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Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Walleye => Topic started by: walleyeslayer1978 on Jan 06, 2011, 03:29 PM
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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.
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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 (http://www.in-fisherman.com/content/world-walleyes/2)
Here she is.
(http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww351/trurA2U/wal.jpg)
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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.
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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.
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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 (http://www.in-fisherman.com/content/world-walleyes/2)
Thanks for the link, thats a great article.