Walleye On The Beaver

[Kcnflman]

I've been catching quite a few Walleye in the Lost Bridge area as well as other areas of the lake. Most have been in the 16 to 18" range, with a few keepers. Often, I will catch other bass in the same area, I wonder to what extent the Walleye will be competing with the Bass fishery in Beaver?

[jeb]

Yeah, I wonder that, too. But nothing we can do about it, I guess. I think they should make a 15" a keeper, though. I lived in MN for 35 years and Walleye is king up there, and the min was 15". It would maybe keep some of the food source competition down if we could pull more of them out of the lake. Great eating fish.

[Stump bumper]

Yeah, I wonder that, too. But nothing we can do about it, I guess. I think they should make a 15" a keeper, though. I lived in MN for 35 years and Walleye is king up there, and the min was 15". It would maybe keep some of the food source competition down if we could pull more of them out of the lake. Great eating fish.

.

This is the third attempt to get Walleye to stick in Beaver, they are not a native fish like they are in the lakes up North. They tried stocking Walleyes twice in the 80s and they didn't take at all because people caught and ate them before they could reproduce.

The last big stocking a few years ago were all breading size fish over 12in so they would have a chance of reproducing. I have not seen any studies but I hope they are doing some type of study to see how they are doing.

Don't get in too much of a hurry to have big fish fries with Walleyes or we will be talking about "when" Beaver had some walleyes. If you were fishing Beaver in 2003 you would have to go below the darn for a chance to see one.

By the way the first stocking at Beaver was the same year as the first stocking in Greers Feary and Beaver was a thought to be a better lake for Walleye. Greers now holds the World Record.

[Quillback]

I caught 3 walleye Tuesday on plastics while bass fishing, none were keepers. I'm with JEB, they need to lower the slot to 15 or 16 inches. If you get the Benton County newspaper there's a walleye story in today's outdoor section, guys were bass fishing and caught several walleye including keepers. The article also mentions that 100,000 walleye fingerlings were released in Beaver last month by the state.

[rangerman]

The success of a natural walleye spawn is generally very minimum in comparison with bass. As far as competeing with bass for forage and taking over I don't think you guys have alot to worry about.

LOZ stocked a million plus a couple of years and has a great population of eyes but it has not seem to affect the bass population at all.

[Walleyedmike]

"This is the third attempt to get Walleye to stick in Beaver, they are not a native fish like they are in the lakes up North."

Actually, they are a native fish to the White River according to Lilly's article in the "walleye" section of the forum. http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5245

In my humble opinion, we have a responsibility to ensure that native species remain in the system after we make changes to it, such as building dams. I'd think the big stripers in Beaver would be more of a threat to the largemouth bass population than the walleye will ever be.

WM

[jeb]

I'm certainly not saying they should not be there. Just that they should relax the size limit. Is there any proof to show the 18" rule makes any difference in the spawning success?

[Walleyedmike]

I honestly don't know anything about Arkansas' plan for walleye in Beaver. I would guess the 18" length limit is to establish a sustainable population that won't require huge stocking of fish every year or two. It probably takes a couple of years for the fish to grow from 15" to 18". That's a couple of years for fish to spawn that may have been harvested under looser regualtions. I've heard that the survival rate of naturally hatched walleye in Missouri lakes is less than 5%, so that extra couple of years may make a huge difference in the Beaver walleye population.

WM

[Stump bumper]

"This is the third attempt to get Walleye to stick in Beaver, they are not a native fish like they are in the lakes up North."

Actually, they are a native fish to the White River according to Lilly's article in the "walleye" section of the forum. http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5245

In my humble opinion, we have a responsibility to ensure that native species remain in the system after we make changes to it, such as building dams. I'd think the big stripers in Beaver would be more of a threat to the largemouth bass population than the walleye will ever be.

WM

I stand corrected, I was thinking of the lake and did not go back to the orignal river system. I was very interested in this subject when they were growing the Walleye in the Nursrey Pond and talked to serveral Wildlife employees involved in the project. They were all conserned that the walleye would fail again and the only condition they could find that was a threat to the fish was over fishing.

Then again the white river used to be the home to paddle fish, alagator gar and sturgean and I have not seen any of those fish in Beaver.

The biggest difference I see in Beaver and Table Rock is the water moves in Table Rock and there is very little generation in Beaver and that has a lot to do with river fish not being able to survive and I am guessing why the walleye cannot reproduce.

[Quillback]

There are paddlefish in Beaver, I remember a few years ago the state record, 105 lbs I believe it weighed, was caught in Beaver. Accidentally snagged by a guy fishing for stripers. I think you're right about the alligator gar and sturgeon being gone.

As far as the walleye, I see walleye as being a "catch and keep" fish rather than a catch and release fish like bass. And if the state is going to keep stocking them then they might as well lower the slot to something more reasonable. They gotta raise something in those hatcheries, right?