# 'Gobs' of fish caught at Goby Assault Party



## Hamilton Reef

'Gobs' of fish caught in assault party 

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1118571403229750.xml

Sunday, June 12, 2005, By Jeff Alexander, CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

Steve Frantz signed up for Muskegon's first Goby Assault Party to kill a few of the small, bug-eyed fish imported to the Great Lakes a decade ago in the ballast water of transoceanic freighters. 

Frantz and his 10-year-old son, Shaun, walked away with one of the top prizes for catching "Goby Dick," the biggest goby of the day. Their fish, which earned the Frantzes $500, was 8 inches long and weighed just over a quarter-pound, Steve Frantz said. 

The Frantzes also took fifth place out of 215 teams, which earned the them another $100 in prize money. They caught 12 pounds of goby while fishing from a boat in the Muskegon Lake channel, or about 200 of the small but aggressive fish that displace perch, bass and other native species. "I was hoping to catch more goby," Steve Frantz said. "I lost a lot of tackle on zebra mussels."

Frantz and his son were among some 400 people who took to Muskegon Lake Saturday morning for the unusual fishing tournament. Anglers pulled 420 pounds of goby out of the lake, roughly 5,000 fish in just five hours of fishing. 

Steve and Gary Lamberts won the top prize, $1,065, for hauling in the most goby, by weight: 22.4 pounds. 

The tournament was the brainchild of Tom Matych, a local angler determine to reduce the goby population in Muskegon Lake. "Everyone had a blast," he said. "We had over 200 teams for our first try and that's not bad at all." 

Steve Frantz said he and his son had a great time, even though it meant fishing for a species of fish that doesn't make good table fare and has little redeeming biological value for lake ecosystem. 

In addition to $600, Shaun Frantz won a drawing for a new fishing rod and reel. "He had a great day," his father said. :woohoo1:


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## ArrowFlinger

How did they do the weigh in. I though it was illegal to possess them. I wish the DNR would reword it so it is illegal to posess a live goby. I am also sure that bouncing them off your outboard back into the lake violates some law too. The DNR should make a clear statement on exactly what they prefer the fisherman to do with a goby, such as chop off the heads and use them for fertilzers or bait.


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## MGV

I heard that they grounded all the goby's up and hopefully to the local landfil then.


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## alex-v

MGV said:


> I heard that they grounded all the goby's up and hopefully to the local landfil then.


Why not put them onto a farmer's fields?


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## Fishndude

I believe the law states that if you catch a Goby you MUST kill it, and cannot return it to the water alive. Bouncing it off your motor leaves the possibility that an errant throw would allow the darn things to live a slighly crippled life and multiply further. They are illegal to use as live bait, and obviously cannot be transported from one body of water to another. In other words, the DNR wants every Goby to be killed that can be killed. 

Adding them to farm fields as fertilizer is a good idea. There is a bowfishing tournament in Quanicassee every year, and local farmers can get into a drawing to be the receivers of the "catch." The winner gets over 1,000,000 pounds of carp dumped in their fields. And that is just a 2 or 3 day event. 

If the fish get eaten, at least the Seagull crap is good fertilizer.


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## walranger5

Federal Law Passed Recently States It Is Illegal To Posess Or Transport Live Goby. We Put Them In A Dumpster Added Some Bleach And Sent Them To The Dump, The Dnr Wants You To Kill And Use The Fish Grinder At The State Park Do Not Throw Them Back In, They Can Spawn After They Are Dead!
We Are Doing Goby Assault Party Part 2 Sat. Aug 20 Fishermans Landing, Should Be Sell Out. Best Way To Get Rid Of Gobies Is To Plant Every Perch And Walleye You Can And Say Sic Em!
Tom Matych


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## alex-v

walranger5 said:


> ....Do Not Throw Them Back In, They Can Spawn After They Are Dead!....


Really?? Think about it, just for a moment. We will all become rich beyond our wildest dreams. We will get these dead but spawning Goby and extract the very essence that allows them to spawn even after death. Then we can advertise and sell the stuff over the internet using email SpaM.


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## skulldugary

Hats off to everyone that perticipated in the event to get rid of those bug eyed,slimmy,bait robbing little turds.


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## alex-v

skulldugary said:


> Hats off to everyone that perticipated in the event to get rid of those bug eyed,slimmy,bait robbing little turds.


That is a good description.


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## Duck-Hunter

they should have more gody assaults


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## Hamilton Reef

Earlier this week word was out that the local DNR fish biologist demanded that the next August 20 Goby Assault contest be cancelled. We'll see how well this goes over in West Michigan.


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## walranger5

Tom Has Asked Me To Address This, In The Mich. Outdoor News O'neal Has Threatened Harrass Any One In A Goby Contest, Clearly This Was Directed At Me, I Cannot Put Well Meaning People, And Familys With Kids Out There
As Targets For Oneals Threatened Harrassment, Assault Part2 Is Canceled For Now, Copies Of The Article Are In The Bait Shops, And Are Being Spread From Holland To The Soo! We Are Not Done, Working On Plan B!


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## walranger5

Also Most Of The Comments Cant Be Printed Basically Everyone Wants Oneals Head On A Platter! Bill Larsen Vice Mayor Called Oneal A Moron In The Meeting, And Is Drafting A Resolution For The Whole County, The M.d.n.rs Plan Is To Do Nothing Oneal Says We Have To Learn To Live With A Lake Full Of Goby I Got A Problem With That, I Will Post Our Response In The Bait Shops Thanks To All Tom Matych Gobiwan Kanobi


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## Fishndude

Get the names and phone numbers of any interested parties, and have an informal Goby fishing day. Literally hundreds of people hit the piers when the weather is right, to fish for Steelhead, Salmon, and even Perch. What could anyone say if 100 people show up to catch Gobies? 

