On my way to the river yesterday, I stopped at the Canyon Store in Wolf Creek for a six pack of my favorite Lewis and Clark beer. I mentioned to a friend there that I was in Minnesota for a couple weeks visiting and doing a little ice-fishing. The topic of Walleye Pike in the Lower-Missouri came up and I figured out quickly to tread lightly on that topic. This morning I stopped in for a cup of coffee because I’m out and I haven't had the chance to make a town run yet and again, the topic of walleye fishing came up with these two older gentlemen and since I'm a little privy to the topic and the fact that I would be grossly outnumbered, I decided not to voice an opinion.
From the past couple discussions I've heard, this is what I gather. There are quite a few local folks that have been fishing the Missouri their entire lives. Their grandparents have even grown up fishing the river and have traditionally been able to catch a few trout for the dinner table but now, due to the reduced limits on trout, they can't keep enough fish for a meal.
It's obvious from the reduced creel limits on trout, that Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Montana is managing the Lower-Missouri and most other rivers for trout populations. Back in the 40's I believe, there was a huge push on tourism as an attempt to supplement the economy. Natural habitat conducive to native trout populations were destroyed so Brown Trout and Rainbows were planted in the rivers and lakes and many people took advantage of them as a recreational resource. What was left of native Cutthroat populations was soon out-competed by Browns, Rainbows and Brook Trout. There was never an attempt to introduce the resource for sustenance but as for the recreational value. (Since then there has been huge efforts to re-establish native Cutthroat populations.)
Sometime in the 60’s or 70’s, a bucket biologist thought it would be cool to have Walleye Pike in Canyon Ferry and illegally introduced them to the system. I believe it started in Canyon Ferry Reservoir and spilled into Hauser, which in-turn spilled into Holter and then into the Lower-Missouri. When I first started guiding the Missouri in 2007, every once in a while you would hear about people catching a walleye below the dam or down-river by Cascade but it didn't seem like the norm. I knew people fished for them from the banks but again, I never really saw too many people catching them.
In the past couple years due to high water spilling over the dams; it’s apparent that the walleye population has increased significantly. I hear about people catching walleyes on accident all the time now while fly-fishing. I caught one last year on a fly-rod 30 inches long, which is way bigger than anything I ever caught in Minnesota growing up. Because Walleye Pike are primarily a predacious and very opportunistic fish, the trout fishing community and FWP were concerned that the numbers of walleyes in the Lower-Missouri would decimate the trout population so they imposed an unrestricted limit on the walleyes. In the reservoirs, there still is a limit on the number of Walleyes one can posses as well as a slot limit for the size one can keep.
So the argument here is that some folks believe that by not having restrictions on the number of walleyes a person can keep on the lower river, they will be fished out and you won’t be able to fish for them anymore. Since there are such restrictions on keeping trout, nobody can walk down to the river anymore to catch a meal, which is something their parents had done for years and their parents had done as well. I get that and if were up to me, I’d actually increase the limit on Rainbow Trout within a 14 to 18 inch slot and keep the walleyes unregulated.
“It’s all about money,” is what I heard from one gentleman and he’s right. Absolutely; it is all about money and it always has been. Trout and fly-fishing is a huge part of the tourism sector of our economy, which is growing in Montana instead of dying off like some of the other industries that has sustained folks for more than a century. We all benefit from having large populations of trout in the Lower-Missouri. People come to the area and spend money, creating the jobs that we all benefit from. Some folks understand that and have capitalized on it and also understand that with that, there comes some sacrifice.
“Trout are just as much predators as Walleyes.” This is another argument I’ve heard that’s simply just not true. The vast majority of a trout’s diet comes from aquatic insects. It is true that some trout eat trout fry and other invertebrates but it is more the exception than the rule. For the most part, trout are lazy and spend their time looking for easy feeding lanes where they can eat tons of bugs that come to them so they don’t have to expend any more energy than they have to. It’s not that they won’t eat other fish, but that’s not their main diet. Conversely, and I know this from growing up fishing for walleyes, a pike’s diet consists mostly of small fish and invertebrates. Logically it makes sense that as the numbers of predatory fish rise, the rest of the fish population decreases because the fry that replenish the population are preyed upon before they mature. (If you need proof of this, talk to anyone that used to fish jumbo perch in Canyon Ferry or anyone else that has spent time fishing in the Mid-west on a lake that all you can catch anymore are 15 to 20 inch northern pike.)
“It’s just like wolf populations. If you’re in favor of wolves that kill off all the elk and deer than you should be in favor of keeping Walleyes in the river and let nature take over.” First of all, wolves were native and Walleye Pike were introduced illegally. Having said that, I do believe there is a place for Walleyes because quite honestly, I enjoy eating them too. As long as the populations are managed appropriately and confined to certain areas such as lakes and reservoirs by implementing limits or not having limits on them, I’m all for developing the population. I think Walleye Pike are a great resource to have as long as they aren’t having an adverse affect on other resources such as trout that we all benefit from.
The bottom line is the walleyes are here to stay and as long as they don’t encroach on the wild trout populations, nobody has a problem with them. We do have an economic interest that goes far further than just those of us that fly-fish to keep Walleye Pike from taking over in the Lower-Missouri. But I also appreciate the desire to catch walleyes for the table. What I think we need to ask is what’s best for the most people? When you ask yourself that I do believe considering the economics involved along with the cultural aspect that has continued to shift over the decades, that preserving trout populations in the rivers is the prudent answer and the compromise is to contain Walleye Pike to the reservoirs and I think that’s exactly what Montana FWP is doing.
I understand some of you have a different opinion on this and I encourage the feedback. Just please keep it respectful.
Keep ‘em where they live…
No comments:
Post a Comment