Some numbers from Cornell.Current adult walleye population - 628K I know it's a decent drop from the "1 million" but the consensis is that the 1M number was high. 2022 Walleye harvest was 107K which is a big jump. Nearly double what it has been in the last 10+ years. That increase was not due to the 5 fish limit, it was due to an increase in angler effort and catch rates. They estimate that the 5 fish limit only resulted in a 5% increase in take. Age 1 walleye numbers are the second highest in 20 years and they are the second largest (longest) in 20 years.Current yellow perch population - 3 Million! Highest since the late 70s.Age 2 perch population is also the highest since the 70s.Round Goby population is the highest that it has been since they arrived.Smallmouth Bass - Numbers are still declining for the past 6 years (since gobies arrived). When zebra muscles showed up the Smallmouth Bass population rose steadily. The current population is still higher than the pre zebra muscle years.Cormorants - Numbers are steady. Their diet by weight consisted of yellow perch, followed by walleye, gobies, and then shad.Telemetry study - They will tag 100 walleyes this fall. Then another 100 walleyes will be tagged in the spring of 2024. There will be 64 receivers spaced around the lake every 2 kilometers (sunken buoys designed to hopefully not be snagged). The data will not be real time. If we catch a walleye with an internal tag we should save the tag and there will be a phone number / email address to contact Cornell to return the tag. Tags are the size of a triple A battery.
I may be jumped on but this report is a typical very poor explanation from cornell for their HUGE miscalculation.. Last report perch population was way down and eyes well over a million. Now the eye population drops 38% THIRTY EIGHT PERCENT…. and that was due to them not paying any attention to the consensus ? ( our mind is made up, dont confused us with facts). Perch, the eyes main forage was way down and now at highs not seen since the 70s. Those figures from before triggered the nearly doubling of the daily limit …. Question to those who supported the jump from 3 to 5 fish. Would you have supported the jump had you known the actual (can we trust this new number ??j, was 628,000 and not 1 million .
I remember 1 year it was posted 900,00 eyes , then it went to 750 , then it ended up 500,000 , so how can 400,000 get misplaced ?
were checking yer freezor fred !!!
Need an emergency repair on my 15hp johnson, needs a carb cleaning as the low speed jet seems to be bummed up. Want to get out Friday if I can, anyone around the north shore would be groovy.