Walleye On The Beaver

[Walleyedmike]

I thought that's why God made crappie, Quillback!

WM

[Quillback]

Crappie are always welcome in my frying pan

Here's a link to the walleye management plan for ADFG. It's somewhat out of date (2003), but it has some interesting historical stuff about walleye. In the appendix there's a cost breakdown on walleye rearing at the hatchery. It's very inexpensive, especially when you compare it to the cost of raising trout.

http://www.agfc.com/pdfs/fisheries/mgmtplans/walleye_saugeye_plan.pdf

[Stump bumper]

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?

I went back and read that acticle too and found that the state did stock some paddle fish years ago in Beaver trying to bring them back, I still don't see them like Table Rock unless you count the run in the spring to the Beaver tail waters. I have been on the James were I see hundreds of those fish caught for thier eggs and thrown into dumpsters at the ramps. I guess that is a sport for some but I would enjoy letting a 80lb fish go and imagine how big it could get and eat a something else that night.

To me all fish are fun to catch and the bigger they are the funner it is to catch them, so I find all fish cacth and release with some limited harvest usally of fish that won't survive due to deep hook. I feel better that I harvested a deep hooked bass then to bring home a mess of crappie or catfish. But to each thier own, when I was younger I ran trout lines and shot deer, it's later in years the fun went out of those things.

Maybe when we get a good walleye population and they start walleye tournaments here with good pay outs they will have the same respect as "money" fish. Myself when I relese a 20in walleye I hope to see it a few years down the road on my granddaughtes hook.

Thanks for setting me straight again on the paddlefish. Maybe someday we will find a strugan they do live a 100 years and the darn has only been there since the 60s.

[rangerman]

Another point, alot of walleye guys me included feel the next world record eye will again come from the White river system. Unknown where, but somewhere, TR, BS, Beaver who knows.....Even some of the northern guys feel the same way. There are alot of chances out there in our southern lakes for a world class walleye. Hope someone on one of these forums catches it as well.

[Stump bumper]

Another point, alot of walleye guys me included feel the next world record eye will again come from the White river system. Unknown where, but somewhere, TR, BS, Beaver who knows.....Even some of the northern guys feel the same way. There are alot of chances out there in our southern lakes for a world class walleye. Hope someone on one of these forums catches it as well.

Here is a good read on that point, I didn't realize that "southren" lakes have held the record since 1960.

http://arkansasroadstories.com/nature/walleye.html

[Quillback]

Personally I think the next record will from the Columbia river. What's not mentioned in that article is that they used to stock rainbow trout in Greers, which fed the big walleye, no more rainbows in Greers, plus the added pressure and the huge walleyes are gone, probably for good.

[J-Doc]

I have noticed a lot of walleye this season as well. Found a big school of them off of the big island above the 12 bridge this spring. Every trip I catch at least 1-2 if not more. Had one hammer a big swimbait. I've caught them on everyhthing from a jig to a swimbait. Even a shakey head. I throw them back regardless of size. I'm a bass guy and I'm fishing for bass, not walleye.

As for not seeing aligator gar, how have you missed them? I see them almost every trip. Some have gotten up to 5ft or bigger. I didn't know sturgeon was native to the White River. I did see a huge something one day. I saw a large dorsal fin surface and then dive again. Whatever it was, had to have been 6ft plus. It was huge. I had to ask myself "did I really just see that?" Strange...

I'll be glad when the walleye go deep offshore and leave my bass baits alone.

[Stump bumper]

I have noticed a lot of walleye this season as well. Found a big school of them off of the big island above the 12 bridge this spring. Every trip I catch at least 1-2 if not more. Had one hammer a big swimbait. I've caught them on everyhthing from a jig to a swimbait. Even a shakey head. I throw them back regardless of size. I'm a bass guy and I'm fishing for bass, not walleye.

As for not seeing aligator gar, how have you missed them? I see them almost every trip. Some have gotten up to 5ft or bigger. I didn't know sturgeon was native to the White River. I did see a huge something one day. I saw a large dorsal fin surface and then dive again. Whatever it was, had to have been 6ft plus. It was huge. I had to ask myself "did I really just see that?" Strange...

I'll be glad when the walleye go deep offshore and leave my bass baits alone.

I think the gar you are seeing are spotted and long nose gar, the short nose gar is most commonly confused with the alligator. I talked to the wildlife officers that collect fish to display fish for the public and they have not been able to find a small aligator gar in Arkansas for over 10 years. They get calls all the time but either it is a mistake in ID or the fish is over 100lbs. Not finding small fish shows that the spawning grounds for these big fish are gone. If you do find any alligator gar there are two phone numbers to call in th AR fising guide book.

Those big dark shadows you seeing could be massive carp or flathead catfish. I found a massive carp dying of old age back in the winter and netted him and wieghed him for the heck of it, 62lbs, each scale was as big as a half dollar.

[rangerman]

Columbia river is another possibility.....There are still alot of big eyes in the southern lakes..There was one caught by a forum member a couple of years ago that weighed 17.4lbs out of the BS headwaters..Me and and another fellow lost one at the boat that was figured to be over 15lbs easily..There are also some large ones you don't hear about caught on the upper kings River in the spring..There was an old guy up there bank fishing a couple of years ago, that had 3 on a stringer, all weighed in between 12 and 14 lbs. Big females full of eggs.

[J-Doc]

The fish I'm seeing are definately gar, not carp. When you fish the clearer water, you can see gar swimming up top and surfacing like whales. I assumed they were aligator gar because of the long nose and body. I foul hooked one last year in the tail end about 4ft long on a Rooster tail. He was not too happy about it. (haha) I guess they are all spotted gar.

As for the walleye, they are definately getting bigger than the fish I caught last year. Most of them were 12-14" and now the average I'm seeing is just under 18inches.

So the current world record for walleye was really caught in Arkansas? That's awesome!