Round Goby in lake Erie

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So reading up on this species am I correct in assuming there's more so fear of economic impact that ecological impact? From the facts I've read their main food is zebra mussels which is a good thing. They also provide forage for predators, smallmouth, lake trout, etc. Now the bad I read is they could transfer the toxins to game fish. Also they Make fishing for game fish harder since they are the first to take the baits and lures from anglers.


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It's both economic impact and ecological impact. Round gobies are known to eating fish eggs and displaced native darters and scuplins. It's not uncommon when a large group of gobies are waiting for the parents leaving the nest for a second and they move in & wipe out the eggs. That is why there are lot of older gamefish but very few young gamefish.
 
went fishing for channels the other day, damn gobies kept taking my crawlers, then i switch to minnows and they got off my hook
 
went fishing for channels the other day, damn gobies kept taking my crawlers, then i switch to minnows and they got off my hook

They always do that when I'm summer bass fishing in erie. What I do is just throw out a few minnow traps off shore, pull them in the next day and kill every last goby in them. Not doing much at all but if everybody did it we'd have a lot less of them.
 
"Took care" of two this weekend. One was big and fat so I'm assuming it was a female: that's another several thousand less eggs that will hatch and them eat game fish eggs. At least hats what I tell my self since I don't like killing fish but I value game fish lives more than those things.
 
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