11-15-2013, 07:24 PM
[#0000FF]I've been around long enough to observe "open seasons" on both the lower Provo River and the inlet at Willard Bay. Both were initially nothing but snagfests during the annual walleye spawning runs. The Provo was closed to fishing during the spawn for several years before the Willard inlet was.
4 or 5 years ago I was attending a meeting in Springville...at the DWR offices. A couple of the biologists and COs were trading stories about the efforts to police the closure on the Provo River...and the devious and ingenious tactics that local poachers were using to continue their illegal harvests...day and night...on the closed waters. These guys admitted that there was no valid reasons for keeping the Provo closed during the spawn...because of the high reproduction and recruitment of other spawning in other areas of the lake. But they felt they had to continue with the closures simply to MINIMIZE the illegal harvest. They knew they could not stop it completely but they could slow it down.
Most of us who know and love Willard have witnessed the wholesale illegal taking of walleyes by the happy harvesters...even when there has been a closure. Opening it for everybody to join in is tantamount to admitting that walleyes are an orphan stepchild and nobody cares about them.
True, there are some folks who are only able to catch walleyes during the spawn...when they are vulnerable to "force feeding". But that should not be an excuse for penalizing serious anglers who fish for them all year long and spend lots of time and money in sophisticated pursuit.
The early walleye snaggers on the lower Provo River all used that reasoning...they ain't bitin' nothin' so ya gotta snag 'em.
Willard Bay is a lot different than Utah Lake. The walleyes are susceptible to population variations because of a wide range of changing conditions. They seem to take a big hit for some reason or other every few years. Let's at least give them a fighting chance by not removing a big percentage of the spawning adults every spring.
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4 or 5 years ago I was attending a meeting in Springville...at the DWR offices. A couple of the biologists and COs were trading stories about the efforts to police the closure on the Provo River...and the devious and ingenious tactics that local poachers were using to continue their illegal harvests...day and night...on the closed waters. These guys admitted that there was no valid reasons for keeping the Provo closed during the spawn...because of the high reproduction and recruitment of other spawning in other areas of the lake. But they felt they had to continue with the closures simply to MINIMIZE the illegal harvest. They knew they could not stop it completely but they could slow it down.
Most of us who know and love Willard have witnessed the wholesale illegal taking of walleyes by the happy harvesters...even when there has been a closure. Opening it for everybody to join in is tantamount to admitting that walleyes are an orphan stepchild and nobody cares about them.
True, there are some folks who are only able to catch walleyes during the spawn...when they are vulnerable to "force feeding". But that should not be an excuse for penalizing serious anglers who fish for them all year long and spend lots of time and money in sophisticated pursuit.
The early walleye snaggers on the lower Provo River all used that reasoning...they ain't bitin' nothin' so ya gotta snag 'em.
Willard Bay is a lot different than Utah Lake. The walleyes are susceptible to population variations because of a wide range of changing conditions. They seem to take a big hit for some reason or other every few years. Let's at least give them a fighting chance by not removing a big percentage of the spawning adults every spring.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]