06-27-2018, 09:01 PM
[#0000FF]A respected member of BFT and an acknowledged walleye warrior made a post on the premium board, expressing disappointment with the seemingly low numbers of walleyes showing up in Willard this year. I posed the question to Chris Penne (DWR) about their findings...along with my observations of huge shadlet schools already. Here is his response. Thanks Chris.[/#0000FF]
Good question. As of our last sample in the fall and the spring walleye spawn, all indications are there is plenty of opportunity for walleye still in Willard and that things should even get better if big year class of young walleye last year recruited. I've just seen a lot of conflicting fishing reports this year and I think a lot of that has to do with the new water levels. During the four years water was down, the fish populations were more concentrated and it was easier to run a lure by fish. Now that the water is up, fish have a lot more room to roam and they are more spread out and they are better fed. Some anglers are doing pretty well adapting to the new conditions and others have either not had the luck or figured out the right techniques and location. One of my office colleagues is usually out hitting Pineview for muskie during the late spring, but I couldn't keep him away from Willard in May and June because he kept limiting out on walleye during each trip and was catching wipers and catfish as well. He caught multiple year classes/sizes of walleye and was throwing back the smaller ones (13-15") and was able to repeat his success for several weeks until switched to chasing some kokanee. I've seen some pretty positive reports online as well, but I've also seen some rough trips and reports of limited success. Besides water level, it may be that people are going to have to adjust their expectations. While my colleague did well this year, he also did great during the drought years too. I don't think people will have or can expect the same kind of success that they had during those drought years until the predators (wipers, walleye and even cats) have either had time to expand their populations to fit the increased water volume available to them or until we see more drought. Unfortunately the problem with drought is that it's hot fishing for a few years while the fish are concentrated and then fish populations decline to fit their environment.
As for the shad, I think that all comes back to the increased water levels and fish populations expanding to fit their environment. There is no other species in Willard that is more capable of expanding their population rapidly than the gizzard shad. I'm hoping we won't have another shad boom this year, but I would not be surprised if it happens while the predators are catching up. The big walleye year class we had last year might be able to slow those shad down and we increased our wiper fry stocking this year to try to take advantage of the increased water, habitat and forage. I'm hoping we can get a good stocking of wiper fingerlings this summer as well to keep on top of the shad, but we are always at the whim of mother nature when it comes to how much success we have raising the wiper fry to the fingerling stage before they are stocked into Willard. I'm keeping my fingers crossed we get a good batch of fish to stock.
I hope that answers the questions. I'm not sure it is enough to let the guy sleep better at night, but it's at least perspective on what is going on.
Chris
[signature]
Good question. As of our last sample in the fall and the spring walleye spawn, all indications are there is plenty of opportunity for walleye still in Willard and that things should even get better if big year class of young walleye last year recruited. I've just seen a lot of conflicting fishing reports this year and I think a lot of that has to do with the new water levels. During the four years water was down, the fish populations were more concentrated and it was easier to run a lure by fish. Now that the water is up, fish have a lot more room to roam and they are more spread out and they are better fed. Some anglers are doing pretty well adapting to the new conditions and others have either not had the luck or figured out the right techniques and location. One of my office colleagues is usually out hitting Pineview for muskie during the late spring, but I couldn't keep him away from Willard in May and June because he kept limiting out on walleye during each trip and was catching wipers and catfish as well. He caught multiple year classes/sizes of walleye and was throwing back the smaller ones (13-15") and was able to repeat his success for several weeks until switched to chasing some kokanee. I've seen some pretty positive reports online as well, but I've also seen some rough trips and reports of limited success. Besides water level, it may be that people are going to have to adjust their expectations. While my colleague did well this year, he also did great during the drought years too. I don't think people will have or can expect the same kind of success that they had during those drought years until the predators (wipers, walleye and even cats) have either had time to expand their populations to fit the increased water volume available to them or until we see more drought. Unfortunately the problem with drought is that it's hot fishing for a few years while the fish are concentrated and then fish populations decline to fit their environment.
As for the shad, I think that all comes back to the increased water levels and fish populations expanding to fit their environment. There is no other species in Willard that is more capable of expanding their population rapidly than the gizzard shad. I'm hoping we won't have another shad boom this year, but I would not be surprised if it happens while the predators are catching up. The big walleye year class we had last year might be able to slow those shad down and we increased our wiper fry stocking this year to try to take advantage of the increased water, habitat and forage. I'm hoping we can get a good stocking of wiper fingerlings this summer as well to keep on top of the shad, but we are always at the whim of mother nature when it comes to how much success we have raising the wiper fry to the fingerling stage before they are stocked into Willard. I'm keeping my fingers crossed we get a good batch of fish to stock.
I hope that answers the questions. I'm not sure it is enough to let the guy sleep better at night, but it's at least perspective on what is going on.
Chris
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