Walley Stocking

[SKMO]

there are 2 strains of walleyes in Missouri--a river strain that is native and gets much much larger--ther state record and world record where undoubtly this souther river strain

and a northern lake spawning (generally) strain that usally max out in the very low teens in size

if they stocked some of the lake strain they would probably be migrated to the main lake

as far as interest--few folks know how to fish for walleyes in TR to catch on a regular basis

besides river fishing in spring most time walleye are much to deep for the avg fisherman to luck into

there are 2 strains of walleyes in Missouri--a river strain that is native and gets much much larger--ther state record and world record where undoubtly this souther river strain

and a northern lake spawning (generally) strain that usally max out in the very low teens in size

if they stocked some of the lake strain they would probably be migrated to the main lake

as far as interest--few folks know how to fish for walleyes in TR to catch on a regular basis

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This sounds like what the Biologist told me a while back. If I remember correctly the original walleye stocking came from a lake source in Nebraska or SD. They are now well established in the Kings and run into AR in mid-March to spawn. They can be caught from now until mid-March in the extreme upper Kings. I don't think they have actually stocked fish in the Kings for several years, was more like in the 80's.

I fish the west end of the lake a lot and usually catch 2-4/year accidently. Catch them on crankbait as dusk, deep spooning for bass, and occaisionally dragging plastic on Carolina rig. They are almost always 20"+ fish. There is one fellow in the Shell Knob area that I know who actually targets and catches them with fairly good success. One of his main technigues is casting large white crankbaits into the standing timber along bluffs.

The last few years the Biologists have captured brood fish in the kings, hatched out the eggs and have realeased the fry and fingerlings in the James in hopes of getting a self-sustaining run going on that river. I don't think they plan on continuing the stocking indefinitely, just seeing if the fish can "do it on their own" as in the Kings. The fish are "marked" with some type of a chemical before they are released so biologists can take a tissue sample from caught fish and determine if the recently caught fish are resultant from the stocking and to see how they are growing and reproducing. I think they must be doing OK because last couple years lots of smallish walleye have been caught in the James.

There is also somewhat of a walleye run that goes up roaring river. I met some guys coming off the Lake at Eagle Rock at sunrise a few years ago with some nice ones. They had fished all night.

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, I'm afraid that both state departments in the past did some unwise stocking of walleye. Years ago, not too many years after Greers Ferry filled up, it was producing huge walleye from the native river strain fish that were there before the lake. The AR state record came from there and everybody thought it was only a matter of time before it produced a world record. But AR stocked the lake with lake strain walleye from somewhere up north, and they either outcompeted or mixed with the river walleye. It meant more fish but smaller ones. I suspect the same thing has happened in most of the Ozark reservoirs where lake strain walleye were stocked. More fish, but smaller ones. I'm not sure, but I think Bull Shoals also got some lake walleye stocking in the past.

Probably the only pure river strain walleye in the Ozarks now are those that are found in the Spring, Eleven Point, Current, and Black rivers. MDC has been taking brood fish from the Black below Clearwater and hatching the eggs, and restocking them in the St. Francis and Eleven Point...the Eleven Point to see if they can improve the existing population, the St. Francis to try to re-establish a population. The St. Francis produced a former MO state record (and it didn't come from where the angler said it did, but that's a different story). But walleye died out in the St. Francis in the 1960s and 70s.

Biggest walleye I ever caught was a 12.5 pounder from the Black, but I've seen walleye up to 18 pounds caught on the Black and Current. I've caught several by accident on the Meramec and Bourbeuse, but I don't think the Meramec river system fish ever get as big as those on the Black river system.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Were they ever stocked in LOZ, or is that a trapped river strain?