Walleye

[Brian Wise]

Hey all,

Just thought I would let you know some Walleye are being caught in the lower Bryant (close to the lake.) With the rain that is coming through hopefully the White won't be far behind and they will move up into the Bryant too along with hopefully some stripers.

Brian

[Phil Lilley]

Serious!! I never knew the Bryant had that kind of run!!

[Brian Wise]

lilley,

We have caught little stripers as far up as Douglas county on the Bryant, crazy. A lot of the time the Walleye and a few White make their runs up and stay in the river for the summer.

Brian

[Micheal Kyle]

Brian,

I would like thank you for the great program that you presented at our meeting on Thursday night. I would like to know a little bit more about Bryant Creek. If you could tell me more on the Walleye and Whites down there that would be great.

Michael

[Brian Wise]

Michael,

Thanks, you guys have a great club and you meet at the perfect spot. How is the Conservation Center after the storm??

For the walleye and Stripers, when the walleye run up from the Norfork lake they have a couple of different options to pick from at the headwaters. The North Fork of the White usually has a pretty decent run of walleye as does the Bryant. This run can be anywhere from late January to the middle of March it seems, the later in the year they make it up there it usually means the fewer the numbers though. The white bass usually run anywhere from early March to late April, I have seen them run as early as mid February and well in to May though. All of this is mostly dependent on water, if the water is down real low the fish don't have to go as far to find moving water because the head waters of the lake are moving enough for the "spawn." It seems the White bass are as weather oriented as they are water oriented, if you see a few days (and nights) that are really warm you can usually count of catching some whites, if you see a few days that are warm and there is water a lot of the times you can REALLY get into them.

The stripers are usually just ahead of the White bass but they are really the harder to judge than the walleye or the whites (for some people....including me .)

There used to be a pretty good population of walleye that were in the Bryant year-round. It seems like in the last couple years those numbers have dropped though, probably lower water and a hard temperature rise in the river during the summer would be my guess. The Bryant is really cool, name a fish in the lake....you'll catch it in the Bryant, smallmouth, largemouth, kentucky, crappie, catfish, white bass, stripers, walleye, and all the bluegill you can catch!

Brian

[catman70]

Brian,

I suppose the cold front moving through this Friday will really knock them down, or do the spawners not respond as much as thoughout the rest of the year? Also, I've heard that it's illegal to posess Walleye from dusk till dawn on the Bryant and North Fork – is this true?

Thanks,

Tim

[Wayne SW/MO]

I made my first trip over there last year, and the first Black Bass was a Hybrid.

[Brian Wise]

Tim,

I have never heard that, might be something to check into though. I have been checked on the Bryant with a limit of Walleye though.

Wayne,

I forgot to mention Hybrids, most of the time they are more fun to catch than the Stripers themselves....better fight.

Brian

[SKMO]

Tim,

I have never heard that, might be something to check into though. I have been checked on the Bryant with a limit of Walleye though.

It is true, refer to:

http://www.sos.mo.gov/adrules/csr/current/3csr/3c10-6.pdf (Page 11)

Basically from Feb 20 to April 11 walleye can be taken and possessed only between 6:30 AM and 6:30 PM on the unimpounded parts of any MO rivers (as well as the Swan Creek arm of Bull Shoals above Hwy 160, they must hang out there a bunch).

So reservoirs are OK round the clock but if you are in flowing water I guess you had better have your line out of the water by 6:30.

This is a good law in my opinion as I have heard stories of days past when they were gigged and grabbed by lantern-light on the shoals at night, guess their eyes light up like a deer in the headlights and are easy to see.

[Wayne SW/MO]

The Code says the unimpounded portion, if the unimpounded portion is above the flood pool, then it would reach well up Bryant creek, or Beaver for that matter.