03-22-2013, 07:14 PM
[cool][#0000FF]It's all about balance. The example has been used before about only being able to have so many cookies in a cookie jar. Same goes for fish biomass.
Willard Bay is a big sterile mud bowl...with rocks around the edges when the water levels are high. The only water/nutrients it receives is at the end of a long chain of other reservoirs and a lot of other fish before it dumps into Willard. A lot of the nutrients are filtered out before the fish in Willard get their shot.
Unlimited gizzard shad forage? Only half right. They also compete with the young of all other species by slurping up vast quantities of the zooplankton needed by walleyes and other fish to make it from egg to predator. So shad are actually in competition with the other species, even though they ultimately provide forage for the predators.
An example is the crappies. Before gizzard shad, crappies were the main forage base for walleyes and catfish...and other crappies. But because there were plenty of zooplankton for the baby crappies they flourished. Used to be full of crappies. Not any more. In fact, it is not unusual to find large numbers of starved baby crappies floating on the surface in early summer...after they have used up their yolk sacks and have not been able to find enough food to get them to the next level. Even the baby gizzard shad had big dieoffs this fall when the water cooled and the zooplankton numbers fell off.
My point? It is a continuous dance of numbers in Willard. When wiper numbers are up the walleye may not be...and vice versa. During the early part of the year...before the shad spawn...both walleye and wipers compete with catfish for invertebrates and that has decreased the number and size of catfish in Willard.
Willard is like many other lakes in Utah...subject to the whims of weather, snow runoff, etc. In good years it can be great. When the water levels drop it can be subject to a game of survival of the fittest.
Willard has always had walleyes but there have been big cycles when they were either more plentiful or bigger. Doesn't always go together.
Right now Willard probably has the greatest number of big healthy walleyes that I have seen in my four decades of fishing it. With the possible exception of a few years in the early 80's when the limit was 6 fish...with only 2 fish over 20 inches. There were days when it seemed impossible to catch a fish under 20 inches so we always left with a couple of 4 or 5 pounders...throwing back a bunch up to 8 or 10 pounds. They grew fast and big on the abundant crappies.
With the current bumper crop of walleyes in Willard a bit of thinning will not greatly impact walleye fishing...at least for this year. But if there is not a good spawn in other areas of the lake it could have an effect. When the water levels are low the fish do not spawn as well around the main lake. They need wave washed rocks for the best spawn. Just spewing their eggs over a silt bottom causes the eggs to die of suffocation or leaves them vulnerable to the carp and other egg eaters.
If there is a noticeable poor spawn and recruitment this year, DWR should be prepared to take whatever measures are necessary next year to reduce the carnage.
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Willard Bay is a big sterile mud bowl...with rocks around the edges when the water levels are high. The only water/nutrients it receives is at the end of a long chain of other reservoirs and a lot of other fish before it dumps into Willard. A lot of the nutrients are filtered out before the fish in Willard get their shot.
Unlimited gizzard shad forage? Only half right. They also compete with the young of all other species by slurping up vast quantities of the zooplankton needed by walleyes and other fish to make it from egg to predator. So shad are actually in competition with the other species, even though they ultimately provide forage for the predators.
An example is the crappies. Before gizzard shad, crappies were the main forage base for walleyes and catfish...and other crappies. But because there were plenty of zooplankton for the baby crappies they flourished. Used to be full of crappies. Not any more. In fact, it is not unusual to find large numbers of starved baby crappies floating on the surface in early summer...after they have used up their yolk sacks and have not been able to find enough food to get them to the next level. Even the baby gizzard shad had big dieoffs this fall when the water cooled and the zooplankton numbers fell off.
My point? It is a continuous dance of numbers in Willard. When wiper numbers are up the walleye may not be...and vice versa. During the early part of the year...before the shad spawn...both walleye and wipers compete with catfish for invertebrates and that has decreased the number and size of catfish in Willard.
Willard is like many other lakes in Utah...subject to the whims of weather, snow runoff, etc. In good years it can be great. When the water levels drop it can be subject to a game of survival of the fittest.
Willard has always had walleyes but there have been big cycles when they were either more plentiful or bigger. Doesn't always go together.
Right now Willard probably has the greatest number of big healthy walleyes that I have seen in my four decades of fishing it. With the possible exception of a few years in the early 80's when the limit was 6 fish...with only 2 fish over 20 inches. There were days when it seemed impossible to catch a fish under 20 inches so we always left with a couple of 4 or 5 pounders...throwing back a bunch up to 8 or 10 pounds. They grew fast and big on the abundant crappies.
With the current bumper crop of walleyes in Willard a bit of thinning will not greatly impact walleye fishing...at least for this year. But if there is not a good spawn in other areas of the lake it could have an effect. When the water levels are low the fish do not spawn as well around the main lake. They need wave washed rocks for the best spawn. Just spewing their eggs over a silt bottom causes the eggs to die of suffocation or leaves them vulnerable to the carp and other egg eaters.
If there is a noticeable poor spawn and recruitment this year, DWR should be prepared to take whatever measures are necessary next year to reduce the carnage.
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