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My issue is, whether legally or illegally, the harvesting of large females of any species. It's not beneficial for a species to be harvesting the largest fish in the population. It causes a gradual shift over time towards a smaller average fish, reduces the viability of spawn, and reduces the total amount of eggs. I'm a firm believe of slot limits for this exact reason. Let the big ones go so they can keep producing strong healthy offspring and keep the smaller slot fish for eating.
next to me with 8,600,000 eyes going in a year I'd say the words put and take should ring a bell
Trap, do you know what 8 million walleye they stock looks like when they dump them in? You can fit them in a sandwich bag.
you sure about that? Not going to take fecundity and fertility into account? The fact that those big fish already spread their genes when they were smaller and in their prime? The fact that after age 8, the big females may carry more eggs, but far fewer actually hatch and make it to fry stage?
Yes I am. I've read plenty of studies throughout my schooling, marine biology major from UNCW, that show a positive coorilation in the ability of eggs born by large breeder females to have a higher survival rate as oppose to ones born to smaller fish. There are always other factors that will effect the spawn however as a general statement, this holds true more often than not.
76,609,680 walleye stocked in Saratoga Lake by DEC 2011-15. Does not look like this is a self-sustaining fishery. If it's legal, keep it!http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/23233.htmlhttps://data.ny.gov/Recreation/Fish-Stocking-Lists-Actual-Beginning-2011/e52k-ymww
Very cool, theres a bunch of us on here. Studied fisheries for 4 years myself. I remember some of the papers I often cited in my work spoke about the positive relationship of fecundity to weight, but that actual survival of fertilized eggs was significantly lower with older fish with lower body condition indices (K). Of course it is interesting to note that walleye populations have shown "flexibility" in that heavily exploited populations will actually have a higher fecundity in comparison with similar, nearby less exploited fish stocks.
Guys, the walleye they stock are fry. Those millions in stocking numbers you are reading are about 1/4" in size. They stock Simms y because so many don't make it. The survival rate to a grown adult stocked in the fry stage is next to nothing when you look at the big picture.
DEC states they are twice that sizeWater (Town) Number Species Size in inchesSaratoga Lake 11509680 Walleye 0.5
1/4-1/2"... what's the difference? Both are still eaten by bluegills, perch, bullhead, crappie, pickerel, bass, pike etc.
1/4"
Tomhannock doesn't alow fishing open water fishing during the months of January 1 threw march 15
just like DEC says the browns from the van hornesville hatchery are 8" when they are stocked, right?? LOL!here's what a couple million walleye look like about to be stocked(Image removed from quote.)
Some brave soul is out off Brown's this morning. The lake is frozen south of Snake Hill. It froze before the snow storm and now it looks as though the snow has incorporated into the ice, making a hard surface (how thick???). It would have been a lot thicker had it not been so windy on those real cold days prior to the snow.This is the first year is my memory that the lake has refrozen enough for fishing this late in the year.