Swan Lake walleyes

[AH_14]

so hard to figure out what is what................ju st exhausting at times,
I'll just go fish, and hunt for whatever I can find!

[missoulafish]

Aren't they betting macs in the fall when they come up shallow to spawn?

[fishermanj]

Him not sure if they net in the fall or not, I know they net all summer cause I see them. They also park their boats behind the old mercantile. 

I also have just learned to adapt to what is available and make the best of it.  It is truly a sad time.   I can't believe someone wouldntakenthe time energy and money to transport fish illegally!  Especially with the watercraft check points. 

Did you know that there has never been a conviction of any sort with bucket biology!

[Papa John]

Walleye suspend above and below prey species just like other pred. fish. My son caught a nice pike from Swan while jigging for salmon last year. It was suspended out in the middle of the lake near the salmon. I have gill netted commercially in Alaska and gill nets are  set just to catch deep fish but ensnare many others. Depending on what is used, the curtain will usually suspend from 50 to 100 feet and will snare anything that can't pass through the given mesh size. While fishing king salmon we often caught diving birds, steelhead, and trash fish along with the salmon. It's very easy to see how a couple walleye or any other species can end up in a gill operation. Do you guys actually believe that FWP would jeopardize their jobs, department funding, reputations, or risk prosecution by promoting false information?? Good grief gentlemen, get over the conspiracy complex and get on with enjoying what we have for sport fishing in this country. There will always be plenty of buttholes  around trying to "Improve" things to meet their vision of the way it should be. Transporting  live game fish is illegal and yes, I'm confident someone would risk it. I have made many trips over east to walleye fish and have never hit a boat inspection station when it was open while traveling that direction. My guess is it would be pretty easily accomplished after dark. It's best just to face the fact, cooperate with the Commission approved program, and move on.

[IcemCF]

During August,  juvenile lake trout are netted in deeper waters (>20 m), then in October adults are netted on shallower spawning grounds typically < 15 m in depth. The majority of adult bull trout are caught during spawner netting post spawn after the bull trout have returned to the lake. Approximately 40% of handled bull trout (this includes juveniles or subadults from depths greater than 20 m which make up the majority of the bycatch and bycatch mortality) were known mortality and an approximate 13% more were estimated mortalities based on the condition of fish upon release.  This was from years 2007-2011. That is the kind of information that you should supply if you are going to make claims based on facts fishermanj.

[n.w. holedigger]

my opinion trout taste like crap, yes you can catch a cold water trout and eat a couple of them. but they don't compare to a good old fish fry of walleye, pike,and perch. there sure aren't to many fishing derbys that rely on 100% trout and the limits are so low who the hell wants to take the kids out were you can only catch 1 fish. we have plenty of cold water rivers that are perfect for cuts, bows and brookies. we also have a ton of so called warm water weedy lakes that they have planted tens of thousands of trout in, well they don't exactly thrive. why the heck keep beating a dead horse. there is plenty of room for walleye in the flathead. if you just go by what the native species should be in each body of water there would be no diversity. diversity is what every govt agency preaches to us, why don't they practice what they preach and let the folks on the west side have some walleye.

[PerchPounderMT]

If they practice their native species BS there wouldnt be 35 million trout planeted every year in the state in water they were never native in. Just a bunch of trout loving biologist that want to keep all the water the way they like to fish. I'm sure the wall I are there to stay enjoy them.

[Ice Holes]

The number of places that are suitable for Bull trout in the lower 48 will only continue to decline. Swan River & lake is one of the best that is left.. It is unfortunate to read so many posts by folks who support this kind of invasive species introduction. Government agency conspiracy theories, "US vs. THEM" arguments, and lies presented as facts are poor disguises for how one really feels, and acts.

[Golden Trout]

If they practice their native species BS there wouldnt be 35 million trout planeted every year in the state in water they were never native in. Just a bunch of trout loving biologist that want to keep all the water the way they like to fish. I'm sure the wall I are there to stay enjoy them.

You do make a good point, such as some species of trout they plant are not native.  However I would much rather have a brook or rainbow in a body of water with native trout in it, rather than a pike, bass, walleye or any other predator fish.  But before long we won't even be discussing this topic.  Before you know it people will dump walleye all over the flathead just like all the pike here.  Your correct, the walleye are here to stay.  Cant poison them out, cant net them out.

