Smelt controls in Lake Erie

[Jimdski]

In 1956 "blue pike" were the number one food fish harvest boats anchored offshore and we caught hundreds of blue pike nightly under coleman white gasoline  lanterns mounted on our small outboard boats. Cities of lights from 55 foot depths were using emerald shiners attracted to the lantern lights.  Bait dealers like "Norms" on Tift Street in Buffalo supplied starter bait till the emeralds appeared on the surface to feed on the food attracted by the lantern lights. Then a minnow net scooped more bait to supply the fishing. Suddenly in 1956 the blue pike populations plummented, not from overfishing but the precense of huge hoards of smelt that feasted on emeralds and small sport fish like yellow, blue pike and perch. The smelt were introduced by Michigan agencies to feed the Lake Trout commercial  harvest there. In 1 fishing efforts disappeared fishing ended as Lake Erie was e  956 the small blue pike started to disappear, not drom overharvests but the ecplosion of the foreign smelt biomass. Lake Erie sport fishing efforts co;;apse since the blue pike yielded fewer but larger fish but then disappeared completely. Ontario commercial fishing fleets were lost also until they adapted trawl nets for the masses of smelt and markets in Asia to buy the smelt after 747 aircraft from Detroil began deliveries.. By the mid 1960.s yellow perch and walleyes returned. Bait dealers returned also but bait suppliers are port fish fishing .still short supplied today. Controls on the smelt foreign invaders is our present source of sport fishing success. Despite an Absence of media reports we are living with the ignorance of historical reports. Huron Ohio historical siciety and other historical teports art lost today from the media.. You Tube TV has video shows available today.