Willard Bay Walleye?

[HFT]

you guys keep posting all these great pictures,you might just raise some intrest in walleye fishing again. It has been in a slump for about 4 years.
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[TubeDude]

[cool] If we don't get some serious water, we'll have to be hunting them with dogs. You ever tried to flush a walleye holding tight to cover?

Hey, guys, I've got a "what if" kind of question. In the "olden days", there were no size restrictions on walleyes, and there were lots of big fish. I seldom caught one that would be within the legal slot under today's regs. I've heard all the rhetoric about leaving larger ones to spawn and harvesting the smaller ones, because they eat all the forage. etc.

Don't big fish eat more...and larger prey?
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[MrLipripper]

Goals for 2003 -

Find cure for common cold. Stop production of weapons of mass destruction. Decrease use of fossil fuels. Go wiper and walleye fishing. Receive Nobel Prize.

Goals are not listed in order of importance.
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[wiperhunter2]

Those are some high goals MrLipripper, I hope you succeed. WH2
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[TubeDude]

[cool] NAH! Just go fishing. The rest of that stuff ain't nearly as important.
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[DennisW]

[blue][size 2]Hey Tubey,[/size][/blue]

[blue][size 2]I don't think there were as many people chasing the walleyes in those early days as there are now. I think the resource has to be managed dymanically to compensate for changes in forage, water quality, fishing pressure, etc.[/size][/blue]

[blue][size 2]You can also look at many trophy walleye fisheries that were "created" by changes in management and cooperation from anglers. Some lakes like Erie, have so many stinking 'eyes that it can handle all the pressure from private anglers, commercial charters, and even commercial netters from Canada--and it still kicks out more 10+ pounders than any other water in the country.[/size][/blue]

[#0000ff][size 2]I'm the first one to admit that, when it comes to fisheries management, I'm just another idiot with an opinion. But the one constant I'm "for" is the dymanic management of fisheries to keep our sportfish populations healthy, and with a lean towards trophy class fish in capable waters.[/size][/#0000ff]

[#0000ff][size 2]If there's something better than selective harvest (not strictly catch & release or catch & kill), I'd like to know.[/size][/#0000ff]

[TubeDude]

[cool][font "Times New Roman"][size 3]As I posted my comments on the good old days, I wondered how long it would take you to remind me that "times is differmunt". Like yourself, I do not claim to know more than the biology boys. But, like almost everyone else, I have my own theories, based upon observation and experience.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Your first statement..."not as many people chasing walleyes"...is a given. In the late seventies through mid eighties, I knew most of the serious and successful walleye floggers...on Willard, Utah Lake, Yuba and the Sevier River, below Yuba. There were probably a double handful. Deer Creek kicked out the occasional 'eye, but was not a serious fishery. Starvation was just receiving it's first walleyes as a measure to reduce the overpopulation of chubs when I was shipped south.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Today, almost everyone professes to be a walleye expert on some level. That usually translates to they catch one once in awhile on a bait or lure being cast or trolled for another species. If you read the message boards, it would seem that anyone who has caught more than two walleye knows all there is about those fish. What almost everyone knows is that they "eat good". They are always popular in the pan, even if they don't take dry flies and integrate a few leaps in their fight.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]In "the olden days", I truly had the walleyes all to myself on most waters in Utah...on most excursions. Only during the "spring fling" did I have to bring my own rock to stand on wherever walleyes were known to congregate. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]During the prespawn, at Lincoln Beach, my float tube was often the only craft on the water, and I was usually the only angler. Until the "pike" were officially "in", nobody bothered trying to catch them. It was the same after the hordes of spawners left the shallows to resume normal walleye lifestyles. Fishermen put away their tackle until season opened on the real fish...trout. (Yeah, there used to be seasons.) During the postspawn glut [/size][/font][font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I just wore a perpetual grin as I hooked big fat mama after big fat mama, all over Utah Lake and Willard, with nary a competitor for their attentions.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The everall ecology on Utah Lake is still much the same as it was when I began fishing in in the early sixties. The exception is the increase in bluegills, perch and crappies. If anything, these create a greater forage base for walleyes.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]The real change in a walleye fishery, as I remember it, has been on Willard Bay. As I have claimed on this forum before, I have taken walleyes every month of the year from Willard. And, during certain periods (in the olden days), I could count on hooking twenty or more fish per outing. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]As I recall, walleye [/size][/font][font "Times New Roman"][size 3]limits were changed in the early eighties from six fish of any size to a maximum of TWO fish over 20 inches. As I stated in my previous post, I seldom caught fish under 20 inches. I seldom failed to leave the lake with my two larger fish. I [/size][/font][font "Times New Roman"][size 3]usually kept the first two over five pounds and just released the others. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]At that time the fish biomass consisted of carp, walleyes, lots of crappies and lots of channel cats...averaging two to three pounds and reaching twenty. There was also a small population of bluegills and green sunfish. Good water years brought in lots of runoff with the result that nutrient levels were high, and there was lots of food in the food chain...from zooplankton up.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]DWR was constantly experimenting with new varieties of forage species...including emerald shiners...all of which failed. The subsequent successful introduction of gizzard shad...and then wipers...turned the walleye world upside down (along with the crappies). [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]I have hit the lake a few times since, on trips to visit family, and feel as if I am visiting a sick friend. The walleyes are still there, but not in the numbers of their heydays. They are also prone to "hammer handle" syndrome, like the stripers in Powell when the shad go through their cycles of feast or famine. What is ever more discouraging is the same blight I experience on other waters throughout the west...PWC and skiers who have no respect for the solitude and stealth required by walleye anglers.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Today there are also many more knowledgeable and properly equipped walleye seekers. With all of our new technology in walleye fishing, much of it gained through the increased focus on walleye all over the country, this fishing has become more of a science than an art. A dedicated walleye hunter, with a properly rigged boat (with sonar, do[/size][/font][font "Times New Roman"][size 3]wnriggers, sideplaners, etc.) and the skill to use all of his toys can usually count on some measure of success. That just naturally results in a greater harvest. Few walleye fans fish just for fun. They are a prize for the pan...not a catch and release quarry..[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Sorry about the long dissertation, but you pointed out the obvious and gave me the soapbox. What's the answer? I don't think there is a simple one. I agree with your assessment that the walleye, like most fisheries, will benefit from an ongoing cooperative effort between our fisheries management people and concerned anglers. Constant observation and communications between all who would like to improve our resources is vital. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Poor sportsmen and fish hogs have to be smacked along side the head, to cure them of their "hooray for me, to hell with thee" mentality. A few misguided but successful fishermen can undo all of the conscientious efforts of the concerned few. We don't have to look too far in any direction to see waters that have suffered from "selective application" of the laws.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]And, (finally) that's all I'm gonna say about that.[/size][/font]
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