I am so confused.....

[YellowBear]

I just read a fishing report from a local resort.
The report announced the activity around the dock for Crappie, Bluegill and Perch.
It also talked about how well the Largemouth where biting.
It even pointed out that the catfish and Trout were showing.
The report also mentioned how tough the Walleye bite was for boat anglers.
The claim is that with the large amount of forage this year the Walleyes are to well fed.

Here is my question to anyone with a answer.
If the Walleye are taking advantage of the abundance of forage to the point of being hard to catch, then why are the other species not feeding on the same forage?

My guess whould be that the numbers of Walleye are not what we have been lead to beleive.

[TroutSnipr]

They have different forage targets. The walleyes are being typical spiny rays and eating the smaller 3-5" trout, bass, crappie, bluegill, and perch. The trout, bluegill, and crappie are probably targeting what's left of the fry hatch which are dwindling now 3-4 months after hatch as they are getting relatively large and whatever insects they can find. Walleyes are also shallower in warm water while trout and bass will be in deeper cooler water this time of year.

[Amx]

They have different forage targets. The walleyes are being typical spiny rays and eating the smaller 3-5" trout, bass, crappie, bluegill, and perch. The trout, bluegill, and crappie are probably targeting what's left of the fry hatch which are dwindling now 3-4 months after hatch as they are getting relatively large and whatever insects they can find. Walleyes are also shallower in warm water while trout and bass will be in deeper cooler water this time of year.

I thought walleye were cold water fish. I'd think they would be deep in the warmer water.

[TroutSnipr]

it depends. if their forage like the bluegill and perch are still shallow that is where they will be. The report he quoted stated that they are in the same depth water as the dock, which I'm assuming like most docks is in fairly shallow water. That may be an error on my part. But it also noted that the walleye bite was tough for boat anglers and this time of year they are usually trolling bladed crawler harnesses behind a bottom bouncer. A tough bite means 4 things, they aren't hungry, you are doing it wrong, weather or other factors have shut down the bite, or they just aren't where you are fishing for them.

[Natebg1]

Alright, so here is some information that might be helpful in answering questions with Walleye feeding habits. http://sportfisherman.net/sportfish/fis ... eed_me.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.thenextbite.com/node/22188" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Over the years growing up fishing for Walleyes for fun the key thing that we all learned was that they were early morning and late afternoon or evening feeders. The reason for this was the fact that Walleyes are very sensitive to light and anytime the sun went down or was behind the trees this was a trigger for the bite to begin. This is also another reason why Walleye can usually be caught in deeper water during the day time. Plus Walleye are more of a cold water fish so they are more prone to staying in the deeper edges or deep weeds and rock shoals. If I were fishing for Walleye right now, I would start off the deeper edges of rock points and weed edges as well as finding areas where there is a major change in contour. I am in no way a professional, but I know from experience that Walleye have a tendency to be in deeper water during the day and shallower water later in the evening and early morning to feed. Of course it also varies on water temperature, as well as weather too just like almost any other fish. The major key I would highly suggest for greatest possibility of getting a Walleye is fishing early morning or later into the evening. During the day moving to deeper water or finding an area with shade will certainly help to get on fish if they are in the area. Hopefully this helps in some manner, tight lines.

Nate

[YellowBear]

I went to Potholes yesterday in search of the forage that is being talked about.
It must all be in the dunes because there was zip along the dam as far as forage.
There were Carp and we did catch Smallmouth.
We brought 15 Bass home and I looked in 15 stomach's for signs of forage.
Out of 15 fish I found one small baitfish that looked like it may have been a Perch.
The other 14 fish had nothing ,zip, nadda not even a Crawdad.
We also noticed the numbers of Pelicans 20 and Cormorants 1 were way down from years past.

[Anglinarcher]

Funny how the abundance of bait fish has led to the skinny fish. I have observed that on Roosevelt this year for sure.

Perhaps the Walleye are on a diet? You know, the Government wants all of us to go on a diet, so maybe the "schools" of fish got the word.

It is true that an abundance of forage can slow the fishing down to those that use the traditional methods, but to the experienced Walleye Fisherman, abundant forage is perfect.

