# Ohio Game and Fish Mag



## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

Read in the feb 08 issue that they are forcasting that WB is the eye lake to go too this year. They say its a walleye impoundment. WHAT BULL!!!! Why would you promote the lake if it isnt even stocked.
Cant see why the DNR doesnt start before they are gone! With ALL the eyes stocked in Ohio it still seems wrong. What happened to lake conservation and stocking regulations. Seems funny ALL those Ski"s and Stripers that are to be gone still are eating all the bait. Where does the balance lay! More about money?


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## mrphish42 (Jan 24, 2008)

Jig...... You younger guys have to be the ball carriers now.....we older guys have seen some of the best and worst conditions our lakes, I have fished WB since they built it. Thats a long time ago.Hunted so close to there back then, we would take lunch breaks (from Huntin) and go down and set (watching the guys and equipment clearing parts of that lake site. I'm new to this site, but I have had a "love" affair with this body water as long as anyone here has.I'm not saying that it's totally up to you guys.....we have and we will continue to fight , right beside you as long as we live. But you younger generation warriors have alot more energy to carry on for your next generation..........Heres to you, god bless........Jon Sr.


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## Greydog (Mar 24, 2007)

I got my copy of "Walleye Insider" in the mail today and lo and behold they featured Berlin in their "North America's Top Walleye Waters" section. Maybe there's something about Berlin everybody but the local fisherman know. They say the lake offers "good numbers of Walleyes and Saugeyes" and to "target the headwaters" ?????


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## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

I hear ya Greydog! Just dont know what else too do but to keep posting. The dnr Give us there 2 sense.


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2008)

suprised that neither publication listed pymy as a great walleye lake also (lol). seems as the ohio game and fish reposts the same articles for the same month year after year. quit it a long time ago. i go back to when berlin was an excellent eye lake (don't remember saugeyes) but for ne ohio, mosquito is (in my opinion) the best we have for sheer numbers.


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## Fishers of Men (Jul 29, 2005)

I think LaDue is being overlooked, there's some good fish in there.


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## k_redball (Jul 11, 2007)

i may be young but i have the eyes to see that our ne ohio walleye lakes are dying off. personnally ive never seen pymatuning at its best ive only caught some here and there. ive noticed magazines prizing lakes like berlin and west branch but i just dont see it. maybe im just spoiled after going to lake erie a few times.


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## tomb (Oct 9, 2004)

Berlin does have some nice walleyes in it. I don't think they're wrong about it having a good population of fish. There is loads of shad in there, I've caught them in my cast net. And according to articles I've read many of the fish in there naturally reproduce, including the walleye, bass, and muskies. Now, as far as the lake being a mecca and walleyes jumping in the boat. Well, I've been lucky a few times, but not always. Also don't know what they mean by headwaters.


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## snake69 (Sep 26, 2005)

Could they be referring to where the river dumps into the lake? I think headwaters mean the upper tributary of a river or some such. I've never fished that part of the lake, but always said I would. I wouldn't think they mean the dam end...


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## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

Head water impoundments no! The upper end of Berlin is rough terrain. Right now Milton is open for a boat and there is ALOT of water runnin. I can tell you that Berlin is one of the best Eyes lakes there is. Big deep waters hold big fish. You should see the shad boiling in the early summer months in the tree lines. Reminds me of Mac-n-Cheese in a pan! Wb is #2 for :B it just doesnt hold the smallish fish anymore. Guess if the weather hold out Ill be on Milton. To tough to get out of Berlin but off 14.


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## Shortdrift (Apr 5, 2004)

Some good friends of mine do quite well on walleye at Berlin. Take the time to scope it out with your sonar and then start fishing.


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

Hahaha. I remember a few years ago the ODNR had people catching many 6 to 8# walleye from this fishing gold mine report that made it sound like you could just toss in a line from shore and watch the fish pile up. It's a shame they mislead people and the added pressure on the lake will probably weaken the eye population even further due to it not being stocked. Maybe they are trying to get the eyes cleared out so there are more bait fish for the muskies. lol


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## triton175 (Feb 21, 2006)

I just let my subscription to Ohio Game & Fish magazine expire. They have the same crap over and over with very little useful information.

