New Tagged Walleye Report

[wayne gustaveson]

We were in good hope bay from 4/25 to 4/29 the weather was great on the first 2 days and we landed 30 plus walleyes each day. Most fish were caught on bottom bouncers 2 oz and crawler harnesses. the next 2 days were tougher as wind was a factor but still scratched out a dozen a day. Orange with hammered silver blade was good as was white with same blade chartreuse and green was also good. Right before night we were throwing husky jerks to shore and picking up a few. Jigging also produced a few during the wind. Look for rocks that are round and river looking as that was where the fish seemed to be concentrated. Red Canyon has several areas like this and produced many fish.

We caught a tagged walleye the tag was red and the number was 2011. He was in red canyon love to know where he was tagged. Happy hunting.




Response: That walleye was tagged on 11/2/16 while gill netting in Red Canyon. Looks like it never left Red Canyon or it migrated and then came back.

 

[mtnpull]

From your tagged walleye reports it appears that the walleye are not moving much from where they are tagged. Is that a correct assumption?

 

[wayne gustaveson]

It seems only a few travel up to 20 miles with most fish being caught within a mile of where they were tagged. There are a few fish that make that long trek but most are fine staying home.

It is also possible that some move pre or post spawn and then return to their home ground after spawning is over. Tagged fish were only caught in good numbers in the spring so we did not get location on them in summer, fall, and winter.

What we have is good data but there are some gaps that still need to be filled in. Therefore we will tag more walleye with acoustical tags in November. These tags can be detected with transponders that are stationary in the river and will record the presence of these fish as they swim by. We will get a better idea of walleye movement over the next 3 years.