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Willard Report Status and New Info
#1
I sent an inquiry to Chris Penne...DWR...asking about the status of the combined 2018 and 2019 Willard Bay Reports.  I expected that the turmoil of the Covid Crud might have an impact on them.  Chris confirmed that but did have some good news on this year's stocking of wipers and walleyes.  Here is his reply to my email:

The Willard report is again on the back burner for a while.  I apologize for that as I know you've been eager to see it.  Like everyone else, Cody has had a lot of juggling to do with his schedule and work priorities during all the Covid stuff.  I do have some news for you though - in addition to the normal stocking of wiper fingerlings that will happen in July or August, Cody and I were able to get a hold of about additional  6,000 7-inch wipers for Willard bay that were stocked April and May (about 3,000 fish during each stocking event).  One of those stockings is on the stocking report, while the other hasn't been entered yet.  In addition, the reservoir is getting stocked today with some walleye fingerlings that were produced during the abbreviated walleye collection efforts this year.  I don't have a final number yet on how many walleye fingerlings there will be and am waiting on a final count from our hatchery folks.

Thanks Chris.
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#2
Thanks for sharing the information, I look forward to chasing some wipers this season.
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#3
Thumbs Up 
Thanks pat for Inquiring about the Stocking of Willard bay. Sounds like it might be loading up for the near future. all great news.
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#4
Thanks for the information!!!! Good news!
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#5
Good news for sure Pat, especially that they were able to get some eyes stocked this year, I thought it was going to be a total bust. The gill nets they put out very early in the spawn I feared were just going to pick up males because it was way too early for the females to have moved in but it sounds like I was wrong and I'm glad to hear it. I have my doubts that the numbers will be anywhere near the number they have been stocking but any is better than none. Thanks for reaching out to Chris.
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#6
Remember that stock is one inch fingerlings.
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#7
(05-26-2020, 07:16 PM)doitall5000 Wrote: Remember that stock is one inch fingerlings.

I could be wrong here but I thought fingerlings were about the length of your fingers and fry were about 1 inch long. I think in years past they have been stocking fry about as long as you said but it sounds like they held these fry a little longer, likely to allow them to get bigger and have a better chance of survival. If this is true it was likely done this way because they had fewer fish to put in the lake this year.
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#8
I got a followup email from Chris:

As an update,  I heard the final number on the walleye and it was 11,000 fingerlings that went in.  It may change on the stocking report, but our person stocking them said they looked like they were slightly over 3" long.
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#9
(05-26-2020, 10:44 PM)TubeDude Wrote: I got a followup email from Chris:

As an update,  I heard the final number on the walleye and it was 11,000 fingerlings that went in.  It may change on the stocking report, but our person stocking them said they looked like they were slightly over 3" long.

Good to know Pat, much better than what an inch or less fry would be and their survival odds are likely better at that size too. Seems like they use to tell us that the survival rate for fry was around 1%, does that sound about right to you or is it less than 1%?
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#10
About 3-4 weeks I ran into some DNR guys loading their boat and he told me they planted 240,000 wipers that night. This doesn’t seem to match this information but thought people would be interested.
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#11
(05-26-2020, 11:07 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote:
(05-26-2020, 10:44 PM)TubeDude Wrote: I got a followup email from Chris:

As an update,  I heard the final number on the walleye and it was 11,000 fingerlings that went in.  It may change on the stocking report, but our person stocking them said they looked like they were slightly over 3" long.

Good to know Pat, much better than what an inch or less fry would be and their survival odds are likely better at that size too. Seems like they use to tell us that the survival rate for fry was around 1%, does that sound about right to you or is it less than 1%?
I think the 1% number was for the "sac fry" plantings of wipers.  Those are just out of the egg and the natural mortality rate is much higher than for the 2-3 inchers they plant later.

Newly hatched walleyes grow rapidly and those recent plantings will probably survive well.  With higher water levels there is more flooded vegetation for them to use both for feeding and shelter.  Definitely a better addition to the lake than anything that might have ever come out of the "snagging channel".  All we can hope is that a goodly number of them survive the hungry mouths in Willard until the new crop of shad fills the food void.
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#12
Wow these are good numbers to see.
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#13
Fantastic news on the Wipers and the Walleye.

Thanks for sharing Pat.

fnf
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