winter walleye harvest

[LABS4ME]

Just recieved an e-mail from Andy Thompson, one of the Lake's Biologists... the #'s have been crunched...

"Well, now that winter is really here, we have the final winter harvest numbers available:

From December 13 through February 25, we estimated that approximately 70,000 pounds of walleye were harvested by anglers. Quite a few more were released. Fishing pressure was substantial at approximately 700,000 angler-hours. I know that sounds like a lot, but the bulk of those hours were put in by anglers who spent one or more nights out on the ice. In fact, we talked to many parties who spent anywhere from several days to a week out there!

Please don't hesitate to call with any questions or concerns.

We managed to keep the harvest under our cap for the entire winter season... I really thought that we would've had a good shot at seeing the season close early with the number of walleyes caught and the amount of fisherman on the lake... but in the end we made it. I was glad to see it go through the entire season... I know most people were glad to be able to keep a couple of walleye while up there.

Good Luck!

Ken

[Random guy]

70,000 lbs in 700,000 hrs...come on guys we can do better.

[Bryce]

So while I'm sleeping, it's considered an angler hour? What do they think I'm doing? Sleeping with my ear to the water trying to entice the walleyes through osmosis? Tried that on the crappies several years ago. Ended up with scabs on my nose. My days of staring at a vexilar screen for 16 hours straight are over (although I'd bet a beverage that I can interpret what's going on on the screen from 15' better than the majority hunkered down). Never been a big fan of rattle reels. Been conned into setting them up by friends out fishing with me. Why is it that when a rattle goes off at any ungodly hour, no one in the other bunks moves? And if they do, the movement is followed by a long pause and then "dude, that's your line". Last trip of the season for me this weekend. Good luck to all.

[Slabby]

Does that number include hooking mortality?

[Random guy]

Quote:

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So while I'm sleeping, it's considered an angler hour?

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Yes it is an chalked up as an hour, "most" anglers use rattle wheels throughout the night so lines are in the water.

So in 700,000 hours we took 70,000lbs of keeper fish. in those 700,000 hours how many pounds where hooked, handled and released?

[Jimmy from Cottage Grove]

Just wondering how they come up with these numbers? And how accurate they really are? Don't you thing the only way to get a fairly accurate way is to ask everyone that buys a new fishing licence if you fished red last year, and if so how many walleyes you kept when you purchase your new licence?

[The Donk]

Very true, I am sure that with most DNR numbers, they are an educated guess. All it takes is a calculator and a degree to come up with numbers that someone will believe. Myself, have logged about 60 hours on Red, and kept 12 pounds of walleye, releasing appx. 200 pounds.

[Slabby]

I think the number used for management is walleye mortality, which includes harvested fish and a percentage of the catch and release fish that do not survive. Of course it's all a guess. Someone out there probably knows how a figure is arrived at? not all fisherman tell the truth when asked how many fish they catch; lot of guys will tell a creel census or CO that they caught more than they did to make themselves look like Al Linder or too few so the total harvest will appear low and maybe can harvest more fish next year