# Walleye Tagging Continues at Devils Lake



## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Got this in the email box for a press release. My buddy caught a tag on a nice fish the other week...looks like he caught a rare fish.



> Walleye Tagging Continues at Devils Lake
> 
> North Dakota Game and Fish Department fisheries personnel recently tagged 1,000 walleye at Devils Lake. Randy Hiltner, northeast district fisheries supervisor, said the popular fishery is in the second year of a three-year tagging project.
> 
> ...


d.


----------



## luveyes (Jan 22, 2005)

Caught one of last years tagged fish (orange tag) last fall. When tagged in April it was 18 inches, tagged in Six Mile. When caught 2 days shy of 6 months later fish 20 1/4 inches and caught in Six Mile as well.

Kinds fun to wait for the story.. Simple to fill out NDGF info on-line as well.


----------



## greenc (Mar 20, 2008)

hustad fishn was good and then took a dive on sunday funny you posted this and then i catch one this weekend


----------



## BrdHunter (May 17, 2005)

this may not be reliable but i heard from a local when i was at devils lake this weekend that, of the 1000 that were tagged last year 800 of them were reported caught. if this is true the game and fish needs to start thinking about special regs on devils lake. another thing that concernes me is that every time I am up there I see people keeping limits of walleyes 20-25 inches. It cant hurt a lake to put in a slot. just my :2cents:


----------



## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

> this may not be reliable but i heard from a local when i was at devils lake this weekend that, of the 1000 that were tagged last year 800 of them were reported caught. if this is true the game and fish needs to start thinking about special regs on devils lake. another thing that concernes me is that every time I am up there I see people keeping limits of walleyes 20-25 inches. It cant hurt a lake to put in a slot. just my


I agree, I wish Devils would have had a slot 8 years ago. I cant believe how many people keep 5lb. fish and display them out on the cutting tables like they did something special. Its sad to see so many people uneducated or just don't care about conservation. I don't keep a fish over 20" and I know there are alot of other guys out there doing the same thing, someday I hope to see it mandatory, seeing the best reproducers on the cutting table makes me sick! uke:


----------



## 94NDTA (May 28, 2005)

I also agree.

Take a picture, there is no need to eat an eye over 24"

Save the lake for generations to come.


----------



## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

94NDTA said:


> Take a picture, there is no need to eat an eye over 20"


Agreed!

Those tags look kind of inconvenient for the fish compared to the ones they use on mille lacs.

Here's what they look like, these are from the MN opener this year. They usually tuck nicely up against the body. I pulled them out a bit for the picture. They have little black #'s on them that you cant see in the pic but aren't too hard to read in person.


----------



## BrdHunter (May 17, 2005)

heres a link to an article from North Dakota Outdoors magazine that discusses fish harvesting regulations. Interesting read, but I disagree with their rationale that there is no need for special regs on devils lake and the missouri river.
http://gf.nd.gov/multimedia/ndoutdoors/issues/2008/mar-apr/docs/both-sides.pdf


----------



## drjongy (Oct 13, 2003)

This could be debated forever. Here is some information I got on another site regarding this topic. I am of the opinion that the G&F know what they are doing and they do not see a need for a slot on DL.

If it makes someone feel better then release the fish...but if someone wants to keep a legal fish I certainly do not have any problems with it. Don't let emotions and personal views get in the way of scientific fact.

Here is a quote from the letter which I think is most relevant to this conversation. _"In summary, released larger walleye have a pretty good chance (25%) of being caught again by another angler but usually do not improve the overall reproductive potential."_

Hopefully I can answer a few questions about walleye size and spawning with some facts about walleye biology in North Dakota. The following few paragraphs are relevant for the larger fisheries, especially the Missouri River System and Devils Lake. In the case of the states smaller water bodies, walleye populations are more reliant on stocking efforts (due to limited quality habitat) thus the impacts of harvest on spawning size fish is somewhat inapplicable.

Female walleye mature and begin spawning when they are about 16 or 17 inches in North Dakota. In 15 years of working with spawning walleye, I have seen only a handful of mature female walleye less than 17 inches on Lake Sakakawea, and not many between 17 and 20 inches. Most of the mature female walleye we catch are over 20 inches. So, for argument's sake, all female walleye will be sexually mature by the time they are 20 inches. Thus, all female walleye over 20 inches have the potential to be important to natural reproduction. The problem lies in the identification of sex. Between 20 and 25 inches, we find both males and females and they cannot be identified by any exterior markings. However, most of the fish over 25 inches are females. So if you want to release a fish 20-25 inches, the odds are 50:50 that it is a female, greater than 25 inches the odds are better than 75% (and probably closer to 90%) that it is a female.

