One thing that is sometimes missing in these discussions is what a typical walleye lake in natural balance should be like.
My mother's family comes from north of Glendon and I am old enough to remember a daily limit of 15 fish (combination of pike and walleye) back in the 60's. In those years, new roads were being punched in to lakes like Wolf, Siebert, Pinehurst. Touchwood etc.
Anglers flocked to whatever new lake now had road access, The walleye fishing was incredible in those first years. We would troll len thompson spoons on wire leaders and typically boat a limit of 15 walleye per person often in just a couple hours of fishing. Then it was back to shore where the women folk had set up camp stoves and were canning fish. The men would then go back and get another 15 walleye each.
Usually in the first trip or two to a new lake we would catch more quite few more walleye than pike. Of course the walleye fishery could not sustain that kind of pressure and in a couple years our walleye catch rate was falling quickly and we started catching more pike. It was now easier to catch pike comparative to the walleye. Decent pike fishing with a few walleye mixed in seemed to last a few years through the 70s into the 80's, but eventually even the pike became smaller and fewer in number as well. Removing the top predators in the lakes allowed the perch population to really take off during this transition period.
By the mid 80's these fisheries were mere shadows of what they had been 10- 20 years earlier.
This is purely anecdotal and speculation ,,,,,, but lakes without any previous years of angling pressure should be close to a natural balance. If this is the case, then it can argued that the phenomenal walleye fishing we experienced in the first year or two of access seems to indicate walleye may indeed be the apex predator in many lakes and pike and perch numbers are reduced in comparison. It also seems to show that walleye are more easily fished out comparative to pike and perch, but even pike and perch can take a beating from continued excessive angling pressure.
Just something to think about when we hear complaints about there being too many walleye now again.
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