Scary stuff on Walleye populations

[Acountdeleted]

This article was written based on Lakes in the U.S. (because they actually have the funding to do them) but after reading it, makes me think twice about keeping my limit when I go out.

 

http://www.outdoorcanada.ca/WALLEYEVILLE

[OhioFisherman]

I agree, is it any wonder that some lakes now seem to have constant stocking programs to maintain a population?

[mike rousseau]

Very interesting...

 

Makes sense tho... Think about how many acres of "dead" or unproductive water there are where you target walleye...

 

Therefore there are areas with high populations with vast areas with little to no fish...

 

So on a 10 acre mud flat with a rock pile may have 50 walleye on the rocks and only a handful in the other 9.5 acres...

[Acountdeleted]

I can see what you are saying.

 

What concerned me the most was let's say me and my 4 closest buddies pile into a boat and go to our favourite 500 acre lake. We each keep our limit on walleye. That's 1% of the entire population. Let's say 4 other boats do that. That's 5% of the population in one day. Over a summer and winter of constant fishing pressure, that lake doesn't stand a chance.

[Mister G]

Very interesting...

 

Makes sense tho... Think about how many acres of "dead" or unproductive water there are where you target walleye...

 

Therefore there are areas with high populations with vast areas with little to no fish...

 

So on a 10 acre mud flat with a rock pile may have 50 walleye on the rocks and only a handful in the other 9.5 acres...

Yes, but that's no different then any lake in North America, however many lakes give you a much better success rate all while being even more challenging to the angler.

 

Take the best walleye lake in North America........Lake Erie...it's HUGE vast areas of unproductive waters that some will fish for days or even seasons without much success, others will limit out with huge walleyes that make pictures pop out on any site.

 

What we have today is not much different that what was available 50 years ago.....fish and be happy.

[Rizzo]

not sure how big 500 acres is....but I think a Kawartha lake would have 2000 Walleye taken out every week!

[Mister G]

not sure how big 500 acres is....

 

 

That sir is just a large pond.......especially when you're talking walleyes.

[musky666]

So if thats the lowdown on Walleye numbers- how many Musky in the same sized lake? As the top predator there will be substantially fewer I imagine.

[Mister G]

So if thats the lowdown on Walleye numbers- how many Musky in the same sized lake? As the top predator there will be substantially fewer I imagine.

Who cares..........they taste like carp anyways.....LOL

[chris.brock]

For example, Balsam Lake is 12500 acres. Using their math, that would be a total of about 50,000 mature walleye.

 

I've done quite a bit of snorkeling. I'm not getting down very deep, but there is a lot of barren waste land down there.

[OhioFisherman]

640 acres is a square mile, very small for a walleye lake.

[Acountdeleted]

That actually puts this into better perspective.

 

I can convert Miles to KM and back fairly easily but hectares and acres always got me. Puts me at a little more easy, but still food for thought, regardless.

[c10]

I always think about the old saying "90% of the fish hold in 10% of the water" before I go to a spot, I think I saw this last week and it sure made me think about the sustainability of some lakes as well as why some people find walleye fishing so tough lol

[outllaw]

good info. I am in between l.erie and lsc. this region holds more walleyes then many lakes combined. with spawn cycles the foremost important factor,and mother nature give when eggs are laid. . one day we will see erie and walleyes crash. the phosphates of the 60,s are gone,but now theres several lurkers ready to create the perfect storm. sadly most are man made.

[grt1]

years ago the mnr did a creel survey on the lake I live on and came to the conclusion that it was being fished 600% more than it could sustain. there are maybe 10 private residences on it, with 5 of them being fulltime residences. there are also 5 tourist resorts on the lake.

 

add to this the fact the lake is accessible by locals by travelling down stream from Red Lake into it.

 

the fishing was going down hill but the camp owners, to their credit, came up with the rule for all to follow (voluntarily). that no fish over the legal size limit would be allowed in their camps and no fish over the size limit that was allowed in the regulations would be allowed,

 

the local private residents for the most part, follow this as do the summer residents that have cabins on the lake.

 

today the lake is teaming with walleye and it is not unusual for a boat of 4 from a tourist camp to catch over 50 walleye a day and still take home their limit ( most take the conservation licence).

 

while I'm on the lake I see more and more people taking pictures of the fish and releasing them. it all helps the lake survive and provide for future generations

[lookinforwalleye]

not sure how big 500 acres is....but I think a Kawartha lake would have 2000 Walleye taken out every week!

Yep and the Crappie take double that!!!

[c10]

the fishing was going down hill but the camp owners, to their credit, came up with the rule for all to follow (voluntarily). that no fish over the legal size limit would be allowed in their camps and no fish over the size limit that was allowed in the regulations would be allowed,

 

 

I hope you aren't saying that once everyone started to play by the rules and care about others playing by the same provincial/ zone wide regulations that the fishery became sustainable again. Maybe I am reading this wrong lol (and if I am I am terribly sorry!), but the legal size limit isn't something that can voluntarily be obeyed. It is the law, why would these camps tolerate people keeping more than their limits and larger fish than their limits in that zone permitted them to take?

[OhioFisherman]

good info. I am in between l.erie and lsc. this region holds more walleyes then many lakes combined. with spawn cycles the foremost important factor,and mother nature give when eggs are laid. . one day we will see erie and walleyes crash. the phosphates of the 60,s are gone,but now theres several lurkers ready to create the perfect storm. sadly most are man made.

 

 

You do have to wonder if the Phosphates are really gone? Or has the source of them simply changed? The water problems in Toledo Ohio this year seem to indicate the same old problem? Just a different source of it? Agricultural runoff is putting them back into the system, just as detergents did in the past? More agriculture to support a growing population and more runoff? It doesn't seem like the land gets a rest to replenish itself naturally, population growth doesn't allow for that, so the use of chemical fertilizers grows?