Walleye and crappie taken from Willard

[wiperhunter2]

Looks like the DWR has decided to remove a bunch of walleye and crappie from Willard bay to Red Fleet res.
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=38757908&nid=1288
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[albinotrout]

Sounds like the plan will be a good one. Will take a bit for fish to get big enough though. Here in a couple of years the fishery will be hopping.
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[wiperhunter2]

I was thinking for those that are against having the inlet open during the walleye spawn, they are really going to hate it when even more eyes are taken out of Willard for this new project. Another thought was, why is the DWR taking crappie from Willard when Pineview has an over abundance of crappie that need to be thinned out[:/].
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[albinotrout]

Could be ease of the catch or just killing two birds with one stone. Since both species are in the same water. I also remember seeing something about transplanting one fish from one water to another there is dies ease testing that needs to be done first. Probably easier and cheaper to test one water than two.
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[Fishrmn]

They won't need to take thousands of Walleye from Willard Bay. They may not even take the fish away from the reservoir. They're going to use them as brood stock. The Walleyes from Willard won't even go to Red Fleet, just their offspring.

[red]"While we're at Willard Bay, we'll collect ripe male and female walleye to spawn in one of our hatcheries," Boren said. "The sterile walleye fry that result from this effort will then be placed in Red Fleet."[/red]

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[wiperhunter2]

So you think they might just milk them of their eggs and milt, then put them back in the lake? I never thought they would take thousands but there are those that get upset because of the people fishing the inlet during the spawn, so this is just more eyes being removed from the lake. Maybe they will close that section of the inlet where they are catching the eyes for this program[:/].
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[Fishrmn]

Even if they take the adult fish to a hatchery, it won't be thousands of fish. Probably not even hundreds. Maybe a few dozen males and a few dozen females. A quick search on the web said about 41,000 to 53,000 eggs per 17" female Walleye. 40 female Walleye could provide 1.6 million to 2.1 million eggs. If they got 20% of them to survive, they'd have roughly 300,000 to 500,000 fingerling to plant in Red Fleet. Heck, even 10% would be a whole lot of fingerling.



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[albinotrout]

That's a lot of fish.
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[gofish435]

Thanks for the information.

The one thing to remember is that they can't put fertile walleye in Red Fleet. That was the main reason for treating the reservoir in the first place.

The DWR must need a few fish for the hatchery stock is my guess.
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[albinotrout]

Would love to see some saugeye put in the state somewhere.
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[wiperhunter2]

I guess it makes sense because the DWR did invest a lot of money in stocking walleye in Willard last year. If I remember correctly it was something like a million fry they stocked.
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[SkunkedAgain]

So how do they make a sterile walleye cross? And what are they doing with the crappie, I'm assuming they will use them as a feed base for the rest of the fish, between them and the perch.. I expect they will transfer fish there won't they? If so I think the Pineview suggestion would be better, unless for some reason the strains are different and the Willard variety get bigger... But I expect that is habitat and competition related.. Interesting anyway... Later J
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[wyoguy]

The DWR are going to Fish Lake this coming week to get Perch to plant in Red Fleet. I would guess they hope they will become the food base.
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[albinotrout]

With wiper, cutthroat, and bows already in there they will need something to keep them fed.
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[SkunkedAgain]

That would be fun to help with. Do they net the perch, if so that will be quite the sorting job. Interesting how they can establish a new pond. I didn't see anywhere, but are they closing all angling until things get going or do they allow for some angling pressure by over stocking numbers. Sorry you may not have a clue on those questions. I guess by stocking this time of year you have a very good chance of taking advantage of all the spawn so it's like you stocked a lot higher numbers. Sounds like good planning. Hope it works out. Later J
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[wyoguy]

Your right I haven't a clue on most of your questions, however, I know they plan on catching the perch with rod and reel. And yes the timing is to try to take advantage of them spawning in their new home.
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[Fishrmn]

Saugeye are sterile, but the sterile Walleye will be created by heat shocking the eggs. It causes the chromosomes to double, and then double again. The fry develop, but they produce eggs or milt that cannot function in reproduction.



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[SkunkedAgain]

Sorry, but good to know they are catching with rod and reels. Probably not planning on taking too terrible many fish then. Later J
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[SkunkedAgain]

Cool thanks that's interesting. J
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[albinotrout]

I would say look to red fleet in the next couple of years to become an awesome perch fishery.
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