Oh, and don't post anything about the event on a website, so nobody can accuse you of orchestrating something that a regulatory agency does not want to happen. Can't understand why the DNR would want every Goby killed, but not want people to have an event to do so. Weird.


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## Hamilton Reef

State tells goby killers to follow rules

http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-7/112392812269740.xml&coll=8

Saturday, August 13, 2005 By Dave LeMieux CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER 
A local bait shop owner recently canceled a contest organized to kill goby, a destructive invader species, when he was told state officials would ticket all the contestants. 

However, at least three Michigan Department of Natural Resources fisheries officials say they see no problem with goby contests as long as contestants follow state game laws. 

"If you kill them, it's not illegal to possess or transport them," said Tom Rozich, the supervisor of the DNR's central Lake Michigan management unit.

The goby contests have become popular as activists try to preserve West Michigan's game fishing industry. The goby is a voracious, fast-spreading invasive species that eats the eggs of perch and other game fish; the "contests" are an attempt to catch a large number of goby with the intent of killing them. 

The sponsor of a planned Muskegon Lake goby-killing contest said he canceled the Aug. 20 event when he was told by local fisheries activist Tom Matych that the DNR would ticket all the contestants if they transported gobies, whether the fish were alive or dead. 

Maytch organized a goby contest in Muskegon Lake in June. 

Adam Pollock, owner of Adam's Angler Archer, said he had not talked to anyone from the DNR about the contest he canceled. 

"I don't see any harm in the contests, but I can kinda see where the (DNR is) coming from. If you have gobies in a live well and go to another lake, it's possible you could drop some eggs." 

Michelle Bixby, owner of Gold Coast Outfitters in West Olive, said she canceled a goby contest planned for July 23 after she received a call from a DNR official in Lansing. 

Bixby said the official, whose name she could not recall, told her that DNR officers would be on hand to ticket anyone who transported a goby, whether it was alive or dead. 

"As far as I know, nobody in this office made any statements like that," said Jay Wesley, supervisor of the southern Lake Michigan management unit headquarters in Plainwell. 

Holland falls under Wesley's unit. "I've not heard about any goby contest in Holland." 

Lt. Ray Boehringer, head of the DNR's Law Division in Plainwell said, "This is the first I've heard about it. As long as (contestants) follow the (DNR's) rules, they can do whatever they want."


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## Sprytle

Hamilton Reef said:


> "If you kill them, it's not illegal to possess or transport them," said Tom Rozich, the supervisor of the DNR's central Lake Michigan management unit.
> 
> 
> 
> Adam Pollock, owner of Adam's Angler Archer, said he had not talked to anyone from the DNR about the contest he canceled.
> 
> "I don't see any harm in the contests, but I can kinda see where the (DNR is) coming from. If you have gobies in a live well and go to another lake, it's possible you could drop some eggs."




If the intent is to kill all of them, why would you put them in a livewell?

I would have a big board to stomp them , then throw them in a 5 gallon bucket!!

Livewell?? That just sounds stupid!! I wouldnt put them in MY livewell!!

I have never seen a fish that can hit so quick and leave you with a bare hook! No matter how big the bait is.

I stomped about a dozen or so on the N Grand Haven pier perch fishin a few weeks back.

" KILL EM ALL "

-Bob


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## One Eye

I would have laughed at anyone who implied that I could not transport them dead. In fact, I would have welcomed the ticket and an ensuing court battle.

Dan


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## Randy Kidd

Umm So they want you to kill them all, but you can't throw them back into the water after they are dead, and you can't transport them dead or alive..So what are you supposed to do? call on the spirit of Houdini and make them vanish into thin air...Heck If I could do that I wouldn't have had to go through my divorce.."abracadabra....POOF"


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## Hamilton Reef

I retyped this info passed on to me from Tom Matych for posting here.


Goby Assault Party #2 has now been rescheduled for Saturday September 17, 2005 at Fisherman's Landing, Muskegon Lake.

$1000.00 guarantee first prize (most pounds of goby)
Pay 10 places $100.00
Goby Dick 2 - Big goby $500.00
Goby Dink (new) smallest by length $50.00

Fish from the pier, the channel, the bank, from a boat
Boundries Muskegon Lake within 3-miles of the pier heads.
hook & line, 2 hooks per rod, 2 rods per person

ALL GOBIES MUST BE KILLED!
All entrants will use clean dry 5-Gallon buckets.
No water allowed in buckets, any foreign material, in/on, or around the gobies will be disqualified! Judge's call final. You will be required to rinse your bucket at way-in in the goby dip (bleach). Make a goby wacker, piece of broom handle or pipe stick. You must put your team number on buckets.

Two person teams, Entry $10.00 per team.
You must keep wrist bands on at all times.
Boats can have as many teams as they want (do not overload).

Weigh-in at 1:00 PM Fisherman's Landing
Honor start 7:00 PM

No cheating will be tolerated! If the grownups can't behave we will make this kids only. Parents will be allowed to help small children reel, bait, take off gobies, etc. Fishing license required - one day license only $7.00. DNR rules apply!

I will have secret judge teams known only to me out there, plus others! Use common sense, obey the rules and the law. You must be in line by 1:00 PM. Make sure you have time to get there safely.

Tickets at area baitshops.

Adopt a Walleye Program
Muskegon Heights Eagles
Tom Matych / Bill Derby Coordinators


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## LittleMan

so, i know a couple places that the bottom is litterally carpeted with gobies, if I was targeting only gobies for the sole purpose of reducing the pop. could I bend the rule and have more than 2 hooks on the line or do the rules still apply
?


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