The Finley~~~ Walleye

[thefinleyassasin]

Well i just subscribed to this forum so im new here guys but far from new to the finley. . About 2 weeks ago i pulled a 21 inch walleye out of the finley. Suprised the heck out of me. Ive pulled 2 blue cats out as well in the last week both very fat and over 5 pounds as well. Last night i pulled what id guess to be an 8 to 10 pound blue cat out last night while the moon was covered. Ive caught loads of small mouth and large mouth out (as well as litteral truck loads of white bass) .they are in every hole deeper than your knees it seems. Im wondering what suprises the finley holds next for me. Dont see it topping the walleye tho. Altho the gar snapping and soft shell turtles are a little suprising when you first pull them in i dono what i could catch that would come close to that walleye. Maybe i'll pull a 30 poind flat head out ...that would definatly suprise me. Anyways if anyone else has pulled a walleye out let me know i am curious as to the population of walleye in the finley. I'll have pictures up soon.

[RSBreth]

Well, since the James seems to have more and more Walleyes in it every year, I guess it's not so shocking that some would venture up the Finley BUT one that size will certainly get my attention.

The catfish thing is pretty cool - I always think I'm going to get the time to fish for them but never really do. My next oldest brother is a serious "catman" and has caught some huge fish from smaller creeks over there in Kansas, so you never know, you may get a big Flathead.I

was just wondering if those were Blues or just large Channel Cats. I didn't think Blues lived in smaller waters like the Finley.

http://www.thejump.net/fishlist/channelcat.htm

http://www.thejump.net/fishlist/bluecat.htm

[smallmouthjoe]

The walleye doesn't surprise me at all. The size does, what a monster. Like Randy said, The James seems to have more and more walleye in it every year. I'm worried about the small-mouth population, the competitive exclusion principle states that no two species can occupy the same niche at the same time. We've seen an example of this on in some streams in are state. A perfect example would be the take over of some sections of rivers by the Spotted Bass. I've caught more Spots this year on The James, along with Walleye, than in any year before. And I've caught both species in faster water lying behind current breaks willing to hit a crayfish imitator. There are of course many factors involved and the small mouth are still the more prevalent species so I don't think it's a real concern at the moment. But it does make me concerned about the future.

Oh yeah, where are you fishing? Just curious.

[zander]

As far as the competitive exclusion principle is concerned, I wouldn't worry about it at all, not even in the future. Walleye and smallmouth are both native to these same waterways, and neither managed to cause the other to be excluded from the system before we showed up. They are then occupied different niches within the same ecosystem.

[smallmouthjoe]

I should have considered the fact that they come from different families as well. Since they are not as closely related as spots and smallies, they may not use the resources the same. I didn't know that walleye were a native species, I thought they were introduced by the conservation dept years ago.

[zander]

Even fish from different families can compete for the same niche. It just so happens that these two species, walleye and smallies, don't.

[smallmouthjoe]

Even fish from different families can compete for the same niche. It just so happens that these two species, walleye and smallies, don't.

OK, i might have over reacted. I'm just concerned, I don't want samllies to become the minority.

[thefinleyassasin]

No the white river used to hold the oldest strain of walleye in this area from what ive heard befor they put in the tablerock dam they called them river jake walleye and they breed very poorly and from what i understand are nearly gone and have been replaced by the conservation with a smaller size breed of walleye. And yes these were blue cats cause their tails were not forked like a channel and their heads were very robust and meaty not so sleek like that of a channel. ........ i got pictures i could be wrong but i know channel cats have deep v forks in theit tails along with spots and different coloring these had no spots blue color and very very slight dip it the tail fin.

[thefinleyassasin]

yeh i looked at your links on identifying the cats the anal fins were smooth and even and narrower than a channels sail like anal fin. I would post more pics but this uploader is giving me trouble because they are all over 2 megs in size ...... trying to figure out a way around it might have to throw my facebook down on here and put them on there so people can get a peek.....

[thefinleyassasin]

But i could be wrong im no expert for sure just a back woods raised country boy with a nak for fishing. let me know what you think the picture of the cat i got up looks like to you cause all of them have looked like the small one in the pics. Also ive bveen catching lots of snappers and really big crayfish got a trick to catching the big crawdaddies with a line and sinker no hook needed really. Bout to head out the door to the river. Probably go after some whites they taste good if you can catch a dozen of em seing how most the males are tiny. Oh off topic only found one bass that had round (cod?) worms in it. And it was a large mouth 14 incher my girl caught . Oh also confused i see in the missouri conservation book where they have a 12 inch keeper limit on all black bass for alot of rivers but 15 inch for lakes wich is it on the finley 12 or 15 to keep?