Walleye stocking and walleye shocking reports.

[walleyemaxx]

Hi everyone,

Hard to find info, but I talked to a DNR person at the landing who told me that the DNR completed thier fall shocking surveys. On the East side in the prime spawning areas they found up to 50 Walleyes per mile of shoreline. But on the West side they had very low numbers. From 1 to 0 per mile. The DNR will add all the numbers up and come up with an average per mile number. Seems skewed when you think about it. They should have an average number for the East side, with a seperate average number for the West. Don't know when the official announcement will come out. Hopefully soon.

I was told also that the Flowage association stocked in 25,000 extended length Walleyes in various places throughout the Big Chip. No story on that yet either. I'll report more about that when I find out. A big thank you to all involved in that project.

No word yet on what the DNR plans to do regarding size limits on the Big Chip. They have to do something. I know they want to protect the new extended length fingerlings just planted. Maybe a 15" minimum for 5 years, then change the regs to a 1 over or slot size before the Walleyes stack up under the 15"s. Hopefully we'll hear something on that before to long. Good luck fishing everyone.

Walleyemaxx

[lost another anchor]

wow! what a differance in the two sides. I've been fishing the west side for about 40 years(had no desire to try the east) and the most telling story is the abundance of the large mouth on the west side. Ive never seen so many bass caught as i did this year-a couple in the next cabin came up for just the bass and caught 40 in one day . Ive seen lean walleye fishing before but at least you caught one by accident in the week you were up there. We talked about size and slot limits a while back and i have to agree the dnr has to do something to improve the walleye fishery before they lose it- You just cant keep dumping stocked fish in-the walleye need to reproduce on their own and sustain that part of the ecosystem- Right now the bass have thrown that system in disorder. Maybe the dnr needs to attack this problem not on one front but on muliple frontslike-drop the lake like they used too, slot and size the walleye -and keep the fish pressure on the bass and maybe the northerns so the walleye and musky can take back being the top predators- ok I have vented- thanks for keeping the masses informed

[walleyemaxx]

Hi Lost Another Anchor,

You're absolutly right that the solution to the problem is multi-pronged. The DNR did do one part by taking the size limit off LGM Bass. It was also a big deal to seperate the SM from the LGM Bass for management reasons. Now to figure out a size limit that will work for the Walleyes. In Vilas county the one regulation that seemed to work on every lake that has it is the 1 over 14" reg. It seems to work better than a minimum size limit.

Right now, I'll be happy to see anything because something is better than nothing. The no size limit reg. is not working. I'll keep trying to find out more about what the DNR is going to do and report what I learn. In the mean time, keep eating those LGMBass. Good luck fishing everyone.

Walleyemaxx