G & F Walleye stocking Sakakawea

[Kurtr]

"I don't want to start the debate of what a person should keep and shouldn't, but at new town last weekend there were lots of 26" plus fish being cleaned. I have no info on what this lake can sustain and maybe a good question for the G & F. "

Maybe we should discontinue all the tournaments in order to save those big females​

That I laughable. The tournament guys are not filling the freezer for days on end like the meat hog weekend warriors

 

[H82bogey]

Ok, so I did pose my question to the Biologists at the G&F. I asked if keeping the large females, say 25" and bigger, have an effect on the long term health of the walleye population.

This is their response.

"We do a variety of surveys throughout the year that give us a good handle on the walleye population in Lake Sakakawea. We annually collect information on recruitment (young fish coming into the population), growth (how fast fish are growing) and mortality (how fast fish are dying). We are fortunate to have over a 50 year standard data set that is invaluable in monitoring the walleye population. While people often think Sakakawea has high fishing pressure it must be taken in context. Yes there are a lot of boats in select areas at certain times of the year. However, our fishing season is generally fairly short compared to a lot of other areas. The vast majority of effort and harvest comes in June and July. Spread over the course of the entire year our pressure is not very high compared to other fisheries across the country.

One thing our data consistently shows it that total annual mortality of walleye (combined natural and angler mortality) is consistently low in Lake Sakakawea. Usually less than 30% which is extremely low compared to walleye fisheries across the country. As you are likely aware the Lake Sakakawea fishery is in outstanding shape right now. In fact our 50 year netting data shows there have never been more walleyes in Lake Sakakawea than there are currently. Good habitat and forage are what drives the fishery and not angler harvest. We continually monitor the population to see if there is any concern from angler harvest and it has never been of significance. "