Ira and I hit the pond at 6:30 and headed towards the light pole, dropped in and it was game on. We had 10 fish in the box by 8:30 and then it took another hour for us each to get our devil fish. BB’s was the ticket in fire tiger and gold being the 2 colors that worked well for us. Water temp on the lake was 59.6, south marina it was 61.9
Nice batch of fish!
Any of those over 18"?
Next year the Willard biologist wants to make it illegal to keep any Walleye less than 18" long, which I do not agree with.
Maybe split difference and be allowed to keep two under 18" or something a little more agreeable.
Next year the Willard biologist wants to make it illegal to keep any Walleye less than 18" long, which I do not agree with.
Shane,
I feel your pain Brother. But it matters not what the DWR does or doesn’t do, there will always be somebody that takes exception to the decision. Currently, the daily limit for walleye is 6 fish, with only one walleye allowed to be over 24 inches in length. With the ever increasing fishing pressure occurring at Willard, maybe reducing the daily bag limit overall would be a better idea. I could live with that because I’m a family of one and don’t need a boat load of fish fillets to make me happy. I can get buy nicely with one or two walleye dinners each month.
Although we didn’t measure any I would say there were at least 4 over 18. I think a smaller limit would be a better option, not sure what the over 18" would accomplish as it seems most states that have eyes don’t wontnyou to keep the bigger ones at all and limits are set up for retention of the 18-20" or less
Yes, ideas like that are much more palatable.
The Willard biologist wants to go zero possession limit of sub 18" Walleye in 2027.
The biologist would like to have a lake full of sexually mature Walleye for the egg/milt stripping process.
While I feel that is fantastic and hope he gets all he wants, I do believe either a smaller possession limit or at least being able to keep two sub 18’s for dinner is more reasonable.
Nice job Alan. I too think if they do something.Lowering the daily limit would do better than a slot limit just mo. We’re the fish in deeper water today?
Bill 14-15’ of water
Thanks Alan I will be out later in week hope the cold front doesn’t shut them down.
Way to go you two, sounds like the switch flipped and they have finally turned on, congrats on a great morning on the Bay.
Which biologist did you talk to Shane? Here is the message I got from Chris Penne, when I ask the question about the change in the eye limit at Willard.
"Limit 6 walleye. Walleye must be at least 18 inches, and only 1 may exceed 24 inches.
This will be proposed this year and go through the online angler survey and likely the public process (i.e., RACs and Wildlife Board). If approved, it would go into effect in 2027. The rationale behind the regulation is that since our stocking program at Willard Bay has made the walleye population generally stronger and more consistent, anglers have responded by increasing in numbers and targeting walleye. Where we used to see a wide variety of ages, it’s now rare that we see many walleye over four years old. That’s not a huge issue as the fishery at Willard is extremely productive and we can get a walleye over 20 inches long in four years time; however, we think there’s some room for improvement, especially since Willard is our brood source and we need a certain proportion of larger fish for spawning. So we modeled many scenarios and different possible regulaitons and the result was that a minimum length 18" was concluded to provide the best balance of pounds of walleye available for harvest by anglers and larger fish available for brood. Nothing is set in stone yet, this is just something we are going to propose to anglers.
Best,
Chris"
I forget his name, it was the northern Utah biologist that spoke and put on the Willard Bay Walleye/Wiper presentation last month at Scheels.
From what Chris said, it appears they are going to ask for public comment, so hopefully we can put in a request for at least two eyes under 18".
Sounds good!
Thanks for the report Alan, sounds like a great trip… Jeff
If they need more mature fish how about stop the snagging of mature spawners in the channel in the spring and use that area to capture mature breeding fish!
I agree with that this year I also called on a boat that was fishing up the channel. Not enough LEO that time of the year.IMO
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