Question for anyone?

[D_Luck]

Does anyone know why walleye have not been planted in CJ Strike? It seems like a perfect fit. I want to petition IDF&G and see some monster walleyes in Strike in a few years.
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[DonaldC]

i think there were a few caught last year. F&G bout had a heart attack. Bucket bio. Walleye fishing in the Dakotas brings in over 100 million per year to the economy. You would think the state would take notice of that. But they are to busy planting hatchery trout :-(
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[SagebrushID]

No offense, but Idaho is not the Dakotas. I think it's wise to be cautious with the stocking of non-native fish. I hope ID F&G never gets to the point where fisheries management and the decision to stock a species is solely based on revenue potential.
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[kochanut]

[quote SagebrushID]No offense, but Idaho is not the Dakotas. I think it's wise to be cautious with the stocking of non-native fish. I hope ID F&G never gets to the point where fisheries management and the decision to stock a species is solely based on revenue potential.[/quote]

good post.
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[idahopanfish]

Yes but that is not a good choice to introduce for Idaho's native fish. I am from SD as well and have been out here since 79. I love the diversity here but it is spread out over many different reservoirs, which allows a person to choose where and what to fish for, but the fisheries are fragile and can be seriously hurt by the introduction of the wrong species to each individual area. So we need to be aware of that and help plan out with IDFG what we want for a fisheries whether that be Walleye, bass, trout, salmon, sturgen, perch, crappie, bluegill or whatever our pleasure is. This will also bring all the revenue we need to maintain those fisheries.
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[MMDon]

[quote idahopanfish]Yes but that is not a good choice to introduce for Idaho's native fish. I am from SD as well and have been out here since 79. I love the diversity here but it is spread out over many different reservoirs, which allows a person to choose where and what to fish for, but the fisheries are fragile and can be seriously hurt by the introduction of the wrong species to each individual area. So we need to be aware of that and help plan out with IDFG what we want for a fisheries whether that be Walleye, bass, trout, salmon, sturgen, perch, crappie, bluegill or whatever our pleasure is. This will also bring all the revenue we need to maintain those fisheries.[/quote]

+1 Thanks for the thoughtful post IPF!
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[Bassnbob]

The biggest concern with CJ is being able to contain them. Within a few years the whole Snake River system and all the tributaries such as the Boise River, Payette River would end up with Walleye in them. Then the native species would slowly disappear which is not a good scenario.
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[D_Luck]

I'm no fisheries biologist, but it seems like the snake especially Strike has bountiful amounts of food for all the fish in it,I cannot believe the size of some of the schools of baitfish I have cruised over at some points. That being said they are already planting trout pretty much everywhere along the Snake anyways to support the fishery so would Walleye really hurt the populations of native fish so much that it would not be worth having beer battered walleye on your plate? Any biologists out there?
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[idahoron]

I think the threat to Sturgeon is probably the #1 thing. Ron
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[Loufly]

"What would it hurt?" I am sure that is what those who illegally planted Lake Trout in Yellowstone Lake thought. The park service is gill netting close to 100,000 lake trout a year. An adult Lake trout will eat 50 cutthroat a year. Not minnows, catchable fish. Even Idaho Fish &Game thought the same thing when they put non-native rainbows in the South Fork. Rainbows have had a huge impact on cutthroats.
Walleye reproduce like bluegills, but have appetites like pike and can out compete most other game fish. There is a niche for every fish species and Idaho has a wide range of water environments. People travel from all over the world to catch trout in Idaho, not walleye because there are plenty of other places to do that.
Anyways, the walleye I caught fought as hard as the moss on my anchor.[]
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[mojorizing]

[quote D_Luck]I'm no fisheries biologist[/quote]
Exactly. Contact If&G and talk to the experts. I would also think it might have something to with the access to tributaries as mentioned previously.
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[hulapopper]

i can see keeping the walleye out of the river systems, however the f &g could be a whole lot more creative on fish stocking. lakes like sagehen, mormon, lost valley, crane creek ect. could hold walleye or a more exotic sportfish.

i would like to see more warm water fish raised in hatcheries and released. not all anglers dream of 8" planter rainbows all day and night. deep diving crankbaits bend the rod more than they do and they aren't fit for eating IMHO.
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[mojorizing]

Money.
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[B_RUN]

Idaho has great fishing. Lets make it fish like some other place we dont want to live.

