Is Hattie just a running joke now?

[gulp]

Well at least you caught something. Not sure that the cold was a good thing but hey if you got buzzed it would make the cold feel better.

[307FISHERMAN]

See you all at the 1st Annual Jigging for Wyoming Down Syndrome Derby!!!!!! DON'T MISS IT

[Shoe]

We can go round and round about why the perch disappeared and the fishing went to heck.  Overfishing may have contributed to decline in the perch numbers.  The problem that I have with that theory is that the decline was drastic and happened in just one season.  Others and I went from limits every time out to absolutely nothing in the same weedbank the next season - don't remember if that was 3 or 4 years ago.  Overfishing will result in a more gradual drop in numbers of fish and/or a change in size of fish.  So, my theory is some water quality (high alkalinity, for example) or disease issue caused a serious crash in the population.  I am hopeful that the next 5 years will bring good fishing again.  I love to fly fish the lake for trout in the softwater season - problem is, it is only fly fishable about 1 day every two weeks.

s

[BuzzH]

Shoe,

No reason to go round and round...but take a look at the pictures I posted.

I didnt high-grade those perch in either picture, the first is a 50 fish limit, the first 50 I caught. Same with the other picture.

The smaller fish in the first picture were almost entirely males, but the same age class of fish as the larger females. There was only 1 major age class of perch in that lake...and they were caught out in mainly 2006 and 2007. What was left of the age class was blasted in 2008, the last year I did real well on perch. It was a gradual change, in 2006, I rarely spent more than an hour to find a school of perch and limit. In 2007, I typically had to fish a half day to get on them and limit. In 2008, I limited one time and it was an all day deal to get on them. Once you located a school of perch, you could either catch them all or limit on them.

The reason you saw no major change in size is that there wasnt different age classes, everyone was pounding the same fish/age class.

The water conditions probably did contribute to unsuccessful spawning of the perch in those years, but the only disease that particular age class suffered from was filet knives...

[Shoe]

Yes, probably many factors.  My own limits were a little more varied in size than yours.  No photos, though.  I only fished there for perch for about 3 or 4 years so I don't know the whole history of the "decline".  Yellow perch have a tendency to boom and bust; hopefully these come back with a vengence in a few years.  I don't remember if you were advocating lowering the limits or not.  IF they were all one age class with no reproduction, lowering the limit would just prolong the inevitable.  Now that I think about it, it would be less painful to clean 20 or 30.

s

[Monarch8x8]

Don't plan on it getting better any time soon.  I just heard a rumor this morning about running water out to rapair the dam.  They are making room in the lakes around wheatland to handle the water to come down the Laramie right now...

[TN]

Drawn down to to its lowest possible level at the outlet will still be a good 20 higher than it was before water was diverted in last spring.

Made some calls yesterday trying to find out from local engineers and the Irrigation District when they plan to do the work and how long it will take - waiting to hear back.  Another good snow year could be developing, if the timing is right on the repairs and runoff is good, Hattie could see more water this summer.  Probably too much to hope for.

[PerchMaster24/7]

I fished hattie right before ice cover by the dam. They were draining it like crazy. I remember going out there a few consecutive days and you could notice the water dropping by a few feet. The drains looked like old faithful, and scared the hell out of the dog.