Our Oshkosh fisheries staff has been fielding quite a few questions about the progress of the walleye spawn and the impacts of lower water on this year’s spawn. As a result, Adam Nickel (walleye biologists) drafted the following response for distribution
Hello Winnebago Enthusiasts,
I wanted to get out a quick update on what DNR fisheries crews have been seeing during this springs walleye tagging surveys thus far. As you probably already know, the lack of snowmelt and rain events this spring have led to low water conditions throughout the Wolf River. Many of the traditional spawning marshes have little to no water in them which was made tagging walleyes a more difficult task this spring. The Oshkosh fisheries crew was able to tag 2,328 mature male, 363 mature female, and 23 immature female walleyes so far this spring. We began tagging walleyes on spawning marshes on the Wolf River near New London and Shiocton on March 24th and continued tagging surveys on March 27th, 30th, 31st. However, those 4 days of surveying only amounted to 239 mature males and 38 females being tagged. The low water conditions limited our sampling to the lower ends of the spawning marshes and the walleyes did not appear to be congregating in those areas, but were instead staying in deeper pools throughout the river. Therefore, we did not sample the spawning marshes near New London and Shiocton again until April 6th and we were able to locate walleyes congregating in the lower ends of marshes for the first time this spring. As a result, we increased our sampling efforts and tagged almost 2,000 walleyes from April 6-8th. In yesterday’s sampling efforts, there were 85 females tagged with 34 categorized as green, 31 ripe, and 20 spent. With the warmer temperatures forecasted this weekend and into next week, it is likely that the majority of spawning will be coming to a close and fish will start heading back downriver to Lake Winnebago soon. As a result, our walleye tagging surveys will likely come to a close in the next few days as well. However, we plan to put in some expanded tagging effort on Lake Winnebago targeting immature female walleyes. This effort will allow fisheries staff to get a better handle on exploitation rates for immature female walleye in Lake Winnebago.
Don’t forget, that our tagging efforts mean nothing without your tag returns! If you happen to catch tagged walleye please be sure to report them with the following information: tag number, species, date caught, waterbody, general location, length (if you have it), and if the fish was kept or released. There are three methods for reporting tag returns, including emailing them to [email protected], mailing them to the Oshkosh DNR Office, 625 East County Road Y, Suite 700 in Oshkosh, WI 54901, or calling 920-303-5429. Fisheries staff also tagged 516 yellow perch in the Fox River near Oshkosh and some locations on Lake Winnebago so be on the lookout for those as well. Good luck fishing the rest of the spring!
