NWT

[walleyewanker]

I'm just curious to why they find it necessary to hold a big time tournament this late in the year when the fish have moved out into the deep water. With all the talk of barotrauma and eventual fish death, they are basically bringing in people to participate in this for a week. The number of fish getting caught and released deep in the next 7 days is going to be insane. Its all good though, they swam away.

 

[Kurtr]

How the dates played out.

 

[Bauer]

Spent time on the water with 3 different pros over this last week and never fished below 25' and caught them as shallow as 4'. Your math doesn't add up.

 

[Weekender]

It's only 40 boats.. More fish will be killed on shell by locals.

 

[SLE]

Spent time on the water with 3 different pros over this last week and never fished below 25' and caught them as shallow as 4'. Your math doesn't add up.

IDK, I was out on Saturday morning and a seen a few of the NWT boys and they were in 35-50 FOW so I wouldn't assume they'll all be fishing shallow. Reality is, several will fish deep, and unfortunately they are playing a game of numbers and prefishing for 5-7 days. They aren't looking to just fill their livewell with eaters and head in like most anglers.

I kept 2 saturday morning that I normally would've thrown back. When I got back to the ramp, all but 2 were belly up.

 

[Slappy]

Feel the same way about AIM tournaments this time of year. Their catch and release format is great but NDGF permitting such a tournament at the same time they're spending our licensing dollars on the catch-and-keep/barotrauma advertising campaign is nonsense.

If every angler is expected to keep fish caught deeper than 25ft the same stipulation should apply in tournament rules.

 

[DirtyMike]

There are millions of walleyes that will die of old age without ever seeing a hook. Sakakawea will be fine.

 

[SDMF]

I’m disappointed. I thought this was going to be a thread about hunting the Northwest Territories of Canada.

 

[zoops]

It does seem a little odd with the timing of the tournament, seems 3-4 weeks later would be better but I don't know how NWT's timeline is. Agree that 40 boats is a drop in the bucket for Sak, and they are targeting bigger fish so unlikely they're catching 100 fish/day.

 

[walleyeman_1875]

These Forward Facing pros don’t even cast at the little fish under 22”. Thankfully that means all my hot spots full of the 13” eyes are safe!!

 

[Rowdie]

IDK, I was out on Saturday morning and a seen a few of the NWT boys and they were in 35-50 FOW so I wouldn't assume they'll all be fishing shallow. Reality is, several will fish deep, and unfortunately they are playing a game of numbers and prefishing for 5-7 days. They aren't looking to just fill their livewell with eaters and head in like most anglers.

I kept 2 saturday morning that I normally would've thrown back. When I got back to the ramp, all but 2 were belly up.

Those guys that are killing a limit of eaters killed fish that could potentially spawn for years and years. How long do 10 lb + fish have left. The fishery will be just fine.

 

[SLE]

Those guys that are killing a limit of eaters killed fish that could potentially spawn for years and years. How long do 10 lb + fish have left. The fishery will be just fine.

I’ll agree to disagree because you’re missing the point. The typical angler is out to catch their limit and head in, they kill maybe 10-15 eyes depending how many are fishing in the boat and they’re using the fish for table fair so they aren’t going to waste. Tourney guy prefishing might put a 100 fish in the boat each day and they keep none most of the time. I’m willing to bet more than 15 a day don’t make it……and those are just completely wasted. Especially this time of year, when a substantial amount of the fish are 35+ feet deep. Mortality rate studies show somewhere between 10-30% mortality rate from 30-45 feet of water.

I’m not the slightest bit concerned about the fishery or the couple handfuls of big fish they drag in for weigh in, it’s more about the numbers they pull prefishing at this time of the year when several of them will fish deep. We have plenty of local tournaments that pull more fish throughout the year.

If you want to talk spawning, that 28” eye is going to lay about 5 times the amount of eggs a 17” eye will drop. How’s that work into your calcs………

Honestly, I could give a shit to sit here and argue the nonsense and without going further into the snake pit, the real point is it’s hard to ignore what happens during late season tournaments on the big lake which apparently is just fine, but when the everyday anglers and weekend warrior do the same they would get absolutely chastised by the NDA community and angling peanut gallery for releasing fish from the deep or keeping a big fish through the season. It’s the double standard that’s the issue at hand.

 

[Rowdie]

My main point is that 17 incher can spawn many more years and become the 28 incher too.

 

[OL Deadeye]

I’m disappointed. I thought this was going to be a thread about hunting the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Ramhead Outfitters 30 day backpack hunt I could tell you all about it !!!!

 

[Kurtr]

Sounds like they are not catching alot of fish. 19 a day gets you in the top 10.

seen a muskie caught yesterday

 

[Weekender]

That's the second big musky I've seen come out of Sak this year. They must be coming through the pumping station from Audubon somehow.

 

[tikkalover]

How Water Moves Between the Lakes

• • Pumping Up (Sakakawea to Audubon): Water normally moves the opposite way—from Lake Sakakawea into Lake Audubon—using the Snake Creek Pumping Plant to maintain summer target levels for the McClusky Canal. [1, 2]
  • Releasing Down (Audubon to Sakakawea): During routine fall drawdowns or specific dam safety management (such as controlling extreme elevation differences during severe droughts to protect the highway/railroad embankment), water is let out of Lake Audubon and flows back into Lake Sakakawea via gravity through the embankment's low-level concrete control conduits. [1]
  Why There Are No Screens
  • Heavy Debris Risk: Standard fish screens or fine mesh would easily plug up with aquatic vegetation, rocks, and debris carried by the water, causing dangerous pressure imbalances or blockages inside the embankment.
  • Biota Control is Handled Elsewhere: Because Lake Audubon and Lake Sakakawea are part of the same Missouri River system and sit right next to each other, free movement of native fish and organisms between them is not restricted by regulatory biota-barrier mandates. Instead, advanced biota screening and water treatment are handled at dedicated facilities downstream, such as the Northwest Area Water Supply (NAWS) treatment plant, to prevent the transfer of invasive species to completely different river basins (like the Hudson Bay basin). [1]
  • Basic Trash Racks Only: The control structure uses heavy, wide-spaced metal steel bars (known as trash racks) at the intake. These are designed solely to prevent large logs, heavy debris, or ice chunks from entering the conduit and damaging the mechanical slide gates. Fish can pass right through them.