Re: Spawning Walleye?
It's all based on Fall net samples and there are a certain # of nets set for a cetain number of surface acres. Fall netting will usually consist of 15-35 Trap-nets (Not gill-nets), and placed in the same location year after year, scattered throughout the lake. The average is taken per-net, which indicates an increase or decrease.<br />Glen Elder, Kirwin, Cedar Bluff and Webster are all higher average fish per acre than milford.<br />Webster is quite low but fishable and large numbers of fish are being caught by rod and reel now although the KDWP report doesn't indicate what is really going on there in the last few days.<br />Net crews are KDWP department heads (district) leading aids and a few off-the-street fisherman.<br />Netting programs will continue until each district has run out of ripe females or meets quota on # of eggs needed.<br />On color for curly tails, a guy can't go wrong with white, yellow or chartruse during the day,(on windy days, the fish will run during the day), at night, I prefer a black body with a chartruse tail...the tail can be seen even on a dark night before it hits your tip-guide.<br />When fishing at night, remember this tip (most miss out because they quite too early) It takes 1-1/2 hrs for a Walleye's eyes to fully adjust to max potential AFTER it has become COMPLETELY dark. Very few fish will be caught before 10pm in this region...there are at times fish caught during this period, but then nothing is set in stone, but to maximize fish per casts, be on the dam at 9:30-10pm.<br />We've set nets at sun-down and run them at 4 hour intervals and have found the second setting (usually between 9-10pm) run at 1-2am is ALWAYS the heavy hitter. We run the third set at about 6-7am and have found it to be about half as effective as the 10-2 set.<br />We do a 4-day/night set at Cedar Bluff for biological reasons, not for eggs, and the 13th-17th we had 5 fish OVER the Ks State record, with 1 of those being almost 1-1/2lbs larger than the current record. We weigh, measure and release after pulling about 5 or 6 scales for growth rates. Great part is...when we get done with these lakes, I get to hit my favorite Nebraska waters where the spawn has just began, so I get to have some real fun too!!<br />p.s. Milford had an accidental stocking of Saugeye about 5 yrs. back and they found the growth rates so substantial, they have continued a small scale stocking program of Saugeye there, which in many ways is a bad sign due to the fact Saugeye thrive where Walleye have began to slow down in growth and reproduction, but this period is when you have the best chance of hooking that once in a life time trophy.<br />The floods of '93-'94 changed the bottom substrate due to massive inflow of sediment which changed the entire eco-system to some extent. Milford is still a great Walleye lake, it's just going through a 10yr. cycle.
