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First of all I want to thank all of you who shared your Walleye wisdom with me. I did make it out to Willard and didn't come away empty handed.
I had planned on fishing Tuesday evening into the wee hours or the morning. My dear wife preferred I not go it alone so I talked my dad into joining me for an early Wednesday morning outing. We were on the North West dyke by 3 a.m. and it was beautiful. Not too cold, no wind, minimal bugs, Eyes rolling everywhere. We were hopeful to get into a fair amount of action but it turns out they were more into themselves than our jigs. My dad had a few hits and fought one for a short time before loosing the battle. I had a few missed hits as well but landed a fat 16 incher around 4 a.m. I was also able to nab a nice cookie cutter kittie on my second pole with a worm. As we were leaving we chatted with another fisherman who had one eye as well and decided to donate to my catch which will explain my pic below. Thanks again for all I have gleaned from everyone at one time or another on this site and I hope to be more participatory in the future.
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congrats that is awsome im heading out right now let you now how i do.
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[cool][#0000ff]Glad you got some fish for your efforts.[/#0000ff]
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Don't forget this is a fishing forum where what is written is usually farrrrr from the truth!!!!
I'm sure that is the case!!
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huh??? I must have missed something.
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Life is about learning and this was definitely a new one for me. I had no idea I was tainting a good fishing trip. Thanks Tubedude for the information and education. I definitely won't make that mistake again. [:/]
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Good job on the eye. It will only get better.
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It's gonna be an Insane year for the Walleye. It has already been exceptional. But they are still spawning and I have never seen this number of eyes. Get them this year and it might mean another good year if we can take enough out to not wipe out the shad.
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Do you really think the shad could be in jeopardy? That's an honest ? Not an attack. Seems to me the predators aren't even close to overcoming the forage. Aren't the big gizzard shad supposed to prevent that from happening?
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I don't know for sure. But I have 2 examples where Walleye have eaten themselves out of house and home. Yuba and Starvation. I don't know if they can at Willard, but keeping a bunch of Walleye has never hurt the population, especially when it has been booming in Utah.
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Are there any examples where Walleye were fished out of existence or is it only when we drain the reservoir that they are threatened.
Starvation was a good example of them eating themselves of grub.
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[cool][#0000ff]It is virtually impossible to fish all the walleyes out of any given ecological system. They are top predators and can make a good living without having to eat the silly stuff that anglers drag by them...so they are usually more difficult to catch than other species.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The truth is that walleyes are their own worst enemies. They keep eating and reproducing until they pass the "tipping point" in the predator/prey balance. And when their environment betrays them...as in Yuba, when it goes into a drought cycle...their prey disappears and then walleyes do too. When the vegetation requirements for perch spawning are not there during low water cycles then the perch can't spawn enough to feed both themselves and the other predators. Busto. Then the walleyes become easy to catch because they are always hungry...and anglers begin to think they are real walleye killers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Starvation IS a good example of walleye stunting due to overeating the prey source. In the days before walleyes and smallmouths in Starvation it was FULL of chubs. The trout could not keep up with them...but it did not take the new introductions long to mop them up...and then to run out of food. Hate to see bucket biology but whoever dumped perch into Starvation actually did the lake a favor. At least the walleyes and smallies are bigger and more plentiful...and the perch are big and fun too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The closest thing to major angler effect on walleyes is in the midwest where there is heavy angling pressure on the 'eyes...and they can use live bait. The state fisheries departments actually maintain a stocking program to keep the numbers up. Not much need for that in Utah because the boom and bust cycles of walleyes are more a matter of weather cycles and water user demands than angler success.[/#0000ff]
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I would think that Willard would be a lake that fisherman do keep walleye in check. The only reason I say that is because of the wiper fisherman. I would say on average the majority of people that launch are after wiper. What is the number one lure used for wiper? Cranks. And walleye loooove cranks. It is inevitable that a large number of wiper guys accidentally pop walleye and that most of them make it to the dinner table. Put that with the walleye guys out there and there is a lot of pressure through out the year. Let's not forget the kitties effect too. I catch on average 2-3 catfish for every walleye. I'm sure they help with the shad. [fishon]
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[cool][#0000ff]Of course fishing pressure will have SOME effect on the walleyes. But not nearly as much as the droughts and the big drawdown to repair the dike. Thousands of walleyes sucked out the pipe and then no rocks to spawn in for a couple of years. Much more dramatic than a few wild-eyed wiper harvesters.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I truly believe that if the water levels remained high and fishing pressure remained constant that the walleyes would probably overpopulate.[/#0000ff]
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Never heard of people fishing Walleye out of existence anywhere.
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My memory is short and i still think of the low water years. Your probably right. I'll eat my fair share to help with population control[fishon]
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]. Good job on your walleye! I love hearing these reports. It is starting to confirm that there is a butt load of eyes in the bay. Get em while it's hot cause it will be next to impossible to get em from the shore after the spawn. Good luck[fishon]
]. Any good windstorm through the month of June will bring the toothy critters right back to the rocks looking for an easy meal of dazed shad. There are a bunch of eyes in there. I don't know how old the 15/16 inches are but that was a helluva a productive year for them.![[Image: fish-on.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/fish-on.gif)
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