Cold Front 30″ Walleye-Released

Found a blind one today about 1:00 PM with these two Hoosiers. Tiny little 30″ fish. Sorry about the shortness and poor pic when I posted this earlier. Had to go watch Westby play La Cresent,(42-37 Westby won with less than a minute). This walleye was caught on an 1/8 oz. Taylor Tackle Ball jig with Taylor Tackle Crawlery/motoroily fluttertail. We were casting a rock pile in the middle of a running slough. A second fish of size came unbuttoned on the top of the water in the same location. He fought the fish in the picture for over ten minutes when it finally came up 14 feet behind the boat and just hung there. After three tries our Beckman net stretched to its full length the fish gave just enough for me to slip it under her. That was as close as I want to get to losing a nice Eye. That is three Septembers in a row that the spot has given up 7#+ fish and based on an old scare on the side I am almost certain we caught this one last year when she was only 9#s. Also had 25 keeper bass by noon. All Bass were only 2-2.5 lbs.

Lawrence – I’m not 100% sure, but the vertical mark down the side of the walleye looks like a “freeze brand”. As a way of marking fingerling fish when stocked – they are held against a small vertical bar for several seconds that has been super cooled by liquid nitrogen. This deforms the scales into a visible mark that the fish carries for life. Most of this marking that I’m aware of is carried out in Pools 13 and 14. Don’t know which pool you caught the fish -but its possible it could have moved through some locks to get to your pool. Next time I see one of these marked fish, I will take a photo and post it for you to take a look at.

Thanks for info John. Last year either Sept or Oct ,(I can’t remember which), less than a hundred feet from where this one was caught a fish with the same or darn similar markings was caught and we assumed it came from something we did. I’ll have to start watching closer, too. I always am curious about things like that.
Boy I had to hand it to these guys for releasing it. If they didn’t fish Erie a couple of times a year and weren’t aware that in April or May it is quite possible to have a shot at least at bigger one I’m sure they would have wanted to mount it. I would have had a hard time disagreeing with the decision if it had gone the other way.

John,

Are those freeze bands always on the fish’s left side if they are marked from the stocking program here? I was under that impression, but have caught a few fish lately with a band on the right side. I believe this year approx. 1/4 to 1/3 of the fish I have caught were carrying a freeze band! Says to me that stocking is working quite well in pool 14!

Lawrence, awesome pic! It is great to hear she is swimming still as well!

Rooster

The Pool 14 fish are marked on the left side.
Pool 13 fish are marked on the right side.

Awesome pic Lawrence!!! Thanks for sharing

Quote:

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The Pool 14 fish are marked on the left side.
Pool 13 fish are marked on the right side.

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There is a Garage Logic saying that goes something like….”You learn more here by accident than by design”….

That’s interesing stuff Mr. Pitlo!

Jon J.

Those pool 13 fish must be abandoning ship for pool 14 this year. I believe I’ve caught and released 3 sub 15″ fish this year in 14 with right side band. Shhh, don’t tell anyone the fish are piling up in pool 14!
I have to wonder if the fish were washed down with high water, or swam under the rollers this spring. I would think in spring there would be few eyes on the very lowest end of a pool. Iv guess there is always the lock through possiblity!
Rooster

One of the reasons Pool 13 is stocked is because of the movement of young fish. There is plenty of evidence that when young fingerling (2-4 inch) walleye are stocked during high river flows, there is considerable movement downstream from the stocking site. This has occurred on the Illinois River, Mississippi River, and all the interior rivers in Iowa where fingerling walleye are stocked. Simple movement out of Pool 13 into Pool 14 can account for what you are observing. We also see some left side branded walleye in Pool 13, which would indicate upstream movement out of Pool 14. That also happens fairly regularly with adult fish that move upstream during the spring spawning period when the L&D gates are out of the water.

John, I found a “branded” fish today and brought it in to photograph. Sorry the pic is not the best quality, but for those interested, the brand is immediately to the right of my thumb. Some fish seem to be much more obvious than others.

Thanks for the post – now I won’t have to do it!!!!!!!!

Does anyone know if they use these marks anywhere else? I have seen them on lots of fish in Wisconsin. I always thought they were from truama caused by another, bigger fish.