Willard today with The Slayer

[TubeDude]

Curt, I guess I'm weird, but I prefer or at least put on equal grounds a wiper to a walleye on the table and by a thousand times on the end of a line... I think the walleyes are the poorest fighters out there unless you get a big one, then they are okay, but nothing compared to a wiper... So maybe i'm in a minority, but I sure can't for the life of me see why the division would cut down on the wiper, they are the main reason I want to fish Willard.  Only thing I can figure is the walleye are cheaper for the division to provide since they can raise them locally...  Last few years I've caught very few wiper and the ones we got were small, none of those 20"+ fish we were catching five years ago...  I know the dollar dictates what we get, but I'd sure like to see them keep the wiper on as high of level as possible... Just my thoughts...

Nice to see you two back on the fish patrol in the boat.  I think you already told me, but just to confirm, you guys using the side planer to get your lines away from the boat and cover more water?  How deep are you fishing? Nice to see you catch a big ole perch... and good to hear the cats are awake and feeding already... Thanks for a great report... Later J

I'm with you Jeff, I think Wipers are just as good to eat as Walleye, they remind me of eating salt water rock cod, firm white mild fish, and they certainly fight a lot better than the limp noodle walleye. Maybe its time for another survey, I miss the days of regularly catching double digits of Wipers on almost every trip, from March through October. I used to incidentally catch a few Walleye while Wiper fishing, now I catch a few Wipers while Walleye fishing, my experience has been that the Window of time that the Walleye are easy to catch May and June is much shorter than the Wipers, March to October. There has to be a balance where they reduce the number of Walleye stocked and Increase the Wiper somewhere between what they are stocking now and what they used to stock. I know many would disagree with me, but personally I wouldn't care if they quit stocking Walleye all together and focused entirely on Wipers, that pound for pound are the hardest fighting game fish in this state.

Another factor in the move toward fewer wipers and more walleyes is the ease and cost of wiper production.  Efforts to raise our own wipers by crossing Utah Lake white bass with Powell stripers was not greatly successful.  Difficult to get the timing right between spawning species...and the time delay in getting one part of the equation to the other resulted in weaker hatchlings...and a lower survival rate.  That left going back to the old way...buying fertilized eggs or sac fry from another state.  It worked well originally but then DWR stopped buying from out of state in order to try in-state production.  That's when the downhill slide began.  Hmmmm? 

I'm witchoo...and a lot of others.  I fish for enjoys and also like to eat some of what I catch.  No doubt the walleye are superb on the table, but I have never had a problem with wiper flesh.   Good stuff.  No comparison on the hand to fin anglers' battle between a walleye and a wiper.  Tied tail to tail the wiper would turn the walleye inside out.  Can't remember ever hearing of a walleye breaking line...or a rod...on the strike or during the battle.

And you are right about the availability of wipers throughout the year.  I have caught them almost every month of the year...when the lake was not covered with ice.  But there are those who DO catch them under the ice.  They are a lot more angler-friendly than walleyes on the average.  Not many "average" anglers can count on catching even a single walleye on an "average" trip.  But plenty of folks catch numbers of wipers while fishing a wide range of lures and soaking a lot of different baits.  The "happy harvesters" clean up on them every year by bottom fishing with salt water mussels.  Ain't no self respectin' walleye would eat that stuff. 

As with all surveys, the results are often clouded by a disproportionate number of respondees favoring what the true majority of subjects would normally vote against...but don't take the time to register their vote.  So we probably have only ourselves to blame if the vote goes in a different direction than we would like.