[G fish]

this page has had lots of info come up and everyone has put there two cents in pros and cons we all like to fish but for the most part catch so we fight a up hill battle. I would rather catch a westslope or a brown than a bull trout and return It for the next person, as for a walleye or pike the fish is most likely coming home for dinner!!

[MT_btagger]

Again, the issues with Swan Lake walleye, assuming they're there, and assuming they become established goes way beyond Swan Lake.

There are fairly large, well organized and funded groups of people in this country who would love to shut down every consumptive use of the outdoors, from mining to picking wildflowers, and put it all off limits. These people suffer from a delusion that we are somehow not part of the rest of the planet, and that keeping us out of the woods will somehow protect it. If we do go in the woods, we'll have to wear bunny slippers and kiddie gloves so we don't hurt anything.

This is despite plenty of evidence that people can ruin a perfectly good forest (or fishery) from thousands of miles away without ever stepping in it, as well as ignoring evidence that actively managing a forest in poor shape through timber harvest can restore it. But these people don't care, because they have their Beliefs, their Money, and their Lawyers.

Right now, every other year some of these people target trapping in Montana. For now they are careful to separate out hunting and fishing. But that's because it's a step wise process and they have patience and time. In the meantime, they actively and successfully use existing regulations like the ESA to achieve the same ends through species like lynx and bull trout. And I'm not saying these species don't need protection, but that people have figured out how to use these laws for their own agendas.

Every time some idiot dumps a bunch of fish in a lake illegally, poaches a lion, or lays donuts in a farmer's field, our voice as sportsmen, as conservationists, becomes a little dimmer and less believable. And their ability to influence the people who don't currently have an opinion becomes stronger. This sort of BS plays right into their hand.

Cecil the lion is a good example. Lion hunting and African sport hunting in general has generated millions of dollars of revenue which funded everything from drinking wells to lion research to replacing cattle killed by lions. One guy with a poached lion pretty much ruined the whole thing, and has changed it for ever.

Again, no one knows. But I'm certain that the 1% or less of so-called sportsmen committing these crimes are stealing from the rest of us. To be clear¸ these people are criminals. They're stealing funds that could be better used for other projects, they're stealing recreation and economic opportunities, and they're stealing our voice as sportsmen.

[fish to live]

Sounds like a bunch of hackling Gals  on this thread

[skunked79]

key board cowboys!! went and fished swan this summer, wasnt good at all the water sking sure was, ahahahaha!

[fishermanj]

Well put MT_bagger!!  I completely agree.

Swan lake is an amazing fishery as well as the swan river. 

I simply have have a hard time with the concept of ridding the walleye.  I do not think it is possible.  As we sit here and debate, some jerk some where is ready with his next cooler full of spawners.  I love walleye, but I also love to fish.  I fish for them all and I fish for them all over the United States and Canada.

The Canyon Ferry tournament is a prime example of how a fishery can generate an amazing amount of revenue for the local economy!  There are also local bars and eateries that have capitalized on this.  look at the McGregor lake ice tournament or the fisher river fire department tourney.  I am willing to bet it makes those bars over half of there years income on those two weekends. 

It seems to me as I travel around and fish tournaments all over the States and Canada, when I pull in to town with my diesel truck on empty, fuel my boat, my belly and beer appetite that this is what keeps the world going around!   Not pointing fingers at clubs or usernames on iceshanty.com. 

Bucket biology is a problem, but at the same time so are the so called college graduates that ask for millions of dollars to study a weed or why a fish isn't spawning or how many squares of toilet paper the average human uses per movement!! 

I guess I am just rambling on, long nights at work.  I hope they figure it out.  I really don't see FWP winning, the walleye are here to stay whether it is swan or noxon or who knows what is next. 

All I want to know is what the ear bone sample comes back as and who actually did the sample?

Thanks

[PerchPounderMT]

Who are they going to blame if they find out those fish came out of the Columbia basin?

[PerchAssault]

I have obviously been keeping out of this thread, but I have just this one comment...supposedly, two pike were caught in LMR...we never saw them and have not heard of another since...I and dozens of others put in hundreds if not thousands of angler days on LMR targeting Perch, Bass, Kokanee and Rainbows...I don't know of a single person that has hooked, or even been bit off by a pike...ever, in LMR...so maybe those two WERE it...I certainly HOPE so...

In Swan, two Walleye were "netted"...and none have been caught or found since...it's early, sure but hopefully, that's the only two EVER found there...

