Walleyes at Lake Powell

[FishnFly]

I Youtubed Devils lake ice fishing for Crappie, and those are some slabs all so. Its over 1100 miles from here, but would be a great bucket list trip for Crappie and perch for sure.

I never caught crappie there. I do remember one trip watching a guy pull in what I think was a crappie. It looked like a small trash can lid! No joke! I don’t know what else it would have been if it wasn’t a crappie. We were anchored up jigging for walleye far enough away that we couldn’t get a great look at it, but it was definitely the wrong shape for any other species in that lake. The guy was loosing his mind…hoot’in and holler’in. His buddies were yelling. It was definitely a fish worth mounting.
It’s such a consistent walleye fishery with multiple classes of fish, that most people go their focused on walleye and perch. I bet someone with the knowledge of crappie habitat and good electronics could really get into them there.

 

[FishnFly]

Ice thickness 30 ish. Bad layer of slush on top of ice and covered with 15 inches of snow on top of that.

That makes for a rough setup! Probably tough or even impossible to get vehicles out there. That place gets some thick ice. We used to have to put extensions on the auger bits to get through towards the end of winter.

 

[treetop]

And to think I was excited all those years ago, when I heard that some one had caught a big northern out of Yuba.
I grew up in the Heber valley. And As kids we’d ride our bikes down to Deer Creek and fish around the Charleston bridge. We caught perch by the hundreds, and threw them back because we’d been taught that they were “trash fish”. Man, if we’d only known. Now I’d trade every trout in the world to have Yuba‘s perch back the way they were

 

[SBennett]

And to think I was excited all those years ago, when I heard that some one had caught a big northern out of Yuba.
I grew up in the Heber valley. And As kids we’d ride our bikes down to Deer Creek and fish around the Charleston bridge. We caught perch by the hundreds, and threw them back because we’d been taught that they were “trash fish”. Man, if we’d only known. Now I’d trade every trout in the world to have Yuba‘s perch back the way they were

Amen!

 

[PBH]

PBH, let’s make a deal!
Instead of Yuba being 100% this year then 24% for the next few years after how about we go 80% for the next half decade at least.
I really miss those 14” Perch.

hmmmm.....


....no deal!

Mildog already talked about this -- the perch [walleye, pike, etc] fishery in Yuba is more a factor of water than anything else. So, by nature, we would want a nice stable water level, right? Maybe not. Just like other discussions, having a good fishery with lots of "nice" sized fish comes down to population control. At a reservoir like Yuba, population is controlled by water level. If you have a consistent water level (think Fish Lake!), then you provide consistent spawning habitat for fish like walleye, perch, and pike. This might sound good -- but now you create a system with NOTHING to control, or limit, the population. You then [quickly] end up with a fishery that stunts -- a fishery full of smaller than ideal sized fish that are sexually mature and reproducing. Then they continue to reproduce, and reproduce and reproduce because the water level is consistent. It would only take about 3 years, and you'd have a a fishery full of small fish -- most likely pike and carp. Nobody would be happy.



The ideal state for Yuba would be to get it full in time for the perch and pike (and walleye?) to spawn, then drop the water level leaving the eggs high-and-dry, then hold it steady (or slowly fill again). Obviously, this wouldn't get all of the nests, just some -- or, as many as possible. This would then keep some control of the population, and thus get those fish in a FAST growth zone resulting in trophy sized fish.

The name of the game is population control.
It's easy on paper.

 

[SBennett]

hmmmm.....


....no deal!

Mildog already talked about this -- the perch [walleye, pike, etc] fishery in Yuba is more a factor of water than anything else. So, by nature, we would want a nice stable water level, right? Maybe not. Just like other discussions, having a good fishery with lots of "nice" sized fish comes down to population control. At a reservoir like Yuba, population is controlled by water level. If you have a consistent water level (think Fish Lake!), then you provide consistent spawning habitat for fish like walleye, perch, and pike. This might sound good -- but now you create a system with NOTHING to control, or limit, the population. You then [quickly] end up with a fishery that stunts -- a fishery full of smaller than ideal sized fish that are sexually mature and reproducing. Then they continue to reproduce, and reproduce and reproduce because the water level is consistent. It would only take about 3 years, and you'd have a a fishery full of small fish -- most likely pike and carp. Nobody would be happy.



The ideal state for Yuba would be to get it full in time for the perch and pike (and walleye?) to spawn, then drop the water level leaving the eggs high-and-dry, then hold it steady (or slowly fill again). Obviously, this wouldn't get all of the nests, just some -- or, as many as possible. This would then keep some control of the population, and thus get those fish in a FAST growth zone resulting in trophy sized fish.

