# Ranger Julie- nets at West Branch



## John D. (Nov 5, 2004)

I was out at West Branch today. I saw at least 3 floating lines in the water. Are these nets that the state put out? They should be better marked. Are the nets, if they are nets, gill nets? Thank you for all the information that you give out. You keep all of us here on OGF well informed.


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## Erieangler51 (Sep 24, 2012)

No they are like trap nets. A long wall of net goes from shore line out to the bouy and under the bouy the have a trap. The fish have to swim along that wall and eventually und up in the trap. Seen them do it up in mn and at mogadore 2 days ago


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## rangerjulie (Apr 12, 2011)

John D.,

Yes, the nets were put out by Wildlife over the last few days. They are surveying crappie which is a good thing since many of you said you had very little luck getting some good catches this year. I'll check back with them in a few weeks or so to see if they have come up with any results. Thanks.

Fish Safe!

RangerJulie


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## viper1 (Apr 13, 2004)

Hey just say thank you. If it wasn't for those nets most you wouldn't be catching fish. ODNR is the one source that keeps us hunting and fishing. And with out the nets and shocking they wouldn't know what to stock. Easier for me as I remember the over fished and over hunted lands. When much of our fish and game disappeared. And the early days when limits was so easy. and no limit to stop them from over harvesting. Many specie here to day was harvested to extinction only to have ODNR bring them back.
So thank You Ranger and your fellow workers. A fine job with little thanks. And at times a dangerous job too.
Oh and the nets and Buoys are always there for any one who looks and pays attention. Think their bad here inland try seeing some on Erie when the waters rough. LOL! Be interesting to hear the reports on surveys here. If possible.


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## RedJada (Jun 21, 2009)

viper1 said:


> Hey just say thank you. If it wasn't for those nets most you wouldn't be catching fish. ODNR is the one source that keeps us hunting and fishing. And with out the nets and shocking they wouldn't know what to stock. Easier for me as I remember the over fished and over hunted lands. When much of our fish and game disappeared. And the early days when limits was so easy. and no limit to stop them from over harvesting. Many specie here to day was harvested to extinction only to have ODNR bring them back.
> So thank You Ranger and your fellow workers. A fine job with little thanks. And at times a dangerous job too.
> Oh and the nets and Buoys are always there for any one who looks and pays attention. Think their bad here inland try seeing some on Erie when the waters rough. LOL! Be interesting to hear the reports on surveys here. If possible.


 Ok, so wheres the like button when you need it? Nicely said viper.


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## Tom G (Sep 26, 2004)

Yes well said Viper 1 wish we had more Rangers to catch the people keeping everything they catch. I would not be surprised if they took they minnows home and fried them up to


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Tom G said:


> Yes well said Viper 1 wish we had more Rangers to catch the people keeping everything they catch. I would not be surprised if they took they minnows home and fried them up to


Fried minnows are exellent!! So are smoked chubs. Tom


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## woodsnwater86 (Jun 29, 2013)

I fished yesterday and they took the hazard bouy out by goose island. There is like 10 inches of water there. Seen two pleasure boat that didn't know hit it. One was a 26ft that might have screwed something up. Pretty dangerous. Don't know why the bouy not there


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## rangerjulie (Apr 12, 2011)

The State Park has removed all the buoys for the winter. I called and left a message with the manager about those boaters and suggested that the danger buoys be left out a little longer.

RangerJulie


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## woodsnwater86 (Jun 29, 2013)

The bouys at jay lake are still there but you can see the land there. Someone is gonna have a bad day when they run aground. And with the weather being nice a lot of pleasure boats don't know about it


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## DCFish (Aug 29, 2013)

I couldn't agree more. Even knowing about the shallow water there it's still difficult to know exactly where it is. That hazard buoy should remain in place until land is clearly visible.


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## heidlers (May 24, 2010)

rangerjulie said:


> John D.,
> 
> Yes, the nets were put out by Wildlife over the last few days. They are surveying crappie which is a good thing since many of you said you had very little luck getting some good catches this year. I'll check back with them in a few weeks or so to see if they have come up with any results. Thanks.
> 
> ...



Yep, saw one of these nets on Friday while out there. Not 20 minutes after seeing it, a boat with Wildlife guys pulled up to check it. If they are studying crappie, I have to say they could not have picked a worse location for the net? LOL Nothing about the location says "crappie habitat." I did, however, have a muskie strike not 30 feet from the net!


