Willard Bay

[doitall5000]

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

High water at Willard Bay Reservoir provided plenty of submerged shoreline and habitat for newly hatched and stocked fish to hide in this past spring and summer. We took advantage of the high water and placed more tiny walleye and wiper in the reservoir than we’ve ever stocked there before.
During a gillnet survey in October, we saw the decision to stock extra fish paid off. Plenty of places to hide and grow led to the highest number of juvenile walleye ever recorded at Willard Bay. If these juvenile walleye can make it through the winter, their survival is almost certain, and walleye fishing should be fantastic two to three years from now.

Here are some highlights from our October survey:

 Walleye: In April, we stocked 2 million walleye fry into the reservoir. That’s 1 million more than we normally stock. Those tiny fish are now 8 to 11 inches long, and a record number of them turned up in our nets. Combined with fry produced by walleye that naturally spawn in the reservoir, the total number of catchable walleye in the reservoir could increase substantially in the future.

 Wiper: Wiper are sterile, so all the wipers in the reservoir are stocked fish. We normally stock 250,000 wiper fry each year, but this year we increased the number to 1 million. When wipers are stocked, they’re so small you can barely see them. They’re already 4–5 inches long, and anglers are starting to catch them!

 Channel catfish: Young channel catfish also showed up in our nets. As you can see in the photo, we caught some bigger cats too!

 Smallmouth bass: Because of the sampling gear used, we rarely catch smallmouth bass during our fall survey. However, a seining survey we did along the shoreline in July turned up the highest number of juvenile smallmouth bass we’ve ever seen. If these tiny fish can survive their first winter, smallmouth bass fishing could see a big boost!

 Yellow perch: Some chunky yellow perch turned up in our nets. Anglers have been catching 12-inch perch in decent numbers while trolling for walleye and wiper this year.

 Crappie, bluegill and green sunfish: Like smallmouth bass, we usually don’t catch many crappie, bluegill or green sunfish during our fall survey. However, the same high water level that helped all the other fish species in the reservoir should have helped these fish have a good spawn, too.

Thanks for sharing this information.  It's really amazing this high water year can make that much of a difference.  Wouldn't it be great to raise the dike another 5 feet. Or add more rock reefs! Just hoping...