Fish report Berlin lake

[crappiefrank]

Well I have been fishing the mahoning river area where it emptys into and starts the upper Berlin lake outside Alliance in Lexington township last couple days, and have caught several white bass and crappie, mostly small with a few medium and large crappie, I like to throw jigs mostly, but have used minnows, the best time is evening around 6pm to 8 pm..
the mornings and afternoons have been very slow to no bites at all. but once the evening starts the fish come alive...

a few of us have noticed down at route 224 bridge where the nets are set by the fish and game for walleyes, that there are several Large Dead Walleyes washing up on the rocks, it was explained to me that the people that remove the trapped walleye from the nets, milk the fish for the eggs and sperm and then release them, apparently the stress is killing the walleyes as the people doing the milking are being too rough ....I haven't seen this but have been told by someone that has tried over the years to have the laws changed where fishermen that catch the walleye in that area can bring the fish to a milking station deposit the eggs and keep the fish, but the government won't allow this, instead good fish are allowed to die because of rough handling......

[Doboy]

Hello Crappyjohn,,,Do you have any info pertaining to the State not taking eggs from Caught Fish ?? Out of the 6 of us,,, We probably caught 800/1000 crappies in the last 2/3 weeks. Kinda breaks our hearts when we see the eggs. We Sure wish that there was a hatchery,,, some way way to milk them.
Especially when we have 'em in a live well !
Man that sure would get a lot of people interested in the Conservation part of it !!

[Doboy]

Hello CrapieFrank,,,Do you have any info pertaining to the State not taking eggs from Caught Fish ?? Out of the 6 of us,,, We probably caught 800/1000 crappies in the last 2/3 weeks. Kinda breaks our hearts when we see the eggs. We Sure wish that there was a hatchery,,, some way way to milk them.
Especially when we have 'em in a live well !
Man that sure would get a lot of people interested in the Conservation part of it !!

[Steve]

Well I have been fishing the mahoning river area where it emptys into and starts the upper Berlin lake outside Alliance in Lexington township last couple days, and have caught several white bass and crappie, mostly small with a few medium and large crappie, I like to throw jigs mostly, but have used minnows, the best time is evening around 6pm to 8 pm..
the mornings and afternoons have been very slow to no bites at all. but once the evening starts the fish come alive...

a few of us have noticed down at route 224 bridge where the nets are set by the fish and game for walleyes, that there are several Large Dead Walleyes washing up on the rocks, it was explained to me that the people that remove the trapped walleye from the nets, milk the fish for the eggs and sperm and then release them, apparently the stress is killing the walleyes as the people doing the milking are being too rough ....I haven't seen this but have been told by someone that has tried over the years to have the laws changed where fishermen that catch the walleye in that area can bring the fish to a milking station deposit the eggs and keep the fish, but the government won't allow this, instead good fish are allowed to die because of rough handling......

Have you talked to the ODNR about this?

[pup26icrappie]

i am with steve on this one. you should express your concerns to the dnr. however those guys are doing their job. even in the wild the fish get stressed out during spawning and some do perish unfortunately.one thought on the anglers catch being spawned, the fish have to be ripe and ready and kept alive. also the survival of hatchery fish is much higher than those in the wild. i am sure the biologist take all of this into account in their management plans. they are just doing what they are trained to do for to better the fisheries for everyone.

[crappiefrank]

I haven't been on line for a while so am posting some new info I found out about the milking of walleyes and their dying..

I went to berlin area where the odnr has a large building with a boat ramp behind it, it is by the public boat launch area close to the dam.

Talked to a man there who does some of the milking of the eggs, he said the fish die due to the forcing of the eggs from the females which injures the internal organs, but it is neccessary to get the eggs, for the thousands of new walleye fry to be hatched, other wise the eggs layed in the wild will mostly get eaten or destroyed,and the newly hatched fry will be eaten by hungry fish.......I understand this, but suggested their must be a gentle way to get the eggs and return the females unharmed...

