Willard Bay...2015 DWR Reports

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]A big thanks to Chris Penne of DWR. I just talked him into sending me the 2015 report on netting survey results for Willard Bay...from their October 2015 nettings. He also included a report on marking procedures and results. Very interesting and informative.

Reports attached below.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[PACKFAN]

Thanks for posting TD.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Sho nuff.

Use the info for making excuses or for planning successful future assaults. Just don't shoot the messenger...or blame DWR for the low water conditions that don't make their job any easier.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[wiperhunter2]

Chris P, can you comment on this?
"Recommendation

1. Continue the current marking study investigating the effectiveness of stocking wiper
fingerlings vs. fry in terms of survival and cost. Use this information to refine the current
wiper stocking quota for fingerlings and fry."
I wonder if they have come up with a number, for the survival rate of the wiper fry they stock at Willard? I know they have said it could be as low as 1% or up to 10% but in 25 years, I don't remember them giving us an idea of what the survival rate actually is. Lots of other good info though.
[signature]

[Wiperholic]

Many Thanks to TubeDude for finding and posting this info and special thanks to Chris Penne and the folks at DWR for managing and maintaining the great fishery at Willard Bay. It looks like it's going to be another fun year with many more to come. Now bring on the fishing reports!
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[quote wiperhunter2] "Recommendation

1. Continue the current marking study investigating the effectiveness of stocking wiper
fingerlings vs. fry in terms of survival and cost. Use this information to refine the current
wiper stocking quota for fingerlings and fry."
I wonder if they have come up with a number, for the survival rate of the wiper fry they stock at Willard? I know they have said it could be as low as 1% or up to 10% but in 25 years, I don't remember them giving us an idea of what the survival rate actually is. Lots of other good info though.[/quote]

[#0000FF]From some other reports I got from DWR a couple of years ago...survival rate of the sac fry varies between .5% and 11%...with a lot of variables each year. Very difficult to monitor or verify because of the sheer numbers and small sizes of the fry.

On the other hand, the larger fingerling sized wipers show what appears to be close to a 50% survival rate. But they are more costly to produce.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[Jmorfish]

I also appreciate your posting of this DWR report, and read almost all of it...Whew!...good info, as I haven't utilized this fishery much in the past, and I certainly have nothing against a quality catfish...tks again...
[signature]

[NVFish]

Thanks for posting!
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]I appreciate your appreciation.

As I have stated more than a few times on this board, the catfish from Willard are among the best eating of any catfish from any water in our country. I know because I have fished all over and have caught and eaten cats from many ponds and streams.

Willard "cookies" (cookie cutter cats) are absolutely great any way you want to cook them. Most prefer traditional frying. But I also like to do them on a grill in a fish basket...dribbled with lemon butter and seasonings. White, mild flesh. Willard Bay sole.

[inline "WILLARD BAY SOLE.jpg"]
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[PACKFAN]

I agree with you TD the flavor of the cats from Willard are much better than those from Utah Lake and are hard to beat.
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat and Chris I really enjoyed the report as well. Very interesting and fun to see the extent of what goes into a fish management program. Pat I also have to fess up that Willard cats are better eating than Bear River cats as well. One thing that the report shows that I long suspected is the cats don't get very big at Willard. Wonder why??? Thanks again J
[signature]

[MBM1969]

Thanks for posting Pat. Interesting stuff.

Mark
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[quote SkunkedAgain]Hey Pat and Chris I really enjoyed the report as well. Very interesting and fun to see the extent of what goes into a fish management program. Pat I also have to fess up that Willard cats are better eating than Bear River cats as well. One thing that the report shows that I long suspected is the cats don't get very big at Willard. Wonder why??? Thanks again J[/quote]

[#0000FF]No doubt about it. Willard Bay is the most "managed" pond in Utah. But it is one of the only waters that has no "downstream disaster" potential for anything that might go awry from problem plantings or introductions. Most of our other lakes are wholly owned by downstream water users that are (justifiably) skittish about anything that might be put into the waters to enhance fisheries...and which might affect the drinkability, etc. No such problems with Salt Lake.

It is impressive to read of the exhaustive studies and monitoring that goes into DWRs management of Willard Bay. And it has been gratifying to note that they are actually planting species other than trout...such as wipers, walleye and even cats. It gives us hope for the future...for other waters.

Catfish used to get much bigger in Willard. I began fishing them in the late 70's. In the early years the ecology of Willard was much different. There were three main species...walleyes, cats and crappies. And there were plentiful bluegill and green sunfish. In the days BS (before shad) baby crappies, bluegill and sunfish were all forage items for the predators.