The name of the game is population control.
It's easy on paper.

I love it, now let’s cross fingers it happens.
I like your comparision to FL but how do similar lakes ( Cascade, Devils) etc keep kicking out what they do?
Those lakes stay consistently at 100% full.
Has there been any shocking, nets, etc to see what species and population numbers are still left in Starvation?

 

[PBH]

I like your comparision to FL but how do similar lakes ( Cascade, Devils) etc keep kicking out what they do?
Those lakes stay consistently at 100% full.
Has there been any shocking, nets, etc to see what species and population numbers are still left in Starvation?

I don't know anything about Cascade and Devil's. But I can tell you that there must be something in place that helps control population numbers.

A google search quickly produced numerous articles on Cascade, the perch population, and the northern pikeminnow. So, the answer to your question is that at Cascade fisheries managers MUST control the northern pikeminnow population in order to maintain a consistent perch fishery. In the 90's the pikeminnow population was far too high, and they effectively wiped out the perch. Today, fisheries managers actively remove large numbers of pikeminnow using traps and rotenone. They actively remove pre-spawning adults in the North Fork of the Payette River. Keep in mind, they do NOT remove ALL pikeminnow -- that's important. Without some pikeminnow, the perch population would then in turn overpopulate as well. It's a balancing act. Keep the pikeminnow population at an ideal spot to keep the perch under control. If things get out-of-whack in either direction (too many, or too few), then the perch would no longer remain in that "ideal" area.


now, consider Yuba. In order to follow the same blueprint from Cascade at Yuba, managers would be forced to attempt to trap, and poison, other species (Carp, northern pike, walleye) in order to keep those species populations under control in order for them to control the perch population. The trouble? walleye, pike, and carp don't necessarily migrate to the tributaries to spawn. That's something that Cascade has a big advantage. Those northern pikeminnows become concentrated and easy targets for removal when staging to spawn.



Again -- there has to be something in place to restrict uncontrolled population growth. Without that, you end up with wild boom (population growth) followed by bust (population crash) cycles. Smooth out those cycles, and you end up with Cascade.


(no idea on current status of Starvation, other than reports keep saying things are looking good)

 

[PBH]

Because I was curious.....


...I searched up Devil's Lake to see what I could find on it, and why it has a reputation for great perch.

the answer to SBennet, of why Devil's Lake can keep "kicking out what they do" is due to a lack of natural reproduction in that lake. Walley continue to rely on stocking by ND game and fish. Perch aren't stocked, from what I can find, but their spawn is consistently erratic; either high or low, without many years producing moderate hatches. The spawning conditions of Devil's Lake are affected by natural salinity levels, affected by drought and low water levels. So, the solution to Devil's Lake being a "consistent" fishery for good perch and walleye is because the populations are controlled via natural recruitment issues. Walleye must receive supplemental stocking in order to keep them in the lake, and perch recruitment fluctuates yearly.

‘State Of The Lake’ Courtesy of Todd Caspers – Devils Lake Fishing Report

devilslakefishingreport.com

(is this the correct Devil's Lake?)

this is completely different than most of our Utah fisheries with perch. Our perch fisheries all have consistently HIGH spawning hatches. They never have low, except in years where the reservoir they are in (think Yuba) is drained.

 

[Dorado]

I never caught crappie there. I do remember one trip watching a guy pull in what I think was a crappie. It looked like a small trash can lid! No joke! I don’t know what else it would have been if it wasn’t a crappie. We were anchored up jigging for walleye far enough away that we couldn’t get a great look at it, but it was definitely the wrong shape for any other species in that lake. The guy was loosing his mind…hoot’in and holler’in. His buddies were yelling. It was definitely a fish worth mounting.
It’s such a consistent walleye fishery with multiple classes of fish, that most people go their focused on walleye and perch. I bet someone with the knowledge of crappie habitat and good electronics could really get into them there.

They do have a lot of white bass in there...

 

[FishnFly]

I love it, now let’s cross fingers it happens.
I like your comparision to FL but how do similar lakes ( Cascade, Devils) etc keep kicking out what they do?
Those lakes stay consistently at 100% full.
Has there been any shocking, nets, etc to see what species and population numbers are still left in Starvation?