He said any forcing of the eggs does harm, and people can call the number on the fishing booklet to make an appointment to visit the hatchery in AKRON, and see the actual process of raising the fry there....that was news to me as thought the building and ramp there was where the hatchery was....am going to call and arrange a visit..

Myself think it would be great to catch crappie, or other fish have a bucket, milk the eggs and sperm mix it in the bucket and then place it somewhere where they can hatch...must be a law against this, as everything else seems illegal....

Also asked him why when "asked to be given the walleye " that was being milked and would die when released,and being refused, the man said the fish and game rules are against this,the fish must be caught on a hook and line...he agreed it is a waste, but laws have to be obeyed....

If i do go to see the hatchery process will ask questions again.....

[Doboy]

Nice work Crappiefrank,,, This is the info that I've been looking for. Some how,some way the bunch of us will find a way to "milk" all these egg laden fish that we catch. We even have access to spawning ponds and lakes at out club. We would just stock the fish that we caught but don't want to take the slightest risk of putting a zebra mussel in our pristine lakes, and Mosquito and Erie are full of 'em.
I'd like to know how long it would take, for the fish that we caught to settel down, and spawn on their own in a small pond fixed with aerators? Possible?
We tried to contact the odnr and Ohio State, Kinda got the brush-off saying that the eggs and fry wouldn't live in a tank! BUT THAT'S HOW THE FISH HATCHERIES DO IT !??
Another question,,, Is it possible for THEIR fish eggs to contain some zebra mussel eggs??? When do those #@$% zebra mussels spawn? and is it possible for their eggs to,,, say cling onto a fish that's been washed off in a couple of live wells, tanks or holding ponds? We know of a coupla' guys that just love to throw their live well fish into Church ponds for the kids to catch, I told them that it was a bad idea,,, no mussels yet!
If you find out when they are milking the fish at Berlin/ anywhere, Please let me know, we need to talk to a lot of people for a lot of info,,,
Got To Be A Safe Way!! Thanks

[crappiefrank]

Hello DOBOY.....
I sure will ask these questions when I get to see a biologist sometime.
as for the milking of fish and placing the eggs ourselves in ponds or where ever, I see no harm in it,especially if the fish come from clean lakes free of diseases or other organisms....

I do not know for sure about the zebra mussel eggs, but feel they would not be in the eggs of crappie or on their skin......

crappie do lay their eggs on submerged branches and the leaves and that is why they go to the shallow parts of lakes where the water is the right temperature and offer some safety for the new hatched fry.......after laying the eggs the fry start to hatch in 3 to 5 days.

when I was young back in the fifties, a neighbor who was in his 70's would take me to row his boat and sometimes fish,( fly casting) he would catch crappie and large blue gill, then he miled the males and females in a bucket, mix it with his hands,we would take these to his home and next day take them to a different pond, where he said it produced a better strain of fish, resistent to diseases and genetic problems,because breeding with the same stock of fish caused in breeding in small ponds and stunted fish with little resistance to diseases or pollution....MAKES SENSE.. as about 4 years later I went to this pond and caught HUGE crappie and Bluegills...

If I had a boat I do believe I would do this too.....I can see how catching and releasing fish from one lake to another could cause diseases to spread, but eggs would not have that problem...


as for the milking of walleye by the state, I usually see the nets at berlin lake right at the north west side of route 224 bridge after the lake thaws, mid march into april.....will definitely find out...

went fishing the other day in a boat with a friend at berlin, the crappies were small -and few apart- water was way low-should have been better.

I do believe if everyone would milk walleye after catching them and set the fertilized eggs in shallow water,it would be a great thing...but now days I may be wrong,as every thing seems to be illegal to do, like cleaninf fish,possessing fillets at or near any body of water in Ohio....

what used to be normal and the right thing fifty years ago or less is now considered to be a criminal act???? go figure..

any way do boy I am going to try and call today or maybe monday and see if I can visit and ask questions at the fish hatchery in Akron..
have a good one.....Crappie Frank