Great Lakes Fishery Commission

[Pequod1]

Makes a great if not tedious at times read.  Some good news and some potential bad news in there about the eastern basin.  I read the forage base, walleye and perch reports.  The forage base was bad as far as smelt were concerned. They make up 25% of the walleye diet. Walleye size and weight/ length has gone down in the past two years possibly because of the lower smelt numbers.  Emeralds, especially the 1 yr olds, have gone up dramatically though. That might offset the smelt problem. Perch population looks pretty good. I hope that holds true.