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## rangerjulie (Apr 12, 2011)

woodsnwater86 said:


> The bouys at jay lake are still there but you can see the land there. Someone is gonna have a bad day when they run aground. And with the weather being nice a lot of pleasure boats don't know about it


I got word back from the state park manager and the danger buoy by Goose Island will be replaced tomorrow. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

The drawdown is starting to taper off since we are just about a foot over winter pool right now. Be sure to keep an eye out for any shallow areas. 

Fish Safe!

RangerJulie


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

> If they are studying crappie, I have to say they could not have picked a worse location for the net? LOL Nothing about the location says "crappie habitat."


Where exactly are the nets? I was thinking this would be a good crappie spot to check out but then again....maybe not.


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## heidlers (May 24, 2010)

Lewzer said:


> Where exactly are the nets? I was thinking this would be a good crappie spot to check out but then again....maybe not.


I think there are a few locations where the nets are in. The one I saw was on a Northeast shore, as you come out of Jay Lake and hang a left just behind that point there. There is a grassy bay back there that looks really good for muskie and I did raise one there, but the net itself is on a featureless, shallow mud/clay shoreline and extends from shore out maybe 20-30 ft.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

Thanks heidlers. Heck, they could have called me. I could tell them exactly where to place the nets to catch crappie.




> but the net itself is on a featureless, shallow mud/clay shoreline and extends from shore out maybe 20-30 ft.


Maybe that's why they put the net there. Nothing to snag and tear the net when they are placing it and pulling it up every day to check the previous day's catch.


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## SmittyN330 (May 17, 2013)

RangerJulie,

Do they only release these nets at a select few lakes or do they place them at a large number of lakes? I have never seen one of these nets before, but I do not fish every lake in Ohio. I completely support the DNR monitoring the populations of our fish species. I am very glad that the ODNR is as involved as it is in preserving our hobby. Thanks!


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## rangerjulie (Apr 12, 2011)

SmittyN330 said:


> RangerJulie,
> 
> Do they only release these nets at a select few lakes or do they place them at a large number of lakes? I have never seen one of these nets before, but I do not fish every lake in Ohio. I completely support the DNR monitoring the populations of our fish species. I am very glad that the ODNR is as involved as it is in preserving our hobby. Thanks!


Smitty,

Wildlife conducted two kinds of netting at West Branch this year. During October, they ran Missouri-style trap nets for crappie. Last week, they conducted gill-netting for walleye, white bass and channel catfish. They sample all the lakes using those techniques (among others) on a six year cycle. The frequency that lakes are sampled within that cycle is dependent on a number of factors, lake size being one of the most important. Larger lakes typically receive the most sampling effort, but other factors such as the importance of the fishery or population trends of concern also play a role.

Fish Safe!

RangerJulie


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## louisvillefisherman (Jun 9, 2012)

Are the results these tests (and others) publicly available?

Thanks.


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## rangerjulie (Apr 12, 2011)

louisvillefisherman said:


> Are the results these tests (and others) publicly available?
> 
> Thanks.


Not sure if all the results are in yet but if I can get a hold of the information, I'll pass it on.

RJ


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## SmittyN330 (May 17, 2013)

rangerjulie said:


> Smitty,
> 
> Wildlife conducted two kinds of netting at West Branch this year. During October, they ran Missouri-style trap nets for crappie. Last week, they conducted gill-netting for walleye, white bass and channel catfish. They sample all the lakes using those techniques (among others) on a six year cycle. The frequency that lakes are sampled within that cycle is dependent on a number of factors, lake size being one of the most important. Larger lakes typically receive the most sampling effort, but other factors such as the importance of the fishery or population trends of concern also play a role.
> 
> ...


I see. Thank you for the reply RangerJulie


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## rangerjulie (Apr 12, 2011)

louisvillefisherman said:


> Are the results these tests (and others) publicly available?
> 
> Thanks.



The data won't been entered in their database or processed for a while but here are some preliminary observations. The crappie catch rates were pretty low due to weather conditions this year, but their size structure looked good. Walleye catch rates were low despite decent conditions, consistent with a relatively small population, but the few fish they got were quite large. Some sampled fish were in the upper 20 inch range. 


Fish Safe!

RangerJulie


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## louisvillefisherman (Jun 9, 2012)

Thank you for the update. I appreciate the follow up very much.


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