Bear, I suspect your are confused a whole lot less then everyone else.

[Mike Schmuck]

To be clear, I don't know that anyone knows why walleye fishing flucuates as much as it does. I examined walleye abundance data from surveys and correlated it with angler catch rates and could find no reliable prediction. One of the only sources of angler catch data we have comes from tournaments. Tournament catch rates on FDR were the highest yet FDR has one of the lowest population densities of lakes in which we manage walleye.

Last year we heard about how great the walleye fishing was on Potholes, however, our catch rates during our walleye survey were the lowest ever recorded.

One reasonable hypothesis is that angler success may be related to available food. I don't know if this is the case but it seems to be a reasonable explanation. The truth is, there is a tremendous amount of information that we don't have about fish population dynamics, however, we continue to understand more and more while working toward improving fisheries where we can make an impact.

[YellowBear]

I am not sure who thinks Potholes was great for Walleye last year.
My wife and I fish it quite a bit and we have not seen a Walleye out of there in three years now.
Other folks that I know are having the same results.
We see the Walleye going the way the Panfish did.
We watched the big fish fade away and then the big schools just disapeared.
By law I am not allowed to kill 300 fish at a time for my studies so I have to rely on information from other anglers and my own observations.
Lake Roosevelt is a perfect example.
What was the winning weight this year?
What was the average weight?
How many anglers fished the event?
I bet the numbers are down for all three questions.
I agree with your hypothesis that angler success may be related to available food,if there is no food there are no fish.

[Mike Schmuck]

I'm refering to the guys at Mardon who let us know when the fishing is good and when it is poor. In addition, all our volunteers were talking about how good the walleye fishing was. I'm sorry your experiences weren't similar.

To address your concerns that there are far fewer big fish in Potholes I made a chart to illustrate the changes.

Pholes FWIN.jpg (29.34 KiB) Viewed 5159 times

Since 2002 the percent of walleye in our samples at least 16 inches has averaged 48 percent and has been going up since 2007. The percent of walleye in our samples at least 20 inches has averaged 26 percent with a high of 35 percent in 2010. The percent of walleye collected in our samples over 24 inches has steadily increased (albeit with a couple dips) since 2002. See below.

Pholes over 24.jpg (22.23 KiB) Viewed 5159 times

I don't have the numbers from this year's FDR tournament. What I did was look at all walleye tournament data and compare the yearly average angler catch rate with the gill net catch rate from FWIN surveys (in some cases the only data I had). My hypothesis was that angler catch rates would be affected by walleye abundance (measured in terms of gill net CPUE, again the best indicator of overall walleye abundance we have). I found no reliable relationship between walleye abundance and angler catch rates (direct correlation). In fact, the lake with the lowest walleye density had, on average, the highest tournament angler catch rates.

[YellowBear]

It will be interesting to see how many 10 + lb fish show up this year.

[geljockey]

I am not sure who thinks Potholes was great for Walleye last year.
My wife and I fish it quite a bit and we have not seen a Walleye out of there in three years now.
Other folks that I know are having the same results.
We see the Walleye going the way the Panfish did.
We watched the big fish fade away and then the big schools just disapeared.
By law I am not allowed to kill 300 fish at a time for my studies so I have to rely on information from other anglers and my own observations.
Lake Roosevelt is a perfect example.
What was the winning weight this year?
What was the average weight?
How many anglers fished the event?
I bet the numbers are down for all three questions.
I agree with your hypothesis that angler success may be related to available food,if there is no food there are no fish.

2012 Governor's Cup Walleye Tournament (usually held last weekend of June)
Winning weight was 30.96 lbs (26.28 in 2011, 26.70 in 2010)
Average weight was 1.27 lbs (1.81 lbs in 2011, 1.31 lbs 2010)
No. of anglers was 132 (176 anglers in 2011, 189 anglers in 2010)

2012 Washington State Walleye Championship (usually held last weekend of July)
Winning weight was 25.80 lbs (32.84 in 2011, 30.36 on 2010)
Average weight was 1.24 lbs (1.44 lbs in 2011, 1.56 in 2010)
No. of anglers was 104 (114 in 2011, 142 in 2010)