[206champ]

I fished the BFL on Saturday and caught a bass that shook off a lamprey into my boat. I also seen marks on another bass that looked like they could have been from a lamprey. Has anyone else seen these on bass or any other fish? These fish came out of 16 feet of water in the middle of St. Clair, I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

 

[Prince of Crafts]

I have seen them on some walleye that I have caught so far this year. Apparently there are over 100 different lamprey species which naturally inhabit this lake.
I have been seeing an abnormal amount of dead smallmouths on the beaches this year. Especially on Erie.

 

[206champ]

I was fishing on the Detroit River on opening weekend and happended to notice a few smallmouth floating as well. Maybe the DNR should be investigating this instead of worrying about changing the season. If people see bass floating now, they are going to blame it on the tournament fisherman.

 

[deadstick]

I had a bass on Saturday that dropped a lamprey into the boat. Man, can those things stick to smooth gel coat. I had to use my fishing pliers to pull him off. I don't think that one survived the removal process. I was also suprised to see some fish with fresh tail wounds from spawning this late in the year. This was in 15ft of water?? Didn't think they spawned that deep on St. Clair especially with the poor water clarity this year.

 

[mdclosso]

It's my opinion that the dead fish floating on the shoreline of Erie are the direct result of the commercial netters. The "LAW" keeps us bass fishermen from targetting bass before and during the spawn yet nets are strung as far as you can see in all the key spawning areas. The gill nets catch everything migrating through. The commercial netters pull the dead smallies out of the nets and toss them back in the lake.
The lampreys aren't a big deal, they've been around for a long time. The netters that set nets across all spawning areas and the migration routes to and from are the problem.

Again, my opinion.