waubay predictions????

[deadminnowcatcher]

The past 2 years has been slow for us on waubay. plenty of pesky walleyes but few perch. Is that a trend that is expected to continue or are there alot of perch this yearr????

[verg]

I doubt it. I'm not expert but my neighbor is CO. He says that fish have extremely low reproduction in waubay. If you notice, most of the perch that have been caught last few yrs have been decent. Usually in the 7-11 in range. I know i have caught very very few dinks..which means they aren't reproducing in there well. Also, the intense pressure that the lake sees is taking its toll. So, my prediction would be similar to last few years. Maybe worse. There is always perch to be found in there but it is definetly not like it was and may not ever be again.

I went one time and saw my CO buddy out checking people. He said there was an estimated 1000-1300 shacks on the ice that day, not including people fishing outside. He said 85% were non res. With a poor reproduction rate the lake just can't hold its own and i think now we are seeing the down slide. However, the wallys should be fun.

[percherman]

Yes! the Perch definitely rely on those spring time flooding rains to bring the water table of the lakes up.

They use the flooded weeds as spawning habitat to attach their egg sacks. These strings of eggs can be huge!! When they put them in the flooded timber or weeds in thees back bays they are usually protected from the damage that the wind and pounding waves do out on the unprotected shores and points. This is the main reason why there is know reproduction happening currently.

Lets hope for some good clear ice, and then let er snow!!

And then pray for a rainy spring.

[PERCHJR]

85%!!! HUH, I agree with verg, I also have a very, very reliable source in the Waubay area and he has told me that there is almost no natural reproduction in that lake and there never will be, all the perch we have been catching have been stocked, it is sad but true!!! I would bet the house on it that Waubay will never be the same as it was 4-5yrs ago, unless we get really lucky with the stocking and possibly dropping the limit to 5 also, I know nobody wants to hear that but it is the best thing for all the lakes in that region!!! I think that verg will agree with me on this won't you verg???

Perchjr

[Soup]

I can agree that we are not going to see the hay-days that we have seen in the past. But I don't agree with the stocking. I have fished the lake religously for the past 5 years and the results are big fish with very, very few small fish. We had high water for a period of time that let the perch reproduce, now that has past we need a really wet winter/spring to see that happen again.

[ifishsd]

From what I have read about Waubay is that most of the perch are from from one year class. The perch had a great hatch when the water was high. Since that time they have had very poor reproduction. On the other hand the walleyes have always had problems reproducing in Waubay. Most of them are stocked.

I wish the state would stock more perch in some of the lakes. No perch were stocked in any Day county lakes in 2005. You can go to the GFP HSOforum and see all the lakes that were stocked in 2005. Also they have test netting results also listed on the HSOforum.

Send me an email if you what the links to those websites.

[Tyler Holm]

Most of the walleyes in Waubay are stocked. There is a VERY small population of reproducing walleyes left in Waubay.

Perch on the other hand reproduce just fine in Waubay, but the conditions need to be just right. As stated above perch reproduce best when there is high water in the spring. Most all those 10-13+" perch that anglers have been catching over the past few years are from the floods in 98 & 99.

I predict that the jumbos will continue to be tough to find. If you find yourself in a school, consider it a lucky day and cherrish it. There should be a good population of eatable walleyes for the taking.

[verg]

actually, i believe perch have big problems reproducing as well. Again, i am not an expert but talk a lot with CO etc. According to them, perch and wallys have very little reproduction. That being said, wallys much worse than perch but the perch repr. is very low as well. That is why most of the perch you catch are decent sized. To go along with that, Waubay has a huge forage base. Fish grow much faster in that lake than most you can think of. So if you caught a 12 in perch it is most likley years younger than a 12 in perch on another lake. However, doesn't mean it will spawn well. The fisheries Biol. are even somewhat baffled. I think they know the most of it but there are some unseen factors as to why wallys and perch struggle.

[cold one sd]

Good try PERCHJR, I guess some people just don't get it.