Round Goby Galore

[grubman]

Interesting post on gobies. We have been fishing the Thousand Islands area for quite a few years now and at first would be catching quite a lot of them. We have been gradually catching less and we just got back from a weeks vacation there and didn't catch any. The bass, pike and perch have now been feeding heavily on them. They must still be around but I have only seen them in fish that we decide to keep and find them in the stomachs.

That's great news. The gobies are very aggresive when it comes to protecting their nests. They have spread quickly and abundantly over the areas that I normally fish. When I contacted the MNR last year about them they told me that they were not sure how the predators would co-exist with them.

Cook your fish well, they do carry other harmful organisms, namly botulism. Here is pdf on the invasion.

http://www.d.umn.edu/biology/courses/bio5865/Jen%20Nagle%20&%20Lindsey%20Lundeen%20Round%20Goby.pdf

Another good site Round Goby facts:
http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/OLI/olei-roundgoby.htm


Be sure to cook your fish well to reduce your chances of any diseases.

 

[chris f]

a few years back gobies were really thick and you would catch lots where i fish down in the southwest ontario,these days i don't see to many around but i'm sure they are still around.as for getting rid of them i would just toss them in the grass or as mentioned before if the gulls are around sound the dinner bell and toss it to them.

 

[NADO]

I find the best technique is to have them remain on your line with about 4' of line from your rod tip to the fish. Then proceed to twirl the fish in circles around the rod (you can do this horizontally over your head or vertically infront of you). Then once you have gained sufficient speed smack them off of a rock or the ground, you want to hear a distinct "splat" sound when it hits the ground. Once you hear this sound proceed to remove the goby and leave it somewhere for animals to eat or for it to decompose and give nutrients back to the soil.

 

[hammercarp]

I personally use a fine mesh " goby friendly" landing net. I also keep on hand a supply of live baby zebra mussels to feed the exhausted goby after landing one.

You can throw them back or kill and dispose of them nether action will result in you being charged by a CO. Also neither action will affect the goby population in the Great Lakes region one way or the other. Do what ever makes you feel good. :wink:

 

[sunny14]

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[vnovshad]

Do you think we can actually impact the population of Goby by killing the ones we catch? I feel like there are so many that its not even going to make a dent.

 

[sunny14]

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[vnovshad]

LOL Goldfish, what's next invasive piranha?

 

[Clab]

This post makes me wanna load up my ultralight and bottom bounce worms until I fill a trash can. Sorry to the garbage men that pick that one up

 

[MacMan23]

Gobies are a nasty invasive species that does irreparable damage.

They are nest predators, and whipe out native fish species. And can chase off fish twice there size, and make life for small mouth bass ( or any other nest protecting species ), Very difficult.

"In nest-guarding fish, potential predators are vigorously chased from nests at substantial metabolic cost to the nest guarder. As predator density increases, so does chase frequency and energetic cost of parental care, which ultimately could lead to offspring mortality or nest abandonment." ( continued in first link )


Bring a small mallot with you in your tackle box and just Whack em on the head, put em in a bag and throw em out someplace.


Check these resources out if anyone wants to know more about how gobies mess everything up
https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/36942/20071201-AEL-SteinhartG-Round_2004_v133_no1_pp121-131.pdf?sequence=1
http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/announce.cfm?ID=475&Lang=e

 

[sunny14]

MacMan23 is Exactly right!!

These Things are Reeking Havoc on ALL of the Other Species! Check out their Distribution in Our Great Lakes. There isn't an area that's NOT Infested by them.

"Do whatever makes you feel good." NOT!!! Read the Regs! You CANNOT put them back in the water!

 

[fishing fr3ak]

i feed the gulls all day long. Then feed the coons and minks at night. I used to feel bad about killing them but now it feel its my duty to get rid of as many as i can. I sometimes fill my tim hortons cup up with them and then throw that out when i leave for the day, when in a public place.

 

[manasmdesign]

This happened to me before when I didn't know about them. I caught like 50 up in Port Severn and threw them all back.
Next time I went there not one bite of any species

 

[instapump416]

Do they make good Cat food?

 

[buck]

.

 

[hamiltonangler94]

Haha I'd never eat em

 

[Kit]

Eat em? Nope. And better then perch? No way. Lol.

 

[sunny14]

In Some areas they have reached a Density Of 100 FISH PER SQUARE METRE!!

I have a hard time imagining One Square Metre on the Floor and putting 100 FISH of Any Kind In There! That's a LOT Of GOOBERS!! And they're Still Multiplying like .... (You can fill this part in)

Eat Them? Feed them to some other sort of Animal? (Well... Maybe your Neighbor's Cat.) :razz:

BOTULISM is the Key Word as noted on the attachment. That's NOT what you would call a "Good Thing" !!!

 

[Kit]

That's really crazy. 100 in a square meter? That's shocking.

 

[fishing fr3ak]

In Some areas they have reached a Density Of 100 FISH PER SQUARE METRE!!

I have a hard time imagining One Square Metre on the Floor and putting 100 FISH of Any Kind In There! That's a LOT Of GOOBERS!! And they're Still Multiplying like .... (You can fill this part in)

Eat Them? Feed them to some other sort of Animal? (Well... Maybe your Neighbor's Cat.) :razz:

BOTULISM is the Key Word as noted on the attachment. That's NOT what you would call a "Good Thing" !!!

i really don't feel bad about feeding seagulls and coons all of a sudden