Quote:
Originally Posted by mapleleafman3
It's a bit funny that there is the same situation in Lake Mille Lacs, Minnesota. They are doing the same netting surveys (and a couple other methods) and people are saying the survey doesn't match what people are seeing on the lake. I see the same thing on lakes i normally fish that have been surveyed. The survey doesn't match what I'm catching.
It's obvious, netting surveys are not the way to go.
Link to the Mille Lacs article, if your curious
http://targetwalleye.com/the-truth-a...lacs-walleyes/ |
Fall Index Nettings can be a useful tool in researching a body of water. But it always helps to have some context when looking at them. I'll give an example.
Snipe Lake is a well-known walleye lake near me. I've fished it lots and caught a lot of big fish out of it. I call it the Cereal Bowl...it has zero structure other than bottom transitions. The fish are nomadic and wander around constantly in search of food. Even when it's producing, you can go hours without a fish. But if someone catches one hang on because a pod is coming through and a few will likely be caught in rapid succession....you get the idea.
I happened across the biologists that completed the Fall 2023 survey on Snipe while fishing in Northern B.C. recently. They were gushing about how there was such an insane number of walleye in the lake and there were plans to double the limit to two fish in the upcoming regulations. Sounds great. A real success story from when the walleye were almost extirpated (read the 2014 F.I.N. report where they claimed stocking had failed due to poor numbers).
Here's the rub. No one can catch a fish on Snipe this year. I know sticks that have fished it for years and spend 20-30 days on it every winter that are getting skunked more often than not. There's been maybe 2-3 nice fish posted on social media all winter when it's usually every weekend. And the lake apparently is getting pressured harder than ever this year, so it's not like people aren't trying (I haven't even bothered fishing it due to reports from friends). Does this sound like a lake that should move to a two fish limit and the commensurate spike in pressure that will come with it?
So why the discrepancy? You have a bunch of tunnel-vision biologists applying techniques from typical walleye waters where the fish are structure-oriented to a population that is nomadic. It's like trying to compare Lake of the Woods walleye to Lake Winnipeg or Lake Erie walleye...doesn't work. Some years they are going to get "lucky" and have a pod run through their nets suggesting to them the fish are crawling everywhere, as apparently happened this Fall (keep in mind this is only 8 sample nets for 24 hours or less on a 4200 ha lake). Other years they won't be so "lucky" and they may not come across the fish, leading them to surmise the population is doomed as occurred in 2014.