Biggest walleye of my life poundage wise

[lokidog]

nice fish!

Ill disagree..I want them out of the columbia they eat a ton of salmon and steelhead smolt! Walleye have many places they can thrive or be stocked! but salmon and steelhead do not

......that's what they like to say, but why have I never pulled anything but perch or pikeminnows from their guts on the one's I chose to eat?  It's a lot of bullchit that the salmon/steelhead guys (who definitely outnumber the walleye/bass guys) find anything to point the finger at if something doesn't seem right to them.

Could be the time of year you are eating them, I think they predominantly eat the outgoing smolts, whenever that is.     Could also be that you fish the walleye in areas that are not used as much by smolts as perch and squawfish (yes, I said it, squawfish    ).

I don't think there is any way to remove walleye from the Columbia system, other than maybe an all-out commercial fishery done during spawing periods, so I wouldn't worry too much about the remove the walleye folks.   

[WALLEYEGUY]

I love jig fishing and all my big walleyes in WA have come on jigs and plastics.  That day the 3 of us had 3 different colors and style, worm, swimbait and grub.  The guy fishing a jig with a ringworm got 3rd place with a pair of 9 pounders.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Real nice eye!!!!

[KenPCPilot]

 

[ElkBOW79]

Nice work Walleyguy!  Good to see you turning back the breeders! 

[DoubleJ]

Nice fish. I'd love to go walleye fishing sometime. Looks like it'd be fun. 

Pay for the gas for a long weekend and I'll take you out.

[bowhunterforever]

Nice work Walleyguy!  Good to see you turning back the breeders!

Nice fish

[Maverick]

nice fish!

Ill disagree..I want them out of the columbia they eat a ton of salmon and steelhead smolt! Walleye have many places they can thrive or be stocked! but salmon and steelhead do not

......that's what they like to say, but why have I never pulled anything but perch or pikeminnows from their guts on the one's I chose to eat?  It's a lot of bullchit that the salmon/steelhead guys (who definitely outnumber the walleye/bass guys) find anything to point the finger at if something doesn't seem right to them.

I've actually found lots of smolt in the guts of walleye. I walleye fish for meat so I keep the ones 4 pounds and bigger and release the little guys 

[bearpaw]

excellent catch, congrats... 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Dandy ... was you fishing with YELP  He caught a dandy one the other day 

[BLUEBULLS]

nice fish!

Ill disagree..I want them out of the columbia they eat a ton of salmon and steelhead smolt! Walleye have many places they can thrive or be stocked! but salmon and steelhead do not

......that's what they like to say, but why have I never pulled anything but perch or pikeminnows from their guts on the one's I chose to eat?  It's a lot of bullchit that the salmon/steelhead guys (who definitely outnumber the walleye/bass guys) find anything to point the finger at if something doesn't seem right to them.

Could be the time of year you are eating them, I think they predominantly eat the outgoing smolts, whenever that is.     Could also be that you fish the walleye in areas that are not used as much by smolts as perch and squawfish (yes, I said it, squawfish    ).

I don't think there is any way to remove walleye from the Columbia system, other than maybe an all-out commercial fishery done during spawing periods, so I wouldn't worry too much about the remove the walleye folks.   

Smolts mainly use the top third of the water column. Walleye generally use the bottom third. Squawfish prey heavily on smolts. Walleye prey heavily on squaw fish.

I've disected more than my fair share of walleye and smolts make up a pretty small percentage of forage. I only know of one person who has done research on this. His findings would support this. Maybe he'll chime in here...

Now back this post, Hell of fish WALLEYEGUY!! I imagine she's real close to losing a few pounds! Congrats!

[Kanooper]

You salmon/steelhead guys really need to do your own research before you start bitching about walleye. Yes, walleye probably do feed on smolt (same as bass, perch and any other predator fish), but it pails in comparison to the amount of smolt squawfish devour. The Columbia walleye fishery is world class and that is not gonna change anytime soon. Stop the bitching and embrace the fact that we have a world class fishery in our own backyard.

[WALLEYEGUY]

Thamks for all the postive comments, and I do agree that we have a world class fishery and the impact to salmon is minnimal compared to the other issues.  If the state would actively promote, educate and actually STOCK (heaven forbid) walleyes in waters that are suitable we who love walleyes would have a less heartburn with the current efforts by the state and tribal fish managers.

[Maverick]

Definetly need to kill more squaw fish! Great fish by the way! I've never fished for walleye when they had eggs so my goal has always been 15 pounds for a mount.

[Kanooper]

Definetly need to kill more squaw fish! Great fish by the way! I've never fished for walleye when they had eggs so my goal has always been 15 pounds for a mount.

When you do catch that 15 pounder, take a length measurement, a girth measurement and take a few close up pictures of both sides of the fish and then release it.  It is way better to get a reproduction mount done and still let the fish go.  I looked into getting a repro done on a 14 pounder I got last year.  I called around to a few different places and you would be looking at roughly a minimum of $25 per inch.  I assume skin mounts would be at least that if not more.