Oakley - 06/24/23

[psanders71]

Made it out for the third time so far this year and was not disappointed.  Was able to take my daughter's family out for the day and ended up catching a few limits of walleyes with many of them about 14 inches and a few trout with the biggest at 21 inches.  Nearly all were caught pulling plugs anywhere from 10 to 20 ft of water and going less than 2.0 mph.  Did catch a few tossing jigs towards shore.  Overall great day on the water with family!

[meancuznalfy]

Nice, looks like it's picking up a bit.

[wiperhunter2]

Great report, glad you and your kids family had a great day on the water. So you are saying you guys caught a lot of Walleye under 14", what was the smallest one you got in the boat? Has the run off ended or did the water level come up any since your last trip there?

[psanders71]

I would say that the lake was up just a bit more than what it was last time we were there. Water clarity was much better and there was a lot less debris floating around. As far as the size of the fish is concerned, the vast majority was right about 14 with a few smaller ones mixed in as well. Nothing bigger than that though.

[wiperhunter2]

With that many eyes that size being caught, I'm guess is there are a bunch more in there about that size, by next year or even later this year they should be getting some size to them.

[meancuznalfy]

They won't get much bigger, too many of them in there.

[wiperhunter2]

They won't get much bigger, too many of them in there.

That's too bad, in lakes with plenty of food to eat, eyes would grow 4 or more inches a year. In Willard they get 14 to 16" after two years but they have shad that keep them growing that size. The fish and game in Utah plant around 200,000 to 500,000 eye fry in Willard every year. How many do they plant in Oakley?

[psanders71]

I would say that the lake was up just a bit more than what it was last time we were there.  Water clarity was much better and there was a lot less debris floating around.  As far as the size of the fish is concerned, the vast majority was right about 14 with a few smaller ones mixed in as well.  Nothing bigger than that though.

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Tried adding a pic on the prior post... this is attempt #2

[wiperhunter2]

Looks like you figured it out, nice haul of eyes. Were there any other boats out there fishing when you were there?

[meancuznalfy]

They won't get much bigger, too many of them in there.

That's too bad, in lakes with plenty of food to eat, eyes would grow 4 or more inches a year. In Willard they get 14 to 16" after two years but they have shad that keep them growing that size. The fish and game in Utah plant around 200,000 to 500,000 eye fry in Willard every year. How many do they plant in Oakley?

They've put around 3 million in there in the last 6 years, so I'd guess they're stunted a bit.

[wiperhunter2]

They won't get much bigger, too many of them in there.

That's too bad, in lakes with plenty of food to eat, eyes would grow 4 or more inches a year. In Willard they get 14 to 16" after two years but they have shad that keep them growing that size. The fish and game in Utah plant around 200,000 to 500,000 eye fry in Willard every year. How many do they plant in Oakley?

They've put around 3 million in there in the last 6 years, so I'd guess they're stunted a bit.

Wow, that seems a little excessive but that's around half a million a year. Unless there is enough food for that many eyes, I can see how it would be a problem.

[meancuznalfy]

Yea, they haven't planted it it every year, but that lake isn't big enough for that many fish, only perch we catch are bigger and we don't get a whole lot of them, so not really much forage for the eyes.

[psanders71]

Looks like you figured it out, nice haul of eyes. Were there any other boats out there fishing when you were there?

There were about a dozen total that day... most I have seen in one day for sure.

[wiperhunter2]

Looks like you figured it out, nice haul of eyes. Were there any other boats out there fishing when you were there?

There were about a dozen total that day... most I have seen in one day for sure.

Wow, that seems like a lot of boats for that lake, at least normally. Maybe the word got out that the fishing was good.

[meancuznalfy]

It gets pretty busy when the bite is good.

[wiperhunter2]

It gets pretty busy when the bite is good.

Sounds like it.

[meancuznalfy]

We only fish the week days and have seen that many.