Northwest Fishing Reports

All,
UPDATE:

The 2013 Fall Walleye Index Netting Report is now available ONLINE. This report is a summary of our Walleye surveys from FDR, Banks Lake, Potholes, Moses Lake and Scooteney Reservoir in 2013.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01600/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

-Mike

Thanks for letting us know it's available Mike. We'll probably just come over to the office sometime and pick one up.
Rosann

Anything you have to offer, I'm reading! Thanks for all your help in the past and future!

Rosann,

Thanks for all your help on our surveys! There are copies at the front desk and also at Wally-World.

Mark, thanks!

All I need is an email address and I can send the report to anyone who wants one. I have received several requests already.

Mike

Mike, thanks for sending mine. Interesting read.

If you could, in a sentence or two, what would you say the "trend" is over the last, or say, 5 years?

Thanks.

There seems to be fewer large Walleye, but good production of Walleye overall should provide anglers with a lot of harvest opportunities. Also, Yellow perch numbers on Potholes and Moses Lake should provide anglers with another good option if Walleye aren't biting.

How's that?

Thanks

If the crystal ball is working, any predictions for spring Walleye at Potholes?

I'm harnessing my inner Carnac....

Spring Walleye at Potholes:
The average Walleye CPUE in 2014 on Potholes Reservoir was 29.8 fish per net. This is an increase from 2013 (21.9 Walleye per net average) and is the highest Walleye CPUE on Potholes Reservoir since 2008. In addition, this is the third highest Walleye on Potholes Reservoir since FWIN sampling began in 2002. This increase was primarily due to an increase in the number of age–0 Walleye collected. Age–0 Walleye represented 43% of the Walleye collected in 2014. Variation in Walleye CPUE was above average, with catch rates ranging from 69 Walleye per net to 3 Walleye per net.

Walleye collected during FWIN sampling on Potholes Reservoir averaged 15 inches in 2014, which is similar to 2013 but below the long-term average (16 inches). Walleye in the 8–12 inch range averaged 10 inches and were well represented in our sampling (FIGURE 23). Walleye in the 12–16 inch range declined in relative abundance from 2013. These Walleye averaged 14 inches in fall 2013 and may have undergone significant harvest in 2014. Walleye above 16 inches represented 48% of those collected and approximately 23% were over 20 inches. Anglers should have plenty of opportunities for catching and harvesting Walleye in 2015 on Potholes Reservoir.

Working on the 2014 FWIN report in between posting here.

I anticipate it getting to the public by early March.

-Mike

Well, those numbers match up with my experience on Potholes last year - lots of babies and a few keepers

I suspect Banks will be similar based on my one trip last summer and the reports Ive seen on here.

Thanks for the advanced report!

Larry

Walleye collected during FWIN on Banks Lake averaged nearly 15 inches in 2014. This was an increase from 2013 (14 inches) and was consistent with the long-term average. The majority of Walleye collected were in the 12–16 inch range (FIGURE 11), and were primarily age–2 fish (FIGURE 12). Only 17% of the Walleye collected were at least 16 inches. This is a decline from 2013 and is the lowest percentage of larger Walleye collected during FWIN surveys on Banks Lake since 2002. These results indicate that anglers will likely encounter fewer large Walleye in 2015 and 2016 in Banks Lake.

Mike: Thanks very much for taking the time to share all that. A group of us are planning to head to Potholes mid April and we have little to no experience there but are looking forward to it. This information should just add to the anticipation. I look forward to seeing the completed report.

Guys,

My pleasure. If I had to recommend ONE Walleye lake for 2015, however, I would send people to Moses Lake.

We conducted the 2014 Moses Lake FWIN survey October 14–15. A total of eight FWIN nets were set throughout the lake and 512 Walleye were collected. The average Walleye CPUE in 2014 on Moses Lake was 64 fish per net (FIGURE 16). This is a significant increase from 2013 (38 Walleye per net average) and is primarily due to an increase in abundance of Age-0 Walleye. Since 2011 Walleye CPUE has been above the long-term average on Moses Lake. With the exception of 2008 and 2009 the average Walleye CPUE was higher on Moses Lake than on any other FWIN water (FIGURE 2).

Walleye collected during FWIN sampling on Moses Lake averaged 14 inches in 2014. This is smaller than the 2013 average (15 inches) as well as the long-term average (16 inches). Approximately 43% of the Walleye collected in 2014 were at least 16 inches (FIGURE 17). This was the highest percentage of Walleye at least 16 inches collected in Moses Lake since 2011; however; it was less than the long-term average (51%). In 2013 the percentage of Walleye in the 12–16 inch range was well above the long-term average. Many of these fish undoubtedly recruited in to the 16–20 inch range which, in 2014, represented approximately 33% of the Walleye collected. Anglers should find a higher percentage of 16–20 inch Walleye on Moses Lake in 2015 compared to 2014.

Hello there Mike.
I thought the target number of fish for the FWIN study was 300.
When you take more than 300, how does that effect your results?

That is an excellent question.

300 Walleye gives us a lot of good data on growth, maturity, length frequency. But setting only 8 nets does not give us great data on CPUE (walleye per net).

As your sample size increases your variance goes down. Variance is an indication of how precise your average is. Lower variance = lower variability around your estimate and = greater confidence that your estimate is accurate.

We often sacrifice precision around our CPUE estimate by stopping sampling when we collect 300 Walleye. Sometimes this takes 20-25 nets, other years it takes 8. In years where we set relatively few nets our variance can be rather large. However, we don't know how many nets we will need to set until we begin sampling.

In 2014 we set 8 nets on day 1 expecting around 160 to maybe 200 Walleye. We collected 512!! Keep in mind these are random locations throughout the lake. This did give us more data on growth, age distribution, maturity, etc... but the big take-away message for us was simply how abundant Walleye are in Moses Lake. They are fast-growing, early to mature and tend to not have many weak production years.

There was not a lot of variation in catch per net, which is a good indication that we didn't happen to set some in really prime locations by chance. Below are our numbers: Each Survey# represents a net set.

Survey # Walleye per net CPUE
1 42
2 57
3 59
4 63
5 87
6 80
7 85
8 39

Below is a map of our 2014 net locations for Moses Lake (now with numbers of Walleye per net).

Wow! Appreciate the information and thanks for taking the time to share it here.

Mike, be sure to post a link here when the report is ready for public consumption.

Thanks!!

Larry

I'll admit it. I am now a Walleye info junkie! I greatly appreciated last year's survey numbers for both Potholes and Moses Lake. We made maybe 4 group trips last year (4-6 people & 2-4 boats) and had a great time. For some reason, Moses Lake didn't live up to expectations but Potholes, apparently not as good as the 2014 fishery, still was well worth the 4 hour drive.

So Mike, any chance of you pulling out that crystal ball once again!? Anything you can share will, I'm sure, be appreciated by all! Thanks in advance/ anticipation!