Letter to the Governor, Willard Bay inlet

[DKStroutfitter]

I helped the DWR with their Gill Net Survey last year.
I spent one day on Willard Bay with Chris Penne, collecting the fish that were netted.
In one of our conversations while we were at Willard, Chris commented that the information gathered indicated that there was a drop off on the amount of younger Walleye.
He predicted that the number of Walleye would be lower
than it had been in the past.
It appears that he was correct.

Now on to the inlet debate.
Chris told me that the Walleye that spawn in the inlet are not productive. This has already been discusses here. The DWR tries to stay neutral on issues like this but they will give their educated, professional input.

From what I have learned, keeping the inlet open will not have an adverse affect on the Walleye population at Willard Bay.
Trying to keep anglers compliant is the issue.

In my opinion,
closing the inlet isn't the answer to this problem any more than not allowing bait to be used at places like Strawberry, where there are slot limits.
Education and enforcement is what is needed.
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