11-19-2013, 08:45 PM
[#0000FF]Since you like to compare fishing to hunting, let's suppose that all of the deer in a particular hunting area were herded into one small field and then it was open season to any and all who wanted to shoot them. After they were decimated enough to not provide much good shooting the rest are let loose to repopulate the whole hunting area. That would never fly.
There are a whole lot of IFs in the reasoning on both sides. Biologists have no accurate way of knowing what the walleye populations REALLY are in Willard. All they know is what shows up in their nets on any given day in any given year. Then they make GUESSTIMATES as to what the rest of the population might be. Subject to radical inaccuracies.
If DWR biologists could provide accurate numbers for any given year...and profile them against the differing factors from year to year...that would provide a much more realistic basis for their statements that there are greater numbers now than ever. I say bull feathers.
Two years ago...before the inlet was opened...there were FAR MORE walleye showing up for anglers. And they were scattered all over the lake...in several year classes. This last year was much less productive for the "average" angler...after the spawn. The post spawn period saw very few walleyes being taken on the standard gear in the usual places. Later in the summer there were a couple of small areas that seemingly held good numbers of walleyes and some of the pros were able to take good numbers. But the total take was far less then in "average" years.
Just because a biologist tells me that there are more fish in the system does not mean that it is always true. All they really know is that they may have found more in a net on any given day. What if the fish had not shown up in their net? Would they have closed the lake to all angling? I think not.
Willard Bay is a big pond and the fish move around a lot. To sample one or two areas and judge the whole lake based on limited localized findings is not realistic. Kinda like the old parable of the blind men and the elephant...each coming up with an entirely different opinion of what the elephant was based upon the part of the anatomy they touched.
After two successive years of allowing "harvest" at the inlet I challenge the biologists to show us a greater population of catchable walleyes.
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[signature]
There are a whole lot of IFs in the reasoning on both sides. Biologists have no accurate way of knowing what the walleye populations REALLY are in Willard. All they know is what shows up in their nets on any given day in any given year. Then they make GUESSTIMATES as to what the rest of the population might be. Subject to radical inaccuracies.
If DWR biologists could provide accurate numbers for any given year...and profile them against the differing factors from year to year...that would provide a much more realistic basis for their statements that there are greater numbers now than ever. I say bull feathers.
Two years ago...before the inlet was opened...there were FAR MORE walleye showing up for anglers. And they were scattered all over the lake...in several year classes. This last year was much less productive for the "average" angler...after the spawn. The post spawn period saw very few walleyes being taken on the standard gear in the usual places. Later in the summer there were a couple of small areas that seemingly held good numbers of walleyes and some of the pros were able to take good numbers. But the total take was far less then in "average" years.
Just because a biologist tells me that there are more fish in the system does not mean that it is always true. All they really know is that they may have found more in a net on any given day. What if the fish had not shown up in their net? Would they have closed the lake to all angling? I think not.
Willard Bay is a big pond and the fish move around a lot. To sample one or two areas and judge the whole lake based on limited localized findings is not realistic. Kinda like the old parable of the blind men and the elephant...each coming up with an entirely different opinion of what the elephant was based upon the part of the anatomy they touched.
After two successive years of allowing "harvest" at the inlet I challenge the biologists to show us a greater population of catchable walleyes.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
