Walleye question?

[Ely Lake Expert]

I am just curious how old a 10 lb. walleye is? Also, how old can a walleye get?

Ryan

[Poutmaster]

From the info I've read over the years, a 10 pound female is likely between 15 and 20 years old. A lot a factors come into play, and can vary from lake to lake and fish to fish. Some of the biggest fish are likley 20+ years old.

[Northlander]

Ya just too many factors to play out. Tell us what lake and what time of year caught and we can give ya a better idea or educated guess.

In big cold lakes like Lake Superior the eyes grow for a longer time but are on average lighter than inland lakes of a same year class.

[shadman2]

I had the same question recently and what I found was you can estimate the age by looking at a scale under a microscope and counting light and dark rings divide by 2, should be close to an estimated age. Light rings are summer rings, dark rings are winter rings. The most accurate way to age fish is to measure the growth of the otolith(sp) bone. btw, I checked because I caught a 32" with 18" girth in Traverse Bay, MB

[RobertV]

Hello folks! Name's Bob, and as you can see, I'm a newbie. However, it does not apply to Walleye fishing.

Being located in Connecticut, and working closely with Dept. of Environemental Protection/Inland Fisheries Division, I would like to add the following:

We have developed a very healthy and successful WA fishery, where more than a dozen lakes and one river system, are being stocked with 3-5 inch fingerlings each fall. Matter of fact, we do purchase them from a distributor located in your State.

The Program begun in 1993, when only 3 lakes were chosen to be the first to recieve fingerlings. None the less, more bodies of water were found suitable later on, and consequently stocked at a ratio of 15/acre.

To make a long story short, due to different conditions(latitude, temperature, etc), extremely abundant forage base (which consists mainly of alewives, a high-protein baitfish), we now have a very healthy and abundant WA population.

Being involved in Electrofishing studies, and as a WA fisherman, I could tell you that a 10 pound fish (which measures around 30 inches), could be anywhere between 7-9 years of age. Of course, I am reffering to Connecticut, where the climate is nowhere near as harsh as it is in Minnesota. Plus, our smallest WA lake has a surface area of 288 acres, with the largest being around 900 acres.

I could go on an on, but wouldn't want to bore you to death..but I wanted to share this with you, perhaps some would find it interesting.

BTW, I've been a Member of CTFisherman.com for a long time, and that's how I found out about your site. I guess it was Matt Johnson's fault

Anyways, I'm very happy to be here, to say the least..

[Paul Waldowski]

Robert,

I will take that matter up with Matt In the meantime, welcome aboard and dang glad to have you

[BDR]

Welcome to FM RobertV!

[Northlander]

Welcome to FM. Boy I wish our Lake Superior eyes got 30" and 10 pounds in 7 years. Im guessing a 10# eye in our area would be in the 9-10 yr area at least.

Can you e-mail me some pics of your Walleyes up there. Im curious to see their coloration etc. walleyes4me32 at aol dot com Thanks and welcome aboard again.

[CrappieJohn]

Welcome aboard sir! Always nice to have new blood come on deck, especially when the miles can add a new dimension.

[sami0115]

welcome to the greatest site online!

[RobertV]

Guys, thanks for the warm welcome! Much appreciated!

Northlander, I will send you three pics, taken this year at our best WA lake. Two of them are from spring Electrofishing session, and the third is a 8.38 pound specimen, caught this past June.

BTW, do we have a photo gallery, where we could upload pics? Just wondering..

[Royce Aardahl]

Here's a 9 and 10 from the Red River in North Dakota I got back in 1989. I have no idea how old they were.