Author Topic: Determining a Walleye's Age  (Read 2458 times)

Offline walleyeslayer1978

  • Team IceShanty Regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 399
  • The Walleye Gods are angry, that's why.
Determining a Walleye's Age
« on: Jan 06, 2011, 03:29 PM »
I know there are a lot of variables when it comes to fish growth rates, but I just wanna throw this out there.
 
     I caught a walleye that i estimated to be about four, four and a half lbs.  I tried to release it, but it wouldn't go after quite some time of trying, so I kept it.  When I fileted it, I found it to be male. And by looking at the guts, particularily the sperm, It seemed to me that it would have to be a pretty old fish.  It had the big hump back and everything. I took out the cheeks and they were at least a half an inch thick.  It was caught in Last Mountain Lake Saskatchewan which is a large, deep, natural lake. Would anybody be able to make an educated guess as to how old this fish is? I didn't get any measurements or anything, but it seemed short for how thick it was. Any ideas on this? thanks.
Still counting.....

Offline fishstalker

  • Team IceShanty Addict
  • *
  • Posts: 694
Re: Determining a Walleye's Age
« Reply #1 on: Jan 07, 2011, 06:15 PM »
If you still have the fish carcass you can take out the otolith, dry it out and age it like you would the rings in a tree.

In 2007 i caught a 27" female that had a back tag. I sent in the information and recieved the fish's tag information back. In 1997 she was tagged and she was 17". So i figured about 4 years of age at 17", and add 10 more years at 27" she would have been a 14" year old fish. If i would have know more about the age i would have thrown it back to see another day.

read this article you'd enjoy it
http://www.in-fisherman.com/content/world-walleyes/2

Here she is.



Offline walleyeslayer1978

  • Team IceShanty Regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 399
  • The Walleye Gods are angry, that's why.
Re: Determining a Walleye's Age
« Reply #2 on: Jan 07, 2011, 09:00 PM »
yes, but it was a female right? I'll read the article, maybe it will tell me, but aren't the growth rates different for females and males? I imagine a five pound male would be equivalent to a ten pound female, seeing as the females get much larger. Also, don't you have the slightet twinge of guilt in keeping a fish thats so old?  I hope she's on the wall.
Still counting.....

Offline fishstalker

  • Team IceShanty Addict
  • *
  • Posts: 694
Re: Determining a Walleye's Age
« Reply #3 on: Jan 08, 2011, 04:55 AM »
The thing with walleye is that females will grow longer but male generally grow faster.

And yes i would have definitely thrown her back if i knew.

Offline onebadc20

  • Team IceShanty Regular
  • ***
  • Posts: 264
Re: Determining a Walleye's Age
« Reply #4 on: Jan 08, 2011, 05:02 AM »
If you still have the fish carcass you can take out the otolith, dry it out and age it like you would the rings in a tree.

In 2007 i caught a 27" female that had a back tag. I sent in the information and recieved the fish's tag information back. In 1997 she was tagged and she was 17". So i figured about 4 years of age at 17", and add 10 more years at 27" she would have been a 14" year old fish. If i would have know more about the age i would have thrown it back to see another day.

read this article you'd enjoy it
http://www.in-fisherman.com/content/world-walleyes/2

Thanks for the link, thats a great article.

 



Iceshanty | MyFishFinder | MyHuntingForum
Contact | Disclaimer | Privacypolicy | Sponsor
© 1996- Iceshanty.com
All Rights Reserved.