Brian


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## Coot (Jan 27, 2006)

triton175 said:


> I just let my subscription to Ohio Game & Fish magazine expire. They have the same crap over and over with very little useful information.
> 
> Brian


Yep.....I agree


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## peple of the perch (Sep 13, 2004)

triton175 said:


> I just let my subscription to Ohio Game & Fish magazine expire. They have the same crap over and over with very little useful information.
> 
> Brian


 
Same here, the articles they cover sometimes don't even apply to Ohio waters. then their fishing reports is the same description of the lake and the different types of species it holds and that's it.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

west branch??? ive only ever caught 2 walleye from the lake. granted both were over 5 pounds. but still only 2.


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## bigfish73 (Mar 23, 2006)

I've done very well for walleye at west branch with limits alot of the time in the spring.


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## keepinitreel (Apr 11, 2004)

2-3 years ago WB was on fire for walleye. The former owner of the bait shop on route 14 put us on the fish every time. The lake also swallowed over a hundred dollars worth of my jigs but definately worth it . 

As of the past couple of years, it has been very slow or non-existant and
I think the magazine is delayed a few years as far as its reports.

This lake has proven it can sustain a population of eyes naturally but could use a boost from the odnr.


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## MikeC (Jun 26, 2005)

I release just about everything except crappie at WB. It's just too easy to get walleye out of Erie or stocked lakes; wb populations should be preserved, IMHO. I'm sure you guys know 99 percent of those fish are saugeye.


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

MikeC said:


> I release just about everything except crappie at WB. It's just too easy to get walleye out of Erie or stocked lakes; wb populations should be preserved, IMHO. I'm sure you guys know 99 percent of those fish are saugeye.


I do too Mike. There are walleye and suageye in WB and it seems some cross breeding between the two. I've caught more walleye than suageye.


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## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

Couldnt tell ya the last time Ive got a handfull of cigars. Maybe 2-3 yrs. Grant I troll mostly out there but I too Mike am lettin them go. Big or small! Erie holds some 50mill eyes as Skeeter does. Dont think we should take advantage of WB and the DNR should be willing to work on it. Aint they for the fisherman and its resources. Believe me! Ive taken my share. Ive got a 29in mount coming soon but it only took a few years to learn it wasnt right on neither end. The DNR or mine. If I can let em go they can put them in! I dont think the see ALL the bait in the lake. Deffinatly more than one forage out there.


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## triton175 (Feb 21, 2006)

I've caught quite a few walleye at WB and very few saugeye. But I let them all go too. If I want walleye for the table I'll go to Mosquito. I think there are just not enough eyes in WB to justify keeping them.
It is strange that I've never caught any real small eyes there. If there is natural reproduction of walleye in WB it's not a lot, or the musky are getting them. But with so much shad to feed on I doubt that the musky look to hard for eyes. I don't know, just a guess.

Brian


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## Fat Bill (Jan 16, 2006)

I can't remember where I read it but I saw an article about West Branch. The short form is that the lake is not a real fertile reservoir. I think it had something to do with the land surrounding it or the type of soils but the article indicated that there was not enough plankton to support a large population of game fish. 

If I remember correctly, the ODNR took the results of that study to reduce or end the stocking of great numbers of fish. 

I also looked at the state's 2008 fishing forcast for NE Ohio and think it wasn't too positive for West Branch.

Hope that helps.


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

It's mostly clay, just like my land.


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## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

Thanks Bill! It does have alot of sandy banks. Gives it one of the best places to fish off some of the trees. Maybe one day!!!!!!!!!! Deff have to check out the stocking forcast.


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## Fishers of Men (Jul 29, 2005)

If you want some huge crappies, they are there.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

I saw an 8" walleye below the spillway the weekend before last at WB. 
Made me smile even though I didn't catch it.


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## mrphish42 (Jan 24, 2008)

Fishers of Men............You are going to have Crappielover, in tears after reading your post....... Tears of pain.....wishing that this ice would leave, so that he (as I read his posts) can get back over to WB to chase his be-loved crappies. After ice off, check out the monsters that caught right off the Knapp Road launching ramp......... that will get anyones attention. MIght as well get all of those (slab crappie) out of there also .........cause the state say's, soon won't be any forage in the lake for them to eat....... wont that be one "hell' of a shame, when their gone............


