why r ya wastin time on that marion anyway????

[fishingismylife]

Marion is a waste of time this year. Eagle is the place to be. Been doing very well in the morning hours. 5-7:30 has been best. Nice crappies--most 10 inchers and a pounder or two mixed in the bunch around sunup the sunnies start biting. Caught one hell of a large mouth the other morning too. 3 pounder that is. Yeah maybe not a eye lake but heck who cares seems the only place that consistently produces nice fish. Good luck to u all. And let me here a hell yeah from u sledders. some nice riding going on this year and a feelin its only going to get better.

[Demonglow]

Which Eagle lake are you speaking of?

[Fever]

Sometimes small lakes get hot and fished out in a hurry. A hot bite and quality fishing can start and be done in a couple weeks time. When I say small I am saying under 200 acres. Sometimes we as sportsman can shoot ourselves in the foot by speaking too freely. I've noticed a dramatic decline in size and numbers from just a week ago to last night. Sad but true. It will be about two years now before that type of fishing is seen again on that lake. It is a simple matter of lake ecology and population desity. Unfortunatly people will continue to put the pressure on and continue keeping smaller and smaller crappies until... Well I'm sure you get the picture.

[eyepatrol]

Marion seems to be a cyclical lake....and I agree with Fever. It's not that the fish go through cycles, the fisherman and fishing pressure put them through cycles. When word gets out the fish are biting, everyone and their uncle seems to be on that lake and when there aren't reports, it's a dead sea...no fisherman at all. It probably will be a couple years until that lake comes back again. I drove past there a few days ago and didn't see a single portable or anything on the lake from what I could tell driving Highway 15. Did see a snowmobile track though...somebody must have had too much to drink or smoke or something!

The lake isn't completely dead though. A co-worker of mine stopped by there for an hour or so during the summer and got 3 walleyes ranging from 15" to 26". Catching fish with any regularity though could take some time.

[Fever]

Basscatcher, I believe you and I are on the same page but I wasn't referring to Marion with my last post. Smaller lakes than Marion can and do produce some of the best Crappie and gill fishing and when a few too many anglers get the wind of that.... in the blink of an eye a quality fishery and an outstanding genetic pool is completely wiped out. We as fisherman and outdoorsman owe it to our quary to manage the harvest. We have to be smart enough to know what we should take and not take. Too many people are ignorant and selfish when it comes to our harvests. Although I totally love this site and tip my hat to all involved, we have to limit what is said when talking about smaller more fragile ecosystems.... I hope I made my point and the appropriate people read this... Unfortunately I feel it is too late. Oh well, it is not the end of the world I realize that but to me it is a bit sad and could have been avoided.... Enough of that. Happy holidays to all and good luck out there. Be safe & smart.

[eyepatrol]

Oops...my mistake. Although, Marion does seem to be cyclical in that nature, to me at least. I hear ya about the small lakes though. I fished one last year where I caught a 29" walleye, had a quick picture taken, then let her go. Talked to another guy on that same lake who said he caught a 27" walleye out of that lake last year, cleaned it and fried it up. Funny thing to him (but obvious to me) was that the meat didn't "taste too good" as he put it. Well, yeah....com'on. That's one of the reasons why the big brutes should be let go....not the biggest reason, but one of them. I told him that the big fish don't taste good and that people should only be keeping the smaller ones to eat...and that the bigger ones are the main reproducers for a lake. This lake is less than 300 acres in size, and I would have to believe that there is a limited supply of those kinds of walleyes in a fishery like that. It was disheartening to hear what he said, but I was glad that he saw me catch the fish and saw my example of letting her go. Hopefully he took something from our encounter.

It would be nice if everyone understood the importance of CPR, but in the case of what I mentioned above, we may need to educate others one by one.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough here. Just wanted to say that I agree and share that experience on here. Maybe others will read it and learn a little too about the importance of selective harvest....not only selective harvest, but also keeping only that which you need....enough for a couple meals in the frying pan (but that's another topic).

Happy holidays!

bc

[Demonglow]

If you don't plan on eating the fish fresh, put it back. You can buy frozen fish at the store.

[Stradic]

I agree whole-heartedly with both of you on both counts. Marion, more specifically, get's the tar kicked out of it every winter and like stated earlier, people do keep smaller and smaller fish. To some people, a 12 inch walleye is a nice "perch". I vote for 15" minimum walleye size! Alright, that's it, I'm out.