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Randy Merrit's 30 pound Laker was 40 years old he was told by the Game and fish
I know as biologists you guys spend quite a lot of time on the water collecting data. Netting, shocking,water sampling, creel surveys, and more I am sure I missed.My question concerns creel surveys. I spend quite a bit of time fishing year round, and can only remember being surveyed once in the last 3 years. I realize that the people doing creel work can not be all places at all times.I wondered what % of the data collected is supplied by creel surveys , or what weight is given to creel survey data ?Has there ever been any thought given to anglers being given a survey form(similar to a big game survey) at the time they purchase their license to kind of keep a log of fishing activity, or an online survey ?Would this kind of information be usefull ?Or would it be unreliable ? cost prohibitive ? lacking in enough participation to make it usefull
The science of surveying anglers and their catch is one of the major tools utilized by fisheries managers throughout North America. The type, complexity, and extent of surveys vary widely. Intensive creel surveys can provide estimates of total harvest and total pressure. We call these "programmed creel surveys" and they follow accepted statistical sampling theory in an attempt to achieve estimators of interest that are unbiased and precise. These require a lot of manpower, and for large waters, usually entail the use of aircraft to make instantaneous counts of numbers of anglers. Subsequently, they are very expensive and seldom used. The last programmed creel survey at Boysen was done in 1992, and we have no plans to do another anytime soon. Currently we utilize spot creel surveys at Boysen Reservoir and a few other waters within the Lander Region. For Boysen, this involves about 4 survey days/month from April through July. While it does not provide harvest estimates or estimates of number of anglers, it does allow us to estimate catch rates for the various sport fish in the reservoir. These catch rates are but one way we can gage how our various populatiions are doing. Remember though, catch rates are often not a direct indicator of population size. Walleye is an example. Angler catch rates seem to be more associated with how hungry the walleye are (how much forage is available) rather than how many walleye are in the reservoir. The other part of your question dealt with having anglers collect their own data. This is an option and it has been utilized in the past. The Department produced some Angler Diary booklets - we still have some at the Lander office, but I'm not sure what the availability is elsewhere. The problem with this type of data collection deals with the bias that is involved. The people that choose to participate in such a program are not a random subsample of the angling public. They are usually those with a higher interest, those who fish more often than the average angler, and those that have a higher catch rate. Also, there is a tendancy (usually not intentional) for anglers not to make an entry in their log/diary for days that they were unsuccessful.Hope I answered your questions.
Game and Fish folk, in your opinion, will the below 0 temps we've experienced recently effect the fishing any? Would you think the fish may travel to deeper portions of the lake, or maybe not be as active?
Fish population fluctuationsThe fish populations seem to cycle a lot in the Wyoming waters I fish.. An example of my personal experience was during the low water years we caught walleyes and trout as fast as we could get crank baits in the water. Then we had one good water year and for the next few years we had great perch fishing and we also started catching bull heads every trip. Then last year the perch and trout numbers dropped off and I have not caught a bull head in two years. We have caught walleyes every year we just have to adjust our methods. So does the G&F have any idea why the perch and trout fishing has declined in Boysen so much? Also why did we have the big jump in bullhead numbers and then have them just seem like they vanished?
wondering if a kid born in Wyoming has to wait ten years to get life time licenses? thank you
If the kid was born in WY by the time he/she would need a fishing lic. they would have been here 14 years
Is yesness pond in casper a youth only lake or is it open to everyone? We have been wondering about this on another thread and would like to know a true answer for sure.
I plan on an out of state fishing trip where I will purchase minnows & suckers. If I have any left over, can I just freeze them & use in Wyoming as dead bait?? (I am already aware that I can't bring live bait into WY from another state). Thanks
I know the limits for most fish but is the per species or in general?