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## JIG (Nov 2, 2004)

Becomes what set of trees to fish and when. Doubt you would ever fish WB out of crapps. ALOT of small white ones and some monster black. Just about every bay holds fish! Some more so than others. Its that the west end is the biggest bay as is the north end of Skeeter,South of 18 on Milton. Those ends hold most the fish in a lake. Dont get me wrong. Theres fish in the spring on the dam ends but are a little harder to locate. Feed and move at diff times from one end to the other. How can they say there isnt enough bait there! Id like to take some of the Dnr bio-dudes out there and prove to them that the lake holds way more then anyone could imagine. They ALL do! Only diff is WB holds a bottom bait. Perch and eyes love it! Bob


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## Fishers of Men (Jul 29, 2005)

I caught the biggest whites out of there as ever. I thought only blacks got that big. Just in between rock springs road and the islands, right up in the brush. should have took a cane pole!


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## ohiotuber (Apr 15, 2004)

Sometime pick up a copy of Ohio Game & Fish & read the page where all the publishing information & that stuff is. I haven't looked at one in years, but it seems to me the magazine isn't even FROM Ohio, but out of State. I miss the old Ohio Fisherman Magazine with Soc Clay & some of the other writers. That was truly a magazine FOR Ohio & FROM Ohio. I just don't trust the info in Ohio Game & Fish, or Indiana Game & Fish, Kentucky Game & fish, Florida Game & Fish, etc, etc......just do a search for ohio game & fish magazine & see what comes up.
Sorry for the rant, but I want good, fresh, local info, & these boards are our best sources.
Mike


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## icefisherman4life (Aug 5, 2007)

ya im gettin sick of the ohio game and fish mag. you gotta flip through 4 or 5 pages because of all the advertising. and then after that all it is, is the same stuff top 10 places to bowhunt top 10 places to fish by district its all the same its boring. then only thing i like about that mag. is at the end of it the pictures of the different people and what they have caught or tagged.


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## peple of the perch (Sep 13, 2004)

I do like ohio outdoor news. It comes 1 or 2 times a month, i think. It is full of info.


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## Whaler (Nov 16, 2004)

West Branch has a fair supply of baitfish ( Shad ) but nothing compared to Milton or Belin. Troll West Branch and you'll see some schools of shad here and there and they seem like a lot but go to Milton or Berlin and you'll see clouds of shad all over the lakes. West Branch doesn't have the quantity of nutrients in it for some reason as the other lakes to support loads of baitfish. Phil Hillman spoke about this problem at the Cleveland Chapter of Muskies Inc. banquet Saturday evening.


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

I agree Whaler. There seems to be a lot in WB until you compare it to Milton, etc.

What did Phil have to say? Do they have any solutions or is it, it is what it is. I really wanted to go to the banquet last Saturday. Got an invite from fffish but didn't know it until 8 pm. The one day I don't check the site or I would have been there.


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## DanAdelman (Sep 19, 2005)

i didnt care for ohio game and fish mag. Ohio weekly news is a better read in my opinion. Weekly news and in-fisherman are the only fishing mags i will remain subscribed too. A few years ago we did good with walleye catching well over 2 limits but have never had a day on the lake anywhere close to those numbers since doing the same thing. Actually not sure if i have caught a walleye in the lake since then and have put in much more time since. Going to maumee for the eyes WB for the skis is my gameplan this year.


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## MadMac (May 2, 2005)

Good plan Dan. I'll probably make a few trips to Milton, Mosquito, or Erie with Bobby this year for some eyes.


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## Trolling D3 (Jun 10, 2006)

I dont fish anywhere other then Berlin for eyes (except for spring wading at misquito). It doesnt get the pressure that sketter gets and there seems to be much bigger fish. I usually never have a problem getting a limit of 15+inch fish from the area between rt.224 and the railroad bridge. For an inland lake I think thats pretty top notch.


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## marshal45 (Mar 8, 2007)

peple of the perch, I agree with you. At first this is the newspaper I thought everyone was talking about and I couldnt figure out why nobody liked it. It is in fact different and I really enjoy Ohio Outdoor News.


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