03-18-2016, 07:12 PM
We'll I for one would fully support reopening the tribs to Utah Lake. The real issue here isn't if catching walleyes during the spawn is ethical or not.....any time of year that you catch them you are preventing them from spawning. The real issue is the peckerwoods that intentionally snag them. That is what really bugs me. I've caught many over the last 35 years that I snagged by accident, but I've never done it intentionally. Those fish that are snagged are just thrown back with the hopes that they will bite on the next outing.
I can't imagine that in our society now days that we would fish the walleyes down to nothing in Utah lake just because we are allowed to fish the streams during the spawn. The limits are smaller, mentality has changed as far as keeping many fish, and there are more people than there used to be watching others anyway. There will always be those that fish illegally and keep a disgusting amount of fish illegally just to fill the freezer or sell, but I really haven't witnessed too much of that in all my trips into the great outdoors. I've witnessed some to be sure, but I think we lose FAR more fish to the everyday fish poacher that isn't fishing with a license, keeping more than their limit, catching their kids limit, etc.....than we lose to blatant snaggers. Those ilk will always exist regardless of the closures on certain bodies of water or tributaries, but it shouldn't have to stop the rest of us from enjoying all that the water and various species have to offer if the biologists think it can support it.
Just my opinion though because I've always wanted to fish the tributaries to Utah lake during the walleye spawn and have never had that opportunity.
Mike
[signature]
I can't imagine that in our society now days that we would fish the walleyes down to nothing in Utah lake just because we are allowed to fish the streams during the spawn. The limits are smaller, mentality has changed as far as keeping many fish, and there are more people than there used to be watching others anyway. There will always be those that fish illegally and keep a disgusting amount of fish illegally just to fill the freezer or sell, but I really haven't witnessed too much of that in all my trips into the great outdoors. I've witnessed some to be sure, but I think we lose FAR more fish to the everyday fish poacher that isn't fishing with a license, keeping more than their limit, catching their kids limit, etc.....than we lose to blatant snaggers. Those ilk will always exist regardless of the closures on certain bodies of water or tributaries, but it shouldn't have to stop the rest of us from enjoying all that the water and various species have to offer if the biologists think it can support it.
Just my opinion though because I've always wanted to fish the tributaries to Utah lake during the walleye spawn and have never had that opportunity.
Mike
[signature]