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FORT PECK 2010APRIL 30
APRIL 25th
Today was quite the awakening with gusty winds and rain that spattered our faces in the Big Dry Arm of Fort Peck. Many of us at the walleye spawn have traded our t-shirts for rain gear and stocking hats. The cold front that has moved in is definitely making its presence known. Water surface temperatures have dropped from 57 degrees on Thursday to 53 degrees today (Sunday). The gusty winds also prevented us from checking four of our trap nets. Overall numbers of walleye captured in our trap nets are also starting to taper off. I remember not so long ago when we were seeing upwards of 40 walleye in some of our better trap nets but are now only seeing half that in some of those nets. We are still handling some green female walleye, which is always an encouraging sign, so the spawn will more than likely continue to drag on. However, it is uncertain how much this cold front will affect those fish from ripening up. Similar to the trap nets, the number of green female walleyes in the holding pens are also starting to decrease from 68 fish down to 40 fish as of today. The amount of eggs collected and fish spawned also continue to decrease, but we are slowly inching our way towards our egg-take goal. Today we were only able collect a little over 3 million eggs which was similar to the previous days. This should put us somewhere in the neighborhood of 65-70 million total eggs. Lets hope the weather conditions cooperate so we can keep plugging away.
APRIL 21st
Over the last two days, the walleye spawning activity in the Big Dry Arm of Fort Peck looks as though it may have peaked and somewhat stabilized. Water surface temperatures were starting to approach 56 degrees by the end of the day (Wednesday). Were still seeing good numbers of walleye in our trap nets, but a majority of the fish weve been collecting are ripe. We are even seeing an occasional spent female walleye. Its definitely a turnaround from all the green females that were showing up when water temperatures were in the low to mid 40s during the start of the operation.
The last two days of spawning have still yielded some pretty good numbers of ripe female walleyes and eggs. The numbers of fish in the holding pens were similar over the last two day with 63 fish on Tuesday and 68 fish on Wednesday. On Tuesday, a total of 61 female walleyes were spawned and another 36 females on Wednesday. This yielded around 17-18 million eggs over the two day period. This should give us somewhere around 55 million total eggs in the Fort Peck and Miles City fish hatcheries. This puts us past the half-way mark for the 2010 spawning season goal of 90 million eggs
APRIL 20th The action continues to heat up on the Big Dry Arm of Fort
Peck. The warm weather has really been a blessing compared to the beginning
of last week. The water temperatures continue to climb and so does the
number of walleye collected in the trap nets.
APRIL 17th The water temperatures are starting to rise and so is the
walleye spawning activity in the Big Dry Arm of Fort Peck. Water surface
temperatures were starting to hit 48 degrees by the end of the day. As a
result, we are beginning to see more walleye in the trap nets and females
that are ready to spawn. One of the best trap nets checked today contained
24 walleyes with a combination of 5 ripe and 6 green females and the
remainder being males. It looks like there are good numbers of green female
walleye running from 8 to 10 pounds with some up to 13 pounds.
APRIL 15th Another year has rapidly went by and the annual walleye
spawning operation is here again. It seems like just yesterday we were
bouncing around in boats of the Big Dry Arm on Fort Peck. Well, not much has
changed since then because the winds have been howling from every direction
the last two days while checking our trap nets. CANYON FERRY 2010MAY 7th - Final Canyon Ferry Entry
We had a break in the wind this past Wednesday (5/5) and took the opportunity to dismantle the Merwins and cease the trapping effort for 2010. The recent wind storms that moved through were impressive enough, combined with COLD temperatures, to halt almost all walleye spawning activity on the South end of Canyon Ferry. Crews were only able to check the traps twice over the final nine days that the traps fished. On 5/1, the final check, the traps yielded only 33 walleye (all males) between all three traps. Time to call it a season. We finished with 1,294 total walleye captured and put out 1,129 new tags (yellow and blue) this year (165 recaptures of fish tagged in 2010). We got lucky with that fine warm spell during mid-April! Thanks again to everyone for their help and questions throughout the 2010 spawning survey! Mark it on your calendar for 2011 if you didnt get a chance to get out this year as well certainly be netting again next spring. Take care and see you out on the Big Pond!
MAY 3rd 13.3 pound walleye!
The winds subsided for 3 hours on Saturday morning (5/1/2010) , allowing us to check the Merwin traps for the first time since 4/27/2010. Unfortunately, the weather wreaked havoc on both our nets and walleye spawning activity. We captured a total of 33 walleye, all of which were males. The water temperature has cooled dramatically . On 4/27/2010 the water temperature was 52 degrees F and by 5/1/2010 it read only 46 degrees F. The extended forecast is calling for more cool weather and extended periods of high winds. We are planning to wrap up trapping efforts sometime this week unless things pick up again and the weather cooperates. Total captured walleye numbers this spring are approaching 1,300! Remember, because of a warm, windless six day period in mid-April, weve been extremely fortunate to see the sheer number of walleye weve seen this year. To put this season into perspective, over the past five Springs (05-09) FWP crews captured a total of approximately 1,300 walleye using Merwin traps. So, the Spring of 2010 has been good to us. Weve been able to get out a ton of new tags that will better help us understand the dynamics of both the walleye population and the anglers who fish for them.
APRIL 28th 15 pound walleye!
Heres the latest from netting on Canyon Ferry. Since this is the first time Ive sent this your way Ive included the netting results from the start of the 2010 Merwin trapping season! The peak of the walleye spawn on Canyon