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I am trying to be scientific, but every time I think I know the pattern, the next time out I look foolish. A few weeks ago, I caught mostly smaller males, this last time, only 1 male, and mostly large females. I wanted to catch a reasonable 10-12 inched, and couldn't. We all speculate, but I will be the first to admit I don't know the future.
Certian species never keep as i dont like to eat them. As a general rule i refer to the states master angler program. Anything within a couple inches of master angler size goes back. never keep a walleye over 23". Just a personal number that i go by. Even by 23" i believe in the majority of the nation the percentage chance of being a female is over 90 percent. Any fish over that is almost guaranteed a female. I let those fish go. Keep the Good genetics in the lake. Keep lots of wallys every year usually 18-22" . 15s and up if laws allow it. There are exceptions of course with certain lakes that need big fish pulled out to help the system, but i cant see certain fisheries, such as the one in this post, sustaining the amount of harvesting that happens. My 2 cents. Hate seeing dudes with 10 lb. Walleyes on a stringer. I know its their right and all, but it irks me
The above post inspired me to chime in for some reason....In general, based off of my time living in ID, it appears that our state does not appreciate the presence of walleye in many waters. Albeit, I wouldn't appreciate a random fish species showing up in a location that it shouldn't be. However, I would like to debunk the myth that walleyes will eat all of our trout and kokanee when yellow perch and chubs are found in the same body of water. Naturally, walleye will target those species. Walleyes love yellow perch like Chunk from The Goonies loves his Snickers. Smallmouth are just as predatory and possibly more aggressive than walleyes. They crush kokanee in Dworshak Res, hence you can catch a 10lb smally from that lake. High omega-3 fatty acids must really make bronzebacks grow. I only bring this up because I smell fear around my neighborhood when somebody accidentally catches a wally out of Ririe. There's plenty of perch in there to support a population of walleye (again, in my opinion). Afterall, the fish have coincided living with smallmouth and the fishery maintains itself fairly well. Related to post above: this is the best post I've seen related to walleye fishing on an Idaho board. He gets it. I grew up catching walleye and still do when I'm in the right location. I just happen to live in a place (SE ID) that doesn't have walleye waters near me. I've witnessed what over-harvesting large females can do to an 'eye' population. A river back in IN was a secret for years, and I would go out and catch a limit of 6 fish pushing 50 lbs (do the math). I would not ever keep those fish, because they're spawning females and help keep the population strong. Today, that same river I grew up wading and catching walleye has become the product of over-fishing by the general public and now the walleye numbers are starting to decline. This happened over a course of about 12 years. Although ID is fairly generous when it comes to warm-water fish limits, I'd urge the fellow fisherman to set personal limits on what they take home. It's a reality check for those of us that want to continue seeing a fishery like Cascade maintain its potential as well as other waters that produce quality fish. I may be wrong, as I am not a scientist (I am a pharmacist), but I'd be willing to hedge my bets and say that you can only take so many 5 gallon bucket-fulls worth of mature fish out of lake before the effects begin to take hold. I'm off the box now. Good luck on the ice!
I think we are seeing the effects of too many five gallon bucket loads taken from Cascade in past seasons effect the fishing this season. I have not seen one report to suggest that the fishing on Cascade is anywhere near what it was in the past. I know from my own experience a couple of weeks ago that the fish we encountered were pretty tight-lipped and the jumbos were few. I hope I am wrong.