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What is WG&F's opinion of "Fizzing". I have done it with lakers, now I have a weight that I hook through the fish's gillplate and lower them back down. I seems to work. I try and land them slowly and let them naturally release their air bladder, sometimes they don't, sometimes friends retrieve them too fast. Thanks for agreeing to participate in this forum.
Thanks for opening this thread to the WGFD. I look forward to answering questions pertaining to the management of waters within the Laramie Fisheries Management Region. I will be happy to address all issues on fish management of waters you might frequent. When appropriate, I will provide answers based on sound science and professional judgment and look forward to the opportunity to have thoughtful discussions on fisheries issues in southeast Wyoming. I am excited about participating in the Ice Shanty community.
Welcome to Iceshanty, good to have you on board
Perhaps some self-regulation and by that I mean, keep a good one from time to time (for the wall ect..), keep some smaller ones for the frying pan from time to time. Got fish in the feezer already, let some go.Thanks for your reply and your time. The above quote is pretty much how I do things. The question was not necessarily aimed at Keyhole,I have never fished there, just more of a general question. Just have often seen it claimed that large walleye do not have viable eggs. From your answer I see that large females have the potential to greatly impact a spawn cycle with other factors having more of a effect on the success of the spawn.My next question: How would a limit on walleye of only one fish over 24",as part of the regular limit, effect a fishery ? Could it have a negative impact or would it just increase the trophy potential of a given body of water ? In general.
Because of the type of fishing we do in the winter, tip-up lines and live bait, fish have the opportunity to swallow baits to so deep that at times you can not even see the eye of the hook.. So how much chance do they have to survive with the hook left in them? I know you can not retrieve the hook with out causing some damage. In the summer on a Friday before the Wyoming walleye governors cup tournament I found 4 large walleyes floating on the surface dead. I am quite sure they were catch and released fish and the fisherman were trying to do the right thing, still a big shame. Some times say I let it go was the wrong thing to do.
Good question. This is pretty much refered to as a "maximum" size limit, whereas only one walleye over 24" and the rest under 24". These regulations are used when: it's necessary to protect the broodstock, the walleye population is a highly exploited population, there is a low density of mature fish, and there is low recruitment. This could, over time, increase to trophy potential. But keep in mind, the fishery must be highly exploited for any regulation to take affect. To my knowledge (other WGF'ers can help me out here) Glendo is the only walleye fishery with a high enough harvest for a regulation to work (that's why there is a minimum reg). So possibly over time, with any type of regulation (max length, minimum, or slot limit), the risk of "bunching" (most fish are of one or two size classes) exists (unless it's been determined, like Glendo, that there is enough harvest for the reg to work). Hope this helps.
Nice to have a Laramie guy! Has there ever been an effort to add artificial structure in Granite, Crystal or Hattie? Would it help the perch in these bodies of water?Also which bodies of water do you cover? All the way up to Glendo, Grayrocks, Hawk Springs, etc?Thanks - Moose.
Moose,Forgot to cover the last half of your question - The Laramie Fisheries Management Area - The southern boundary is the Colorado border, the western boundary is the Cont. Divide in the Sierra Madre Mountains (everything draining east is in the Laramie Region, everything draining west in the Green River Region), we manage the upper North Platte River drainaged and our management stops where the North Platte River enters Seminoe (the Casper Region handles all the major North Platte Reservoirs = Seminoe, Pathfinder, Alcova, Glendo, Guernsey as well as the North Platte River from Seminoe to Nebraska), we manage waters in the Shirley Basin (Walker Jenkins, Shirley Basin Reservoir), we manage all the Laramie River drainage (includes Grayrocks, Wheatland #3 and #1, Rock Lake), we also manage Hawk Springs, Packers, Bump-Sullivan, Springer, we manage everything around Wheatland and Cheyenne out to the Nebraksa border, which is the eastern boundary.