Most anglers in Idaho dont dream about 8 inch bass and stunted perch either.. and historically.. thats what happens when people mess with nature.
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[Bmarsh]

shocked this hasn't gone down hill. End of the day Idaho is Trout Central. There is a reason that there are books written about flyfishing for trout in our waters. It brings people from all over here.

I know lots of people like some of the warm water species and I feel for them. But the F and G isn't going to promote them at the expense of other native fish to our waters. If it is a isolated system that they can be put in to great but if it runs the risk of screwing up a drainage or system tough luck.

As to raising hatchery trout for catching I am not a fan of it personally as it makes no sense to me. I would like to see them taking the funds that they are essentially throwing away in hatchery fish and put them into stream and spawning area improvements to develop self sustaining populations of reproducing fish. We will be better off in the long run if we do it.
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[jacksonlaker]

If you look at the wind river system here in Wyoming, trout and walleye get along fine. The wind dumps into Boysen, which is our best walleye lake and has a healthy rainbow population. There are rarely any walleye above Boysen, but lots of them below the dam. The trout fishing below the dam is outstanding. The walleye seem to have no effect on the browns, rainbows and cuthroats in the river. I'm not saying to stock walleyes everywhere, but here is an example that it could work for both species.
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[sdhuntandfish]

I'll second the last poster's sentiments. After fishing SFCR Sunday, the walleyes seem to have zero effect on the rainbows. My HDS showed massive amounts of fish (rainbows) and they were nice too. I trolled #5 shad raps through the fish I was graphing, and couldnt keep the trout off. Some were around that 20" range.

On another note, why couldn't Lake Lowell be stocked with walleyes? To me, that apears to be a highly fertile lake with abundant structure that would suit walleyes perfect.

And for the record, I did go to college for fisheries management, however, I really am not familiar with the cold-water species and the affects of mixing those fisheries with warm water fish. I'll leave that to your experts
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[SmartWeed]

On another note, why couldn't Lake Lowell be stocked with walleyes? To me, that apears to be a highly fertile lake with abundant structure that would suit walleyes perfect.

About 30 years ago I served on a committee made up of sport fishermen, F&G, USFWS, Bureau of Reclamation, etc with the aim of improving the fishing in Lake Lowell. Our regional fisheries biologist suggested planting white bass in Lake Lowell. Studies showed it to be ideal habitat. Then he learned that to plant "new" species in any water that eventually ends up in the Snake/Columbia river system you had to have permission from every state and entity that had contact with that water. This included Idaho, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Corp of Engineers, and on and on... The idea died at that point. The only idea that came out of those meetings was keeping the water level in the lake as high as possible during the spawn so that the bass and panfish spawn might be successful. This plan, plus few subsequent drought years, seem to have helped.
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[D_Luck]

Ahh, now there is the real answer why we cant get this done, politics. Figures lol

I feel for the trout guys on here, I am one. I grew in eastern Washington and have seen trout and walleye play well together in most every major reservoir system I ever fished.

I get the idea that it's non-native, but the water system is not natural anyways. It's not like that dam has been there forever. My idea here is that with this dam making a reservoir it creates an awesome habitiat for one of the tastiest fish in the water. From what I have see walleye are not gonna go too far from the dam and choke everything out. But that's what I have seen and again I am no fisheries biologist.

Maybe what I should have said was a petition for a study on the suitability for walleye introduction in CJ Strike. Because if it would damage native populations of fish I would be against it.
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[phutch30]

[font "Times New Roman"]I have this argument with fishermen all the time. I’ll just touch on it real brief. Don’t do it. Walleye in western reservoirs almost always follow a boom and bust cycle and also almost always end up impacting some other species. It’s well documented. Its almost assured that you’ll end up with a bunch of stunted walleye in less than a decade[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]Like posted earlier. This isnt the dakotas. Its a cold water state, not a warm water. Leave it be. We have screwed up so many fisheries trying to make them better. Then every one bitches about that[/font]
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