Strawberry Walleye

[Gone Forever]

After seeing the video and weighing all the evidence (not much), my evaluation is that we have little to fear from walleyes taking over Strawberry.  In the absence of other walleye catches...and the apparent lack of young walleyes showing up...I'm guessing that the walleye was likely "bucketed" in as an adult and is not part of a growing and spawning population of that species.

Nevertheless, I suspect that DWR is going to be monitoring potential spawning tributaries in the spring for evidence of any other surviving adult walleyes.  

The sky may not be falling after all.

This.  I agree an adult or mature fish.  It comes to how many buckets were put in.  With Starvation so near and having an over population of walleye I hope it wasn't many.  
I would also be pretty sure that the law breakers do not know how to sex a walleye so we don't know if they put enough of each to populate.
Time will tell.
They spawn at a much different time than Cutts, and with the hatchery on the main tributary it should not be to hard to determine if they are populating or not and control them if they are. Let them swim in just like the Cutts and then kill them. I do hope that they do not populate as much as Walleye are my favorite table fish.  Strawberry is the only place I have ever had a 50 trout day of 20"ers, my PB Cutt of 26" came from there and I fear what walleye would do to the crayfish.

---

After seeing the video and weighing all the evidence (not much), my evaluation is that we have little to fear from walleyes taking over Strawberry.  In the absence of other walleye catches...and the apparent lack of young walleyes showing up...I'm guessing that the walleye was likely "bucketed" in as an adult and is not part of a growing and spawning population of that species.

Nevertheless, I suspect that DWR is going to be monitoring potential spawning tributaries in the spring for evidence of any other surviving adult walleyes.  

The sky may not be falling after all.

This.  I agree an adult or mature fish.  It comes to how many buckets were put in.  With Starvation so near and having an over population of walleye I hope it wasn't many.  
I would also be pretty sure that the law breakers do not know how to sex a walleye so we don't know if they put enough of each to populate.
Time will tell.
They spawn at a much different time than Cutts, and with the hatchery on the main tributary it should not be to hard to determine if they are populating or not and control them if they are. Let them swim in just like the Cutts and then kill them. I do hope that they do not populate as much as Walleye are my favorite table fish.  Strawberry is the only place I have ever had a 50 trout day of 20"ers, my PB Cutt of 26" came from there and I fear what walleye would do to the crayfish.