10-19-2023, 03:53 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-19-2023, 03:54 PM by wiperhunter2.)
After seeing the gill nets out on Tue, I contacted Chris Penne about the results and this is what he said:
" So far walleye have been the most abundant fish in our nets, followed by catfish and wiper. We're seeing lots of young walleye, both fish that were spawned this year and last year. This is very promising for the coming years. We're seeing plenty of adult walleye too so the walleye population is looking great. Wiper, while not as numerous, are looking good as well, with us observing large adults, yearlings (spawned last year) and even some young fish that were stocked as fry this year, which would be the palmetto strain fish. Catfish look largely the same with plenty of larger fish. The one thing I noted with catfish is not seeing many young fish in the nets. I don't find this concerning though since the catfish in Willard live a long time (often 15+ years), so they tend to have good spawns during the drought years and poorer ones during the high water years and can ride out the high water cycles that are less favorable for them. Like I said, things could change a bit after today as we do three days of 8 nets, but I don't see the picture with walleye changing. Wiper could change a bit as they tend to be a bit patchy where they can be more or less abundant on different sides of the lake. Overall, I'm very pleased and encouraged by the picture we're seeing from the nets.
Chris"
" So far walleye have been the most abundant fish in our nets, followed by catfish and wiper. We're seeing lots of young walleye, both fish that were spawned this year and last year. This is very promising for the coming years. We're seeing plenty of adult walleye too so the walleye population is looking great. Wiper, while not as numerous, are looking good as well, with us observing large adults, yearlings (spawned last year) and even some young fish that were stocked as fry this year, which would be the palmetto strain fish. Catfish look largely the same with plenty of larger fish. The one thing I noted with catfish is not seeing many young fish in the nets. I don't find this concerning though since the catfish in Willard live a long time (often 15+ years), so they tend to have good spawns during the drought years and poorer ones during the high water years and can ride out the high water cycles that are less favorable for them. Like I said, things could change a bit after today as we do three days of 8 nets, but I don't see the picture with walleye changing. Wiper could change a bit as they tend to be a bit patchy where they can be more or less abundant on different sides of the lake. Overall, I'm very pleased and encouraged by the picture we're seeing from the nets.
Chris"