A recent study in Ohio found that there was no difference in the survival of walleye embryo's based on size (i.e. eggs from both large and small walleye had similar fertility). Walleye fecundity is a measure of how many eggs a fish produces. For most fish species this number is a function of size and ranges from 50,000 for small walleye to over 150,000 for the larger walleye. Add these two facts together and you see that in any given year, the larger females have the potential to produce more offspring than a smaller female. To get the 'big' picture we also have to understand mortality rates. The odds of a 20-25 inch walleye living another year (or perhaps 5 more years) are a lot better than the odds of a 25 inch walleye living another year. Therefore the 20-25 inch walleye will spawn numerous times, giving them more long term reproductive 'potential' than the larger walleye. The bottom line is that female walleye are equally important, regardless of size. The question then becomes "How many females are necessary to produce a good year class?"

Simple math may shed some light on this: 1,000 average-sized females X 100,000 eggs/female = 100 million eggs X 10% hatching (conservative estimate) = 10 million walleye fry. This might produce a good year class in Lake Sakakawea. We have conducted two population estimates (based on tagging studies) of mature walleye (those > 14 inches) in Lake Sakakawea and both estimates were approximately 1 million mature walleye. Total mortality estimates for these mature walleye is about 50%. In other words, about 500,000 walleye are either harvested by anglers or die naturally in a given year (these are replaced by upcoming year classes each year) while another 500,000 survive for another year. The sex ratio favors males 2 to 1 for mature walleye so that leaves approximately 167,000 females, having the potential to produce 16.7 billion eggs or about 1.67 billion walleye fry (10% survival). If 10% (conservative estimate) of these live to be fingerlings, then we could have 167 million fingerlings. We know it takes dramatically fewer to establish a year class if the conditions are right. Bottomline - it is logical to assume that there are ample eggs being laid every spring to maintain the walleye population. Predation, competition, food abundance, environmental conditions and habitat (especially in recent years with all the water issues) are the major controlling factors for the walleye population in Lake Sakakawea. Rest assured that the North Dakota Game and Fish Department will recommend more restrictive regulations if angler harvest becomes excessive.

Here are some more interesting facts from the current walleye tagging study and creel surveys on Lake Sakakawea: Angler harvest rate is similar for all sizes of walleye; the release rate for walleye greater than 25 inches is 35%, which is approximately 2X higher than for walleye between 14 and 25 inches; very few walleye less than 14 inches are harvested; and approximately 25% of the larger walleye released are caught again by another angler.

One last consideration - anglers should consider fish consumption advisories when keeping fish for eating. Mercury biomagnifies in fish, meaning the older (i.e. larger) they get the more mercury they contain. This is probably what should determine how many large walleye you keep and eat, especially if small children or expecting mothers are eating them. The North Dakota Department of Health publishes fish consumption advisories and all anglers should be aware of these advisories.

In summary, released larger walleye have a pretty good chance (25%) of being caught again by another angler but usually do not improve the overall reproductive potential. I hope this answers some of the basic questions regarding 'big' fish harvest. The North Dakota Game and Fish Department has and will continue to monitor our fisheries to ensure their long-term well being.

Jeff Hendrickson

North Dakota Game and Fish Department 
406 Dakota Ave 
Riverdale, ND 58565 
701-654-7475 ext 22 
[email protected]


----------



## duckslayer (Oct 30, 2003)

BrdHunter said:


> this may not be reliable but i heard from a local when i was at devils lake this weekend that, of the 1000 that were tagged last year 800 of them were reported caught.


200 of the 1000 were caught


----------



## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

Caught or reported?


----------



## duckslayer (Oct 30, 2003)

Caught and reported. You are supposed to report every tag that is caught, whether C&R or kept, according to all of the signs up in baitshops and accesses.


----------



## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

You have to admit that a 20% catch ratio in a lake in 1-year would be pretty high, considering the numbers to be correct. If that were correct there's no doubt that catch and release would work. It's cool to see catch and release stories on muskies on Mille Lacs and the same could be for nice walleyes.

Just a thought. Largemouth bass are good on the grill but you don't see many conversations about it...anglers themselves create the stereotype.


----------



## USAlx50 (Nov 30, 2004)

duckslayer said:


> Caught and reported. You are supposed to report every tag that is caught, whether C&R or kept, according to all of the signs up in baitshops and accesses.


I'm sure devils lake is a little different then my home lake and most people are interested in the info on the tagged fish. I report all of my tags but I know people who dont because they dont want to cooperate with the treaty management of mille lacs. Slots get tight in a hurry and a lot of people dont want to cooperate with the MN DNR. That is all I was getting at.

[email protected] works and works well, period. Yes, I will still laugh at clowns filleting up 25" walleyes whether it is legal or not.


----------



## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

Chris Hustad said:


> Just a thought. Largemouth bass are good on the grill but you don't see many conversations about it...anglers themselves create the stereotype.


It mindboggling how much flak you can get if you say "I am going to keep this LM and eat it". LM are extremely tasty and when I keep a couple I have no guilt! :beer:


----------



## goosehunternd (Mar 10, 2006)

I actually had some largemouth in a habanero sauce last night on the grill @ a guys house, it was ridiculously good.


----------

