I am not sure but it seems like this is possibley a worse year for wind and I just wonder how this will effect the hatch of this years walleye and perch. What do you all think?
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I am not sure but it seems like this is possibley a worse year for wind and I just wonder how this will effect the hatch of this years walleye and perch. What do you all think?
I think if we have a soft hatch count, the lake will still be fine given the extraordinary hatches we have had in the last few years. I remember a few years ago we had major weather during the spawn and there was lots of floating walleye. besides I think the food supply couldnt handle another major hatch and lots more fish.....almost no place in the lake besides ny had any real supply of shiners, I read an article also expressing concern over smelt population just the other day. mother nature has a way of balancing things out.
Agree with Ben.I actually don't think the wind has been as bad as some other years.Have not had an extended several day NE wind event yet.Lake level is up from last year and worried about flooding.The reason walleye spawn in river is also a hedge against a poor reef hatch and visa versa.The 2015 and 2018 hatch have put a lot of walleye in the system.Can the forage fish sustain them.They also eat perch and other small walleye.I would bet that those 2015 walleye ate a lot of those 2018 fish too.
we will find out in just a few months how many 2018 are around by how many shorts we get with soon and harness
From what I read the 18 hatch was the best hatch by far. If 1/5 are ate it won’t put a dent in that hatch. The only down fall is a lot of shorts will be caught for a few years.
One off year won't impact much, but put two or three back to back and you'll see it. It's out of anyone's control anyway. I don't worry too much about rough water or a little cloudiness, but big temperature swings are bad. Hatch is not always what makes a good year class, survival does. Forage base the first few weeks means a lot. That takes plankton then later forage animals/fish and good environmental conditions, eggs are tough, fry not so much. Just take my word I know what I'm talking about.....
For those of you who have fished the lake, can you tell what stage we are with the spawn? Have we passed the peak, are there lots of egg laden females still being caught? Are there fish being caught north and south of Kellys that are moving back to the east already?
Been reading reports last 2 wks of spawned out females being caught east of bass islands.With full moon today that should trigger the rest of females to lay their eggs.If can get clearing water the hair jig bite should heat up the next two weeks before transition to harness and spoons.That started May 6th last year.
Interesting things Bob. Now the next questions I will ask you are:Quote:
Originally Posted by itsbob
1. Why do the females spawn with the full moon?
2.Does the jig bite just heat up due to the clearer water? Simply because they can see the bait better?
3. You touched on this last week about the switch over to spoons in May Bob, but I thought many people continue to pull crank baits into late spring and summer. Can you talk about why spoons and spinners with worms are a good bet and why some charters like Pooh Bear switch?
Thanks,
Bruce
normally somewhere when water temps are in the mid 50s is when the bite starts to switch over, but cranks can and do get fish all summer, but it just might be a different stick.
as summer comes in shallower bandits, wiggle wart, hot n tots, tails dancers all work well. at night when you dont have the flash from the sun caused by a spinner, cranks still are used.
I know I like to switch over to spoons as soon as it works, they are much easier to get out of the net.
last weekend most of the females still carried eggs we caught, it was only the biggest ones that appeared to have already done their thing.
there are lots of animals that spawn during moon cycles....might be a vision thing, a tide thing, I really dont know but it's a interesting thing to ponder
I could be wrong on this but when reading Jim Steadke thread,he said the females come on to the reefs at night to spawn and then head out to the deeper water adjacent to the reefs during the day.Think the full moon is a cue for the fish to spawn based on best time to lay eggs.The deer doe supposedly use the moon too to go into heat.Both trolling and jigging is effected by water clarity.When water colder fish are more lathergic and will not chase at higher speeds drifting or trolling.The guys jig spoons initially in the real cold water and in very dirty water.The hair jig bite seams to heat up later when warms a little and needs a little cleaner water.The hair jig bite seams to catch mainly male fish in shallow water on the reefs or the beaches.You can catch walleye all year long trolling crankbaits.You are not going to catch much trolling spoons or harnesses below 50degrees though.Not exactly sure,but the walleye have been this way for a long time now.Sorry for writing in one long paragraph but doing on my phone and can't do it any other way.
Thank you branham and Bob for explaining those things to me/us out here.
Thanks Ben,looks like we wrote this response at same time.When I talked to Keith,Pooh bear captain,said he can't wait for spoon bite to start.The charter guys using big boards,tru trip 40s and spoons is a deadly setup.They can get those TT 40s out faster and shorter leads,less tangles than the cranks they are running now.The bite is also faster and fewer missed hits too.
The spawn is not so much dictated by the moon. but fish do react to it. Length of day and average water temperature dictate the spawn more. Males show up on the spawning grounds first and females stage in deeper water nearby. When water temps and day length are right females start moving in and more spawning does take place at night. Mature older females will often spawn first, but smaller young females dominate the real early spawning. Egg quality in these are often not good. The heart of the spawn is when you see the old sows and those are the ones that impact the spawn and year class. Once started spawning can last three weeks, but the main spawn happens in just a few days (7-10 days) then a recovery period. After a recovery period they put on the food bag to recoup the lost energy of spawning and this is when your bite changes as they are feeding on anything that looks good, Earlier they were eating high protein diets of mostly forage fish to build energy.