Willard Bay Wiper fish survey good news

[catfish-logic]

I got this off of the Utah Fishing Reports website:

"Ben Nadolski, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Aquatic Biologist, recently completed population surveys at Willard Bay. He was pleased with the condition of the fishery, despite the prolonged water draw-downs over the last three years. Juvenile gizzard shad, the primary forage species for wiper and walleye, remain abundant—resulting in wipers with a high visceral fat and in good condition overall. In addition, the overall abundance and average length of wipers remains high. The wiper population has handled the low water levels well, primarily because of the high gizzard shad abundance over the last two years. The wipers' good condition and high fat storage levels will help overwinter survival and overall fish health next spring. Unfortunately, the walleye population has not fared quite as well. The abundance of walleye appears low overall, but again the average length and condition of all fish remains high due to the abundance of juvenile gizzard shad in the reservoir. The reduction in the walleye population may be attributed to reduced reproductive success. The draw-downs may have reduced the amount of optimal spawning shoreline and rearing habitat available to walleye. The channel catfish fishery continues to improve and the average length of all fish remains high, thereby reversing the trend observed in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Finally, black crappie abundance appears quite high this year. Many crappie were collected along the northwest and southwest dykes. The average length of all crappie captured was approximately 10 inches, and these fish may provide winter ice fishing opportunities for die hard crappie anglers."

Happy fishing.
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Hey that's great news! Thanks for sharing. The walleye should be able to (finally) have a good spawn this year with a full pool in the Spring. Actually, I guess it may take another year, but that's good to hear about the shad, wipers, crappies and catfish.
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[FISHAMANIAC801]

[] Great news and a good post !!!! thanks glad to hear bout the state of the union of willard...Forecast for fishing it next year at the bays lookin good...[]
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[Jacksonman]

Tubedude, please break down this article for me![:p]

I always enjoy reading our intake an interpretation of articles such as this. You deserve an honorary doctorate for the fishing knowledge that you so graciously share with us amateurs.

Maybe next year I will actually get out and fish Willard.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Thou flatterest me too much methinks. Yeah, I fish that pond a lot, and have fished it for several decades. However, my opinions are strictly my own and subject to my own personal biases.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am pleasantly surprised to read that the DWR findings mirror much of what I have suspected...in most areas. But, I have differing opinions on the causes of the effects. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]1. Wipers are abundant and healthy. The main reason is that there have been plenty of shad, but also grundles of baby carp again this year. The wipers utilized both...but did not have the additional food resource of crawdads since the rocks were out of water and the crawdad supply was greatly reduced. Furthermore, there was not nearly the angler harvest the past two summers because trolling was not as effective. The shallower waters got muddy every time the wind blew and that reduced visibility for the "sight-feeding" wipers. Tougher to catch them with the customary fast trolling tactics that work better in clearer water. The shallower water also kept many wussy boaters off the lake. Some guys just can't rationalize buying new props as a condition of fishing in shallower water. In short, there were some good catches made by a few dedicated anglers...mostly who hit it right and fished it properly for the conditions. But, not the multiple limit harvests of years past during higher and cleaner water conditions.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]2. Walleyes. No surprise on the reduced numbers. Reduced spawning (no rocks) is only part of the equation. A bigger one is that bajillions of walleyes were lost from the lake during the big water suckdown when they dropped the level of the lake in the fall a couple of years ago. Walleyes follow current (as do wipers and other species). There is no baffle or fish screen on the outflow pipe so any fish that got close enough to get caught in the strong outflow current went out of the lake and down into the channel below. During that time there were hordes of happy harvesters that showed up several times a day to snag coolers full of walleyes (and wipers) where they stacked up in that outflow channel. There were THOUSANDS of them that were snagged out, but thousands more that disappeared into the marshes to die in the salty waters or to feed the pelicans and other birds. The walleyes that remained in the lake have grown larger and fatter on the more abundant food among fewer predators. Anglers who scored walleyes this last year all commented on how large and fat they were. That's why.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]3. Catfish. The ones we have been catching the past two years HAVE been a few inches larger than those of the years previously. That is good. But, as an angler, I have noticed that the quantities have dwindled. Usually a correlation. Food resources and all that. There has not been nearly as much successful spawning the past two years for catfish due to their customary spawning areas (rocks) being high and dry in the lower water. The fish all ultimately spawn...or just dump their eggs...but without the protection of a male guarding the nests inside a sheltering pocket of rocks the eggs are vulnerable to carp and other egg suckers as soon as they are laid in unsheltered areas. Poor "recruitment"...survival of the young. That has been manifest by anglers catching very few "fiddlers"...catfish less than 12 inches long. In years past they pester the heck out of you...especially if you fish with crawlers or other smaller baits. I fear that this will lead to a couple of years when the catfish population is "way down". It is already thinned out. I routinely catch a good number of catfish, but I have had to cover a lot more area and fish a lot harder to take home a limit this past year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]4. Crappies. This was the first year I have caught more than "onesies and twosies" on crappies in Willard Bay for a long time. Back in May, when they were trying to spawn along some of the exposed gravel bars in the NE corner, I got into them pretty good on a couple of trips. And, they were decent sized. But, without the brushy stickups of the area near the campgrounds...or the rocks being flooded...the success of the spawn is questionable. There were more adults trying to spawn, but like the other species they probably did not have a great survival rate on the young. There will likely be another big drop in the crappie population for a couple of years. Hopefully the water will rise far enough by their spawning time to allow the larger adults to have a good "spring fling" this year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]5. There was no mention made of smallmouths. My observation has been that the drop in water level for two years has really whacked the smallies. Their natural habitat is rocks and their preferred diet includes lots of crawdads. The past two years they have had to survive over the relatively structureless bottom of a drained lake, and to subsist almost entirely on shad. Same with largemouths. Both species were showing up in greater numbers and in good sizes before the drawdown. Since then they have been much fewer and smaller.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]6. Perch and bluegills. Both of those species were developing stronger populations before the drawdown, and provided good fishing through the ice and along the dikes during the summer months. I used to have to put up with pesky perch munching my minnows...and big bluegills hitting my plastics being fished for wipers. This past year I did not catch one perch and only caught a couple of bluegills. Both of these species also serve as forage for wipers and walleyes...especially for walleyes. And, once catfish are able to grow past the 20 inch mark, they also feed heavily on panfish. In times of old, most big cats from Willard always had a couple of bluegill or green sunfish in their innards.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In short, the lake has been out of balance, but it has managed to survive. In some cases there has been no long term effects that will not be quickly restored with high water. In other cases there will be some changed populations of species for a couple of years...or longer.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The snow is piling up in the mountains and there is reason for optimism that Willard will fill to the brim this year. Besides the additional water, the increased inflow will bring more nutrients into the lake and that will provide more food for the shad...and the young of other species. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The only "downside" is that the fish will be less concentrated...no longer in the deeper holes of the lowered lake.. They will scatter more and will be more difficult to locate. However, in the clearer water, you can fast troll and watch sonar to locate holding areas...which can change during the same day. The real bonanza will be during late summer, when the wipers are able to see the young shad well enough to create the famous "boils". Hopefully they will be many and last long this coming year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, that is only my brief and humble opinion.[/#0000ff]
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[Jacksonman]

Exactly what I was looking for. [:p]

Thanks.

I will actually be here this summer so I will have to try a willard outing or two to see if I can get into one of those infamous wiper boils.
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