1st post & walleye limits

[keepthemeyes]

i've been lurking for a while and decided i'd post. a little about me: i grew up fishing for trout, mainly at strawberry. i got into warm water fishing about 20 years ago and quickly became addicted to walleye fishing. i mainly fish starvation, deercreek and in the past yuba. i do fish for other species from time to time, but i mainly fish for walleye.

i've noticed that the dwr is encouraging heavy walleye harvest on yuba. i couldn't agree more. i just wish we would hear the same about starvation and dercreek. my question is why place a limit on walleye in either starvation, deercreek, or yuba? i can somewhat understand the 1 fish over 24" size restricion, but personally i think there should be no limit on walleye under 24". in starvation, deercreek and yuba the walleye fishing fluctuates with the amount of limited forage. starvation was set to crash until some idiot dumped perch in there. who knows what the future will be there now, but based on other reservoirs with a perch forage base it's hard to be optimistic. deercreek seems to fluctuate with the perch, although it doesn't seem to be as bad as yuba. and then of course there's yuba. when there's perch it's an amazing walleye fishery. when the perch are gone there's good trout fishing. my theory is that there aren't enough walleye anglers in utah to have an impact on the walleye numbers in these reservoirs. even if there are enough anglers i doubt that their catch rate vs time spent fishing would have an impact. but let's say it happened. let's assume that enough anglers went to yuba, starvation and deercreek and kept enough walleyes that it severely affected the populations. so what? if that did happen the dwr could reinstate a limit. no matter how over fished they could be the walleyes would never be completely gone. they would come back. meanwhile, with the walleye numbers down the perch could flourish. imo the perch, and whatever else the walleyes are eating, need as much help as they can get. we've all seen the crashes at yuba in the past and the fluctuations at deercreek. it's hard to believe that starvation will be any different. so why not harvest the fish instead of letting them starve to death? as a walleye fisherman i would hate to see walleyes over harvested, but that seems like a much better alternative to a crash. my guess is that if they were over harvested they would bounce back much sooner because the food would still be there. whereas when it crashes we have to wait for the perch to come back then the walleye come back. it seems like it's been about 10 years since there was good walleye fishing at yuba. 10 years of trout fishing at yuba is about 10 too many for me. i'd really hate to see this cycle continue.

sorry for the long post.
[signature]

[Kent]

Welcome to BFT and thanks for the well-thought-out post. I asked the same question of Tom Pettingil, (I believe his title was Information Officer with the UDWR), several years ago. I was told that the current limit was more than adequate for one angler to harvest and eat at a time, and if they were allowed to keep more then they would merely waste the extra fish. I never understood the logic of this response in light of the unlimited harvest on striped bass at Lake Powell and unlimited harvest of white bass on Utah Lake. It would make sense to me to allow those who are able to catch the walleye to harvest and consume them (either themselves or they could share the few extra with their friends and neighbors), rather than having the fishery crash more frequently.
[signature]

[Fishrmn]

Welcome aboard! But don't let the guys at RMA hear you say "harvest the walleyes". How right you are! If there was a way to catch so many of them that they were knocked back a little, they would recover a lot faster than if they decimated the forage and crashed.
I used to fish for the 'eyes at Utah Lake, but lost interest a long time ago. I hope the walleye fisheries can stay good. Maybe more people will fish for them if the fisheries can hold up.
[signature]

[Troll]

10 Walleye limit, that's 20 nice long tasty walleye fillets and 20 nice 5-7" nice walleye belly sections. That's enough in the freezer for a fish that gan be caught in 4 major lakes close to metropolitan areas. Yuba, DC, Willard, UT Lake, Starvation would be the farthest and highest climb pulling your boat.

How many people really have that much walleye in the freezer. I know I don't. I consider myself a pretty good wally fisher, there are days I can get 3 maybe 4 keeper, 18" fish for myself in the boat, that's plenty for dinner, breakast and probably a chowder for lunch.
10 wallys is just the amount you can have in possession, eat 3 or so a day and you should have no problem keeping all you catch.
[signature]

[Saberfish]

[black][size 3]Speaking for myself, a avid walleye chaser, the limit could be 100 or higher. In Utah, they have to be the hardest fish to catch in the state.[/size][/black]
[size 3][/size]
[size 3]If I set out to have a skunked day on the water, I would chase walleye. Some states that are fortunate enough to have a water in their state that is considered a "Walleye factory" have no problem catching a limit, but this has not been the case in Utah.[/size]

[size 3]If I catch 3 or 4, I have had a successful day.[/size]
[size 3]I would be very wary of anyone who claims success on every Walleye outing.[/size]

[size 3]Because they seem to be available on a cyclic basis, there are times when a few can be caught with ease, but year in and year out, they are a hard fish to catch.[/size]
[signature]

[line_dangler]

If you really want to know why there is a 10 fish limit my suggestion is to call or e-mail UDWR Warm Water Fisheries biologist Drew Cushing. He will be more than glad to explain that limit, as he did at the walleye seminar on March 18th. I will not give you any other reasons about the limit on this post. Just Call Drew, then we can talk about it through PMs. How about that for a welcome?[]
[signature]

[Paddler]

Tom was head of Sport Fisheries for the DWR before he retired.

At times walleye are easy to catch at Yuba. After they recover from the spawn, and before the perch fry get big, they are quite hungry. I had a 25 fish day there once, the largest was ~5#. My partner that day kept pulling the hook out, trying to set it like he was fly fishing, but he still got 10. We were bottom bouncing. It sounds like catching a 10 fish limit will be doable this year. If so, keep them. Maybe that will prolong or smooth out the Boom and Bust cycle there. Don't worry about keeping too many, they freeze well, and are indistinguishable from fresh if you use a Food Saver.

You might also try trolling cranks behind planer boards. Get the book, "Precision Trolling". It explains the technique. I once caught 15 walleye in 2 hours at Willard, and was alone in my boat. Tom used to troll at Yuba with good success. I don't leave home without 150+ crankbaits in the boat. A tip for Yuba. I once ran into a guy who was just killing them, limits of big fish, and it appeared he was making a couple of trips per day. He used leadcore line and small baits, like a wiggle wart or thin fin. Something to keep in mind.
[signature]

[jekern1015]

I have been fishing for walleye for three years now and if it were not for the perch and trout in these waters I would have been skunked 80% of the time. I agree with the size limit restriction and I pray I can catch a limit in one trip let alone one season. I will always chase them can't guarantee I will always catch them.
[signature]

[tcb]

I'm from Minnesota, a state with the "walleye factory" lakes mentioned above, and I can tell you that, even there, there is no guarantee of walleye limits. Perhaps that is why they are so attractive to fishermen, even those who do not eat them. Much like Muskie fishing, where it is always a surprise when you get one. I can't wait to get after them! (Maybe this weekend).
[signature]