Fish migration

[birdsnest]

I looked back at an article about tagging walleye for sonic tracking to determine migration habits but never saw the results. But my question is more general. If I caught and released a small mouth, or really any fish, would it be reasonable to expect that fish to be in the same area days later or would it just meander along. I know that during the spawn they will be stationary but what about the rest of the time. I can envision a catfish constantly moving while foraging, but how far? Is there a given range for different fish?

 

[Dungee]

If I’m remembering old info from Wayne I think at least smallmouth are relatively stable in where they stay. So a smallmouth could live its whole life in a generally small area. Stripers move, not sure about other species.

 

[Havalina]

Depends on the fish and the size of the lake. Schooling fish will always be somewhat transitory. Wayne talks about the walleye migrations in the spring. I usually catch qiute a few big females in February and early march fishing the channel on the way to good hope bay. At the Flaming gorge, I have literally caught the same laker three years in a row at antelope flats. I hope Wayne hops on here, because he would know way better than I. Until, he does I would say it depends on the type of fish you are targeting and available forage in an area.

 

[wayne gustaveson]

Lake Powell has a wide variety of fish with different travel objectives.

Largemouth bass and smallmouth bass are home bodies staying close to their preferred habitat until lake conditions require them to move. Obviously in spawning season they build a nest and stay there for the duration. In a fluctuating lake like Powell they have to move as water level changes. Then during the summer they would be happy to stay in one cove as long as forage is available. They move again as water level falls. If they had a choice they would stay in the same cove year round. After bass tournament fish are released they stay in their new home. During the next tournament bass pros check the spot where they let the fish loose a week or two ago hoping for a recapture. Wahweap and Bullfrog have a lot of Big Bass once the bass tournament season starts.

Stripers move to find food. Shad move to avoid stripers. When no shad are found in the canyons in the springtime stripers migrate to deep water of the main channel looking for current where they can spawn. If shad are abundant in back canyon coves, then stripers stay there despite the urge to spawn. In poor shad years bait fishing is good in the main channel. In abundant shad years (2019-2020) it is more likely that stripers will stay in the backs of canyons in the spring and early summer. After shad spawn in May stripers return to the backs of canyons to find young shad to eat. Stripers chase shad schools the rest of the year. They boil on shad schools until depleted and then they find a new school to chase. In the fall shad and stripers go deep as shad have to leave the surface because they cannot survive a quick change in temperature. Water temperature is more stable at depth. I tagged a 10 stripers near Castle Rock Cut in the 1980's. All of the fish that were recaptured were down at the dam, except one. That fish was caught 3 weeks later in Bullfrog Bay??? The fish moved 100 miles in 3 weeks.

Some walleye move to spawn and others are stationary. Most tagged walleye were caught within a mile of their tagging location while a few others ventured as far as 12 miles in 3 months. I am not sure why some stay and some go but we know that is the case. I think they move and then return to their original spot as the seasons change. I need more information on walleye. They tend to hide from me and I often get distracted by stripers.

Catfish are not as migratory as other LP cohorts. I suspect some movement when spawning season arrives but after that they stay pretty close to home most of the time.