Professional Walleye Tournaments in Utah????

[WalleyePaul]

What are the chances of having a PWT tournament here in Utah? Would you support such a idea?

How about DWR raise walleyes in Utah's fish hatcheries? How about it?
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[Curtisfish]

Paul, the folks you would want to talk to about this would be "The Rocky Mountain Anglers". They hold club contests and are aware of all of the current Walleye Tournaments that happen in Utah. They meet once a month. They are a great bunch of people that fish multi-species, but have a special passion for Walleye. I have fished on Starvation during, but not entered in, the fall tournament and I've caught as many fish as the entrants, but not the size. I would absolutely support the tournaments. PWT is known for helping the fishery while they are there. Come on out and help me thin out the overpopulation out here.

You can find them at

[url "http://www.walleyecentral.com/rocky-mountain.htm"]http://www.walleyecentral.com/rocky-mountain.htm[/url]

As far as Utah raising Walleye in the hatcheries, I wouldn't hold my breath. I went to the meeting years ago on what to do about the eye's in Deer Creek. The DWR came in with several "ideas", but the only one they really were trying to push was to kill off the Walleye. It took a lot of work, but they eventually conceeded/agreed to try planting larger Rainbows. Take a look at Deer Creek now. If Walleye are needed, Starvation has a huge overpopulation. They could electro-fish and transport instead of gill-netting and killing as they have been doing. Just my 2 cents...
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[WalleyePaul]

Yep- I know the Rocky Mountian Anglers- In fact I know the Tourney director Paul Reutingler, and I have fished the Starvation leg last fall.

What I'm looking to say- I would like to expand to invite PWT folks to the Utah leg as part of the trail. I would love to see Ron Seeloff, Keith Kavajecz, Gary Parson here. Can you imagine what those guys are capable of? Huge trophys to witness.

Yeah I'm aware of that dumb stunt for the deer creek proposed by DWR. It would be interesting to have our own "walleye lakes" just like in the east, where walleyes are the predominant fish. Yeah starvation is one but it's so far! I would like to see more stocked in Deer Creek as well as Willard, Jordanelle, and Utah lakes.

Here's a interesting thought- how about stocking Mona Reservoir on a trial experiment basis? This definitely would be very interesting since Mona isn't really stocked with anything special.
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[Curtisfish]

I couldn't agree more. I would love to see some of the pro's around. We have a few lakes that could produce some great eyes if they were managed as eye fisheries.

Mona is an iteresting proposal. I don't know much about it. Could it support a population of eyes as far as [size 1]oxygen[/size] and feed? Could they keep the eyes from traveling into Burriston Ponds?

Deer Creek came right back to life once most of the S.L.C. crowd switched to Jordanelle for their play lake. Willard Bay and Yuba would benefit from stocking. I have heard that some eyes have worked their way into Jordanelle. I know that the DWR doesn't want to manage it as a eye fishery. Utah Lake had a fair population the last time I fished for eyes there. Has it declined?

In any case, I would support bringing in professional tournaments. I would also support in person the DWR managing at least a few Walleye lakes in the state. The only thing I like more than fishing for them, is eating them.
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[DennisW]

[blue][size 2]I'd say the chances of having the PWT or ANY of the walleye tournament events here is about zip. First, we don't have any world-class walleye fisheries. And we don't because the DWR doesn't manage any of our waters to that end. And they don't because most of our state's anglers prefer put-and-take trout fishing.[/size][/blue]

[blue][size 2]If you want a tourney experience, try fishing one of the pro-am events as an amateur. You'll have to travel to the events, pay half the costs, etc, but I hear it's the best thing a guy can do to improve his walleye fishing. Even if you only pre-fish with the pro. One day...[/size][/blue]

[WalleyePaul]

Dennis- I know, and ain't that a shame about DWR's close-mindness! DWR needs to expand their minds, and give us our money's worth to fish our favorite walleyes (fishing license $$) Trout are ok, but walleyes are better tastin'.

If we can put the pressure on DWR at those RAC meetings, then perhaps the words "never say never" should be our buzzword to get them to comply with the needs of the state's citizens. After all, we anglers are the ones pouring in $$ in their coffers. DWR needs to allow Utah to be a world class fishery. Then it definitely would be worthy of the signs upon entrance to our state of "Utah- A pretty great state"!
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[ocean]

Hey i live south of mona res. and it gets very shallow sometimes. Especially in drought conditions. I asked a dwr officer what was in that water and i was told that there was once walleyes ,catfish,white bass,and trout. You can go there and all you will catch theses days are humongous carp!It's not that deep and it,s bottom is mostly muddy.[unimpressed]
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[WalleyePaul]

Ocean- don't forget that it once included wipers too! I know it does get shallow and muddy... think about it, Utah Lake is the same way, and so are the midwest lakes. If we can drain it during a low water year, we could dredge it to ten feet or deeper, and then install rocky bottoms for those spawning sites, and then fill it up. It would work. Heck, the state makes millions of dollars off of our fishing licenses and parking ($9.00 a day) so why not use some of that cash to upgrade??? Then the farmers would never run out of irrigation water thanks to us walleye anglers!
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[ocean]

Hey you got a great idea but does'nt it make to much sense for those people in charge? I'm from miami and years back the florida fisheries commission didn't want to put a restriction on the commercial fishermen overfishing spanish maks so they were about all extinct! After they restricted fishing for them for years they made a huge comeback with a lot of state records broken every year!But what is common sense anyway?
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[tomegun]

[#000080][size 3][] Hey Dawg, There are serious political problems in dealing with the dwr. One thing to consider, the rac meetings concerning the strawberry issue were a farce. Everything that they are doing now has been preplanned, this means that some great ideas will be ignored(because they or their backers didn't think of it first). The dwr are the only ones that know their plan and they won't use the fishing community to help out. We as "funders"(tax payers/dues payers) have very little say in our fisheries. The only way we can get anything done that we want is to pony up big money. Right now , some of our local clubs are bending over backwards trying to helpout and/or get things done and they make us jump through hoops just to get an idea presented to them. I tell you one thing. It is hard to believe that the people have little or no voice in our communties. [/size][/#000080]
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[PREDATOR]

Walleye paul, you have to realize that Dennis is right, the DWR does exactly what makes anglers happy. The state is not mangaed as a walleye fishery because walleye is not the prime interest among fishermen. Also you have to realize that the DWR actually does thier job better than most of us would imagine. They have the info and facts about what will work where. Lots of times we anglers just see what we want and without understanding the facts concerning the situation we become blinded by our own desire. If you do a little research into the subject you will find that the DWR is very interested and spends a lot more time and money in the study and enhancment of the walleye waters we have here in utah. Really, they do. Hard to believe? Well, do your homework and you will see. Also until the majority of utahs angler become walleye lovers it is wise, very wise to place the focus where the interest lies. The percentages of walleye to trout waters are likley in your favor when you consider the percentage of anglers who fish for trout versus walleye. Its too easy to whine about a situation rather than gather the appropriate info and make a valid case and unfortuantley the DWR often takes the load of abuse when in reality they dont deserve it. Education is the key. We all need more of it before our opinions have validity.

[WalleyePaul]

Predator-

I am very aware that Dennis correct on the DWR information. That's why it is a good idea to get the state anglers turned on to walleyes, then the DWR would see there is a demand for walleyes in Utah.

I can seee from the political view and the anglers' view and that causes illegal stocking. I want to prevent that by corresponding with DWR to reserve a few walleye lakes.

I think I'll go talk to my friend Don Peay.
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