06-11-2012, 03:05 AM
I majored as a fisheries biologist even tho I didn't end up as one. To answer your question, walleye are like wolves and most other species of fish are like the sheep or you could say walleye are like foxes and other fish are like chickens. Wolves have very hungry appetites and so do walleyes. Walleyes in the Snake is akin to putting a fox in a hen house. Who do you think is going to win in the end? The fox will be fat and happy but no one else will have a chicken dinner either. Now don't get me wrong. My wife and I love to eat walleye and I love catching them, but they have a tendency to eat themselves out of house and home and there are very few chickens---er fish--- left when they are done.
Now a little fisheries biology is in order. The walleye evolved naturally in the Great Lakes and Mississippi and associated river systems. Here the yellow perch was present too. Yellow perch spawn thousands of eggs and walleye do a good job of keeping the perch population down. Idaho's native fish are trout and only spawn hundreds of eggs.
In the end you have many more foxes (walleye) than prey--chickens (trout). Yes there many other types of fish for the walleye to eat but that is missing the point. The point is this is trout country and not walleye and perch and pike country like the Dakotas are.
At Salmon Falls Reservoir in Idaho the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has to plant trout over eight inches so the walleye do not eat them before they can be caught. Fingerling trout planted there are eagerly eaten by the walleye and a waste of valuable dollars paid by fishermen through their fishing license fees. Hope this helps answer your question. GO WALLEYE!!!- but only in the correct invironment.
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Now a little fisheries biology is in order. The walleye evolved naturally in the Great Lakes and Mississippi and associated river systems. Here the yellow perch was present too. Yellow perch spawn thousands of eggs and walleye do a good job of keeping the perch population down. Idaho's native fish are trout and only spawn hundreds of eggs.
In the end you have many more foxes (walleye) than prey--chickens (trout). Yes there many other types of fish for the walleye to eat but that is missing the point. The point is this is trout country and not walleye and perch and pike country like the Dakotas are.
At Salmon Falls Reservoir in Idaho the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has to plant trout over eight inches so the walleye do not eat them before they can be caught. Fingerling trout planted there are eagerly eaten by the walleye and a waste of valuable dollars paid by fishermen through their fishing license fees. Hope this helps answer your question. GO WALLEYE!!!- but only in the correct invironment.
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