The water levels seemed to stay higher then too, and there was almost always water well up into the rocks on the dikes. That provided great cover and spawning habitat for the abundant crawdads. And the mudbugs were a major good source for cats, enabling them to eat well all year and to grow much bigger. 5# cats were common. 10# cats were not rare. And there were occasionally mega cats over 20# taken by dedicated catologists.

Here is a picture of the results of a night fishing trip in the channel of the south marina about mid May in the early 80s. The largest cat was 14#...with several between 5 and 10. And the first three big ones we caught that night tore up a heavy bass chain stringer and broke free...before we started stringing our fish on the rope.
[inline "better days.JPG"]


AS (after shad) the ecology of Willard changed drastically. Shad are filter feeders and suck up the zooplankton needed by the young of other species to survive to larger sizes. And, while they provide lots of food for walleyes, crappies, wipers and catfish for a few short months...before they grow too big to eat...there are several months in which the meat-eaters have to find other food. The newly introduced wipers...and the established walleyes...feed heavily on shad while they are available but are reduced to foraging for crawdads, small sunfish, baby catfish and even their own young when the shad are in short supply.

Today we have chronically low water in Willard, with not enough water to provide habitat for crawdads up in the rocks. Combine that with more hungry mouths feeding on the catfish chow and there is just not enough food for cats to grow beyond the size they can obtain without enough food. Over the course of a year you can find a wide variety of stuff in kitty tummies...including quantities of midge larvae, snails, and other small invertebrates. That's trout food.

In better times you will find small shad and even occasional unlucky crawdads in Willard's cookies. But not like in times of old. Big cats usually had big midsections. And CSI exams usually revealed whole small crappies, bluegills or green sunfish. These items are also on the menu for the newcomers. Far fewer crappies, bluegills and sunfish these days. Haven't even seen a green sunnie for several years.


[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[retch_sweeney]

The average size of the cats is way down from the '80s and early '90s. I recall days of catching a dozen or so cats between 20 and 30" with the occasional 15 lb. monster.
Then Doug Miller did a show on the big Willard Bay cats and the pressure on that fishery seemed to be the beginning of the end to big cats...well, that and the introduction of these voracious wipers that began competing for the same forage.
There are still a few bruisers but the average size of channel cats will probably stay in that cookie cutter size forever. It's not a bad thing. They taste a lot better before they get over 3 lbs.
[signature]

[RockyRaab]

Higher water is truly what we so desperately need at Willard. The good part of low water years is that vegetation has taken advantage of all that rich exposed land, and when the floods come, that will mean lots of new cover for fish nurseries.
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat, thanks for the history on the cats at Willard, ya know I hadn't paid attention before, but the Willard cats are way more slender than a Cutler cat and I guess it is the different feed quantities. Cutler is more the BS state with crappie and sunfish and carplets as a feed base and so they are chunky fish. I wonder what will happen in the Bear River between the refuge and Cutler dam since the shad are in there now? That area used to have monster cats, do you think the size will start to drop? I guess without the wiper competition they may hold their own, but I guess that will be something to watch now. Anyway thanks for the insight that is very interesting. Nice picture too, TD charming cats as usual.

Did the floods of the early 80's cause problems for Willard like it did the refuge where the salt water flood killed off the natural plants of the marsh areas? I remember the floods, but I didn't fish Willard at the time so I wasn't paying attention to whether it caused issues. Thanks again. J
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Shad in the food chain below Cutler will likely only help the predators. It's the wipers that outcompete the cats for food. Shad will only add to the food base. More big kitties.

Willard had no problems with floods. What goes in can go out just as fast with the outlet pipe and the outflow channel on the north side of the lake. The only problem with that is it creates current and the current draws in the fish...which get sucked out of the lake. That happened a few years ago when the lake was dropped quickly for dike repairs. Lots of walleye and wipers ended up in the channel below Willard. There they were snagged and slaughtered by the happy harvesters...never to return to Willard Bay.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

I think the wipers probably helped increase the angling pressure as well so that probably ended up causing more big cats to be caught. Interesting info you and TD add to this discussion. So do the channel cats rely on spawning in the lake to keep their numbers up? Seems like the size is small to be good spawners now days. Thanks J
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Like most species, cats spawn when they become sexually mature...not only when they reach a certain size. I assure you that the cookie cutter size cats are prolific spawners. They just produce fewer eggs than female cats of larger size.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Pat, may have to try the lower Bear this summer. Later J
[signature]