I really don't see that we have a "walleye" issue in Swan at this point, other than that they "somehow" got in there...and just happened to end up in lake trout spawning territory...and ended up in the nets...

We obviously DO have a problem with illegal introductions, environmental sabotage or bucket biology, whatever you want to call it...I'll wait for the next stage before I get too worked up either way.... this story ( and more just like it) isn't going to go away...the pity is, it COULD, if whoever is doing this would just STOP...

Just my 2 cents...

Have a Happy New Year everyone...

Mike

[PerchPounderMT]

Walleye were in CF since the late 50s,people didnt start catching them till the early 80s.

[missoulafish]

http://m.dailyinterlake.com/members/swan-lake-netting-yields-no-new-walleye/article_49dec3f8-b514-11e6-a09c-db09e1f6e6ba.html?mode=jqm

[PerchPounderMT]

Did they ever release the origin of the Swan lake eyes?

[GOOSE_EGG]

prolly not. I like a good conspiracy......so it was made up to get more funding to continue netting.

[PerchPounderMT]

Wouldnt be the first time
 

[oldschoolben]

This thread is going Better than the one I started a couple years ago ,I asked about the walleye in Noxon , it got pretty bad , it's a touchy subject,

[12BHNTN]

Take away message from this thread for FWP: Stop studying and trying to stop illegal introductions.  We get what we get and only have each other to blame.  Meanwhile, budgets will be flush and fishing poles can be provided to all of the school kids without having to ask for donations.

[BK_Fisherman]

To my knowledge the otoliths of the two walleye that were captured in gill nets in Swan Lake don't match the chemical profile of walleye out of Lake Francis or Noxon Reservoir. However, the chemical profile analysis of the otoliths does provide conclusive evidence that the two walleye captured in Swan didn't originate there. Again, there are many bodies of water that don't have existing water chemistry profiles and the investigation is ongoing. The fish didn't "magically" appear there, but those who are firmly rooted in their conspiracy theory beliefs are entitled to do so.

Unfortunately, the illegal introduction of walleye in Swan Lake is only one instance of a larger problem facing anglers in Montana. The illegal introduction of pike and smallmouth bass in various waters has been an issue many years prior to the situation currently unfolding on Swan Lake. I don't want this to turn into a "Trout Vs. Walleye" debate as it would solve very little. Personally, I wouldn't ever consider introducing ANY species of fish in ANY lake based purely on my own desires. Quite frankly, it's a selfish way of going about things and I would like to believe that ALL anglers can agree on this one point.

As PerchAssualt noted, illegal introductions are under our control, and they need to stop.

12BHNTN, so let me get this straight.....we should do away with all fisheries biologists and everyone should just put what they want, where they want, (no penalties or fines/everything is a legal introduction)....and everything will be great?

For anyone who is interested in reading about the otolith analysis of the walleye captured in Swan here are a couple of good articles:

http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2016/swanlake.htm#.WEjLR7IrKM8

http://flatheadbeacon.com/2016/02/16/swan-lake-walleye-were-introduced/

https://www.nwcouncil.org/news/blog/swan-lake-walleye/

[missoulafish]

Thanks for the links BK!!

[BK_Fisherman]

No problem Missoulafish! 

[12BHNTN]

BK - You read way too much into my sarcasm.  That said, illegal introductions have been reported as FWP Region 1's number one fisheries expense, yet people are never happy with FWP does or doesn't do about it...which is very evident in this thread.  At what point do they stop trying and let people just live with the consequences of their actions?

[SLIMMETT]

The beauty of living in Montana as Sportsmen and Women is the opportunity to pursue a variety of fish and game both native and non-native.  My wife and I enjoy taking horses into remote headwater streams in central Montana in the summer to fly fish for native Cutthroat.  During the winter we ice fish for perch in local reservoirs.  It is up to FWP to maintain a balance in keeping NATIVE fish where they have traditionally been and also to provide opportunity for non-native fish  where appropriate.  I would encourage all anglers to be thoughtful and try to understand diversity of ecosystems within Montana.

[MTviking]

A "Huge" problem has been the legal introduction of the invasive Rainbow Trout.  Through cross-breeding they have been diluting out the pure strain cutthroats.

[PerchPounderMT]

A "Huge" problem has been the legal introduction of the invasive Rainbow Trout.  Through cross-breeding they have been diluting out the pure strain cutthroats.

Indeed,lets get rid of all those invasive rainbows and browns and start all over...