2001 year class “shorties” become legals

Just a quick note and a question…

I’m seeing that MASSIVE 2001 year class of walleyes finally get past that 15″ mark and getting themselves out to about 17″ on the top end. Average seems to be running about 15.5″ – 16″… which in my book are PERFECT eaters. And there’s a pile of them to go around. Back in June, most everything a guy caught under 18″ was a shortie in that 13.5″ – 14.9″ range but in the last 6 weeks these fish have really been downing the vitamins and putting on the feed bag as we are seeing less and less of the throw backs every day.

Are the rest of you guys noticing the same thing on the other pools? You should be I’d imagine. We should all be in for some fantastic numbers action this fall when the bite gets rolling… regardless of pool fished. Good times are ahead… just don’t shoot yourself in the foot by hoarding these fish now that we’re set to reap the benefits of a good spawn back in 2001. I know some of the southern pools were really missing quite a few year classes in succession and this year class has the potential to fuel the fisheries for some time to come.

We already noticed this trend last winter ice fishing although I was under the impression that the 2001 class was the huge increase of 16″-19″ fish?? We also have a solid number of the 15 1/2 inchers you mention James so maybe we had 2 or 3 great year classes in a row. Judging by the pool 4 reports lately it appears that you guys have some of the 16-19 inchers..

Regardless it sure is great. The year class we had that was all 5-6 lbers last year seems to have all moved up to 6.5-7. It is nearly impossible 3 out of 4 weeks a month to win the Wednesday night league with less than a 7 lber. Makes me glad that I am concentrating on Bass for that event, cause I’m not gonna kid anybody 6-7lb walleye aren’t on my dance card this summer, even though I am hitting the wingdams hard for bass. Like you mentioned we still seem to have that hole between 3.5-5lbs.

In all honesty most days almost every good wingdam on the north half of pool 9 has 1 -3 boats,(bluegillers), setting on it. I can’t say it bothers me a bit. It is great to have the Gills back in full bloom. Add to that the very large growth of catfish( the largest numbers are still small but all over the place), perch, crappeeeeee, and bullheads and we are back to or past “THE GOOD OLD DAYS”. I really never expected to see this abundance again but Nature has done it again. Thanks for putting me in such a good mood James, now I know it isn’t just a one pool thing.

I’ve personally noticed an increase in the yellow perch, gills, crappies and of course, the walleyes over the past couple years and from what I’ve read from the DNR netting results, etc., these increases in population are real instead of just being perceived. Plus more small northerns than I could have ever imagined! Those darn things are everywhere and should in a few years prove to be a huge boon to those that love to fish pike.

I’ve never caught a bullhead on Pool 4 and if I never do, well, that will be just fine!

I believe our 15.5″ – 16.5″ fish are from the 2001 year class. I’m thinking the 18″+ fish you’re catching would likely be a year older, from the 2000 spawn but maybe your fish grow faster than ours but that seems unlikely. My guess is you had a good spawn in 2000 AND 2001. From what I’ve gathered, the 2001 spawn was one of the best ever recorded up and down the river for the walleye.

H20,
Down here in pool 14, we had a similar thing happen last summer, with the 2000 year class. Early summer saw a ton of 14″, late summer and by fall saw them grow to 15-17 inch. As far as this year, I have seen some, but not as many of the 14-15 inch fish (2001 class) as last year. So from my “one man creel survey”, I would say our 2000 class was better than our 2001 class. You are right when you said the southern pools were lacking on earlier year classes from the late 90’s.
The good news is that the 2000 fish are still in good numbers and are 18-20 inch or so. We also finally had a good class of saugers, which should be coming to a nice size this fall.
Randy

We had good year classes both in 2000 and 2001(2001 being the strongest of the 2)in both Pools 11 and 13. The fastest growing of the 2001 year class will hit 15 inches during their 3rd summer of life (actually age 2+). When we age 3 year old fish (when they have stopped growing for the year – so we usually collect scales or otoliths during the winter), the range is usually from 14 to 18 inches, so you can see there is quite a spread. Right at 14-15 inches can be tricky in trying to guess the age of a walleye; it could be a very fast growing 1+, a middle of the pack 2+, or a very slow growing 3+. And the older the age class gets – the greater the spread (or range) from the smallest to the largest.

Thanks a bunch for the info fishsqzr. I can totally understand the difficulty behind judging the age of an individual fish but could I assume with some reasonable accuracy that the numbers of 15.5″ – 16.5″ fish I’m seeing now are from the 2001 year class? I mean we’re talking HORDES of cookie-cutter sized walleyes and I’m curious as to which year class they are likely to be attributed.

Thanks much for any additional info you might have for us and thanks again for sending out that zebra mussel die-off article.

We on pool 4 have alot of shad and other baitfish for the walleyes to eat so they grow fast. All I can say is ”grow baby grow!!!”. Thanks, Bill

Your right – did not mean to imply that you could not make a very good prediction based on the number of fish in the 15.5 to 16.5 inch range and relate that to the year they were spawned. They are indeed the 2001 year class, in their 3rd summer of life (ie – to me that means 3rd summer of growth, since most of the growth is done in the summer period). These fish were spawned in April 2001 and when we sampled them in October they ranged from 7-9 inches. We sampled them again in October of 2002 and the majority of the lengths ranged from 10.5 to 13.5 inches. When we sample them this fall (2003), the majority will be from 15 to 18.5 inches.

Thanks much fishsqzr. I’ve always been impressed with the river’s ability to produce tremendous numbers of fish when given favorable conditions during the spawn and I’m always relating my personal fishing success back to my memory of the conditions during a spawn that I attribute a particular fish to. I was just double checking to see if my feeble understanding of growth rates needed some tuning or not.