish at the end of your line or on your lure and you say, "well stay there and get me a big one"

That might be ok for a perch or an alewive, BUT don't do it with a GOBY.

Reading Saturdays' Star about the invasion of the Great Lakes and in-land lakes there was a small part of a paragraph towards the end of the article:

I'm not shouting just emphasizing:

"IN AUGUST, THE PROVINCE BANNED THE USE OF GOBIES AS BAIT. FISHERMEN CAUGHT WITH ONE FACE PENALTIES RANGING FROM CONFISCATION OF THEIR EQUIPMENT TO FINES UP TO AN IMPROBABLE $500,000 AND JAIL TIME"

Let everyone be warned not to use those little devils as bait, just stick a knife thru their crainium and put them in a bucket and dispose of them on the shore.

The reason for the shore is that it is thought they're a " major link in the complex chain of events that puts toxic botulism into Lake Erie's food web and kills loons and other fish-eating birds by the thousands"

I have heard that people have tried gobies on their worm rigs and have been successful for walleyes. I guess that's why the lure makers have Goby imitators.

Pass the word along to all.

[BigSim]

Good to know.

For me Goby's a new problem, and until literally last week, I thought they were a nuissance and nothing more, and didn't realize how long they had been present in the great lakes.

Then I read an article about goby imitations, and the first thing that came to my mind is why would you use an immitation when you can catch one almost anywhere you want in about 5 seconds.

Now I know.

Thanks Superdad.

[pdbanjo]

I suppose it would be too much to ask that gobies could help irradicate the Cormorants. Just a thought!
Erie has it's share of invasive species from eels to mussels. The water toxicology reports I've been reading lately are so alarming that I don't keep anything from Erie. No perch, walleye. Nothing!!!

I fish the middle basin out of Cleveland and am strictly a catch and release fisherman. If people could see some of the Largemouths I've caught with deformities, leesions and the host of other maladies, they'd never eat another Erie fish. Even some of the smallies are nasty looking.

Thanks for the goby tip. I don't catch them much with artificials but there are many live baiters who do and I'll pass the word. Thanks!