04-21-2010, 01:03 PM
Salmon Falls Creek isn't all that conducive to walleye passage, even in flood stage. That being said, I have never heard of any walleye reported to a Conservation Officer from anywhere in the Snake except the fish we saw last spring at Strike. (There is a picture of it hanging up in Jumbos in Bruneau if anyone is curious...) It is most likely that some bucket biologist is responsible for distributing walleye outside any lake they were originally stocked in. There are reasons the original lakes were chosen by IDF&G, number 1 is passage (or lack thereof).
We have seen non-native species do a number on many fisheries in the state. Inevitabley they flourish right off the bat and everyone says "See htye are great! IDF&G should have planted them here years ago..." then there is the levelling off and eventual degradation of the native fisheries, and the new species falls off as well. One thing to note, the smallmouth bass and walleye in the Columbia do much more damage to native salmon and steelhead than the Northern Pikeminnow, yet there is a bounty on them. IMO, there should be no limit on perch, walleye, and bass in the lower Snake (below Hell's Canyon Dam), and Columbia - as long as the rate payers in the PNW are funding the pikeminnow bounty program. Hell expand it to predatory non-native species as well.
I do not hate these species, in fact I like catching and eating them. I just think there is a place for them, and uneducated people trandplanting them because of their own selfish desires is counterproductive. It costs the IDF&G a ton of money every year, money that could be spent on better things.
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We have seen non-native species do a number on many fisheries in the state. Inevitabley they flourish right off the bat and everyone says "See htye are great! IDF&G should have planted them here years ago..." then there is the levelling off and eventual degradation of the native fisheries, and the new species falls off as well. One thing to note, the smallmouth bass and walleye in the Columbia do much more damage to native salmon and steelhead than the Northern Pikeminnow, yet there is a bounty on them. IMO, there should be no limit on perch, walleye, and bass in the lower Snake (below Hell's Canyon Dam), and Columbia - as long as the rate payers in the PNW are funding the pikeminnow bounty program. Hell expand it to predatory non-native species as well.
I do not hate these species, in fact I like catching and eating them. I just think there is a place for them, and uneducated people trandplanting them because of their own selfish desires is counterproductive. It costs the IDF&G a ton of money every year, money that could be spent on better things.
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