I’m not sure about the others. I think Devils Lake’s success is due to the fact that it has been growing for many years. Although, the past 10 or so I think it has stayed consistent or even shrunk a little (drought).
From what I understand many years ago it was a much smaller Lake. It was explained to me when I was in college (1999-2003) that there had been an ongoing period of time that that region of NODAK has been getting excessive amounts of water. It’s all seemingly flat around there but the Devils Lake area is a low point (almost like a shallow bowl) surrounded by lots of land where all the water heads in that direction through interconnected potholes (sloughs); (side note: the duck and goose hunting is insane there as it is in the central flyway).
Because of this geographic setup the lake has expanded year after year. There is a natural outlet at some elevation where the Lake would finally spill over into a smaller river that would eventually run to the Red River (I think these facts are approximately correct).
Regardless, it makes for a strange environment. There are roads and houses and bridges and fences and any other structures you can think of that…over time have been flooded.
They have levies holding the Lake back from actually flooding the town of Devils Lake. Often while boating there you will see barbed wire fences coming off of land going straight into water or the top of an old barn or a random stop sign in the lake from an old flooded intersection.
I think (I’m no biologist) the reason the fishing stays so great there is that the Lake surface area keeps expanding and since it’s interconnected with potholes (sloughs) that span massive areas, there are many places for baby fish to get bigger without a lot of competition or angling pressure.
Cool place! Anyone who enjoys the quality of fishing Lake Powell provides will find that Devils Lake is equal in some respects. Both are located in the middle of nowhere with limited population.

 

[SBennett]

Yes, that Devils.

Because I was curious.....


...I searched up Devil's Lake to see what I could find on it, and why it has a reputation for great perch.

the answer to SBennet, of why Devil's Lake can keep "kicking out what they do" is due to a lack of natural reproduction in that lake. Walley continue to rely on stocking by ND game and fish. Perch aren't stocked, from what I can find, but their spawn is consistently erratic; either high or low, without many years producing moderate hatches. The spawning conditions of Devil's Lake are affected by natural salinity levels, affected by drought and low water levels. So, the solution to Devil's Lake being a "consistent" fishery for good perch and walleye is because the populations are controlled via natural recruitment issues. Walleye must receive supplemental stocking in order to keep them in the lake, and perch recruitment fluctuates yearly.

‘State Of The Lake’ Courtesy of Todd Caspers – Devils Lake Fishing Report

devilslakefishingreport.com

(is this the correct Devil's Lake?)

this is completely different than most of our Utah fisheries with perch. Our perch fisheries all have consistently HIGH spawning hatches. They never have low, except in years where the reservoir they are in (think Yuba) is drained.

Yes, correct Devil.
I had followed the Cascade electric shocking of Pikeminnow there.
Thank you for confirmation.

 

[SBennett]

I’m not sure about the others. I think Devils Lake’s success is due to the fact that it has been growing for many years. Although, the past 10 or so I think it has stayed consistent or even shrunk a little (drought).
From what I understand many years ago it was a much smaller Lake. It was explained to me when I was in college (1999-2003) that there had been an ongoing period of time that that region of NODAK has been getting excessive amounts of water. It’s all seemingly flat around there but the Devils Lake area is a low point (almost like a shallow bowl) surrounded by lots of land where all the water heads in that direction through interconnected potholes (sloughs); (side note: the duck and goose hunting is insane there as it is in the central flyway).
Because of this geographic setup the lake has expanded year after year. There is a natural outlet at some elevation where the Lake would finally spill over into a smaller river that would eventually run to the Red River (I think these facts are approximately correct).
Regardless, it makes for a strange environment. There are roads and houses and bridges and fences and any other structures you can think of that…over time have been flooded.
They have levies holding the Lake back from actually flooding the town of Devils Lake. Often while boating there you will see barbed wire fences coming off of land going straight into water or the top of an old barn or a random stop sign in the lake from an old flooded intersection.
I think (I’m no biologist) the reason the fishing stays so great there is that the Lake surface area keeps expanding and since it’s interconnected with potholes (sloughs) that span massive areas, there are many places for baby fish to get bigger without a lot of competition or angling pressure.
Cool place! Anyone who enjoys the quality of fishing Lake Powell provides will find that Devils Lake is equal in some respects. Both are located in the middle of nowhere with limited population.

Yes, it was sad to see heritage family farms go under water with no way of stopping it.
Barns, houses, and bridges make great underwater structure.
I sure would hate to have a prop strike on top of an old concrete silo though.

 

[Walleye Jon]

Here is information that we keep for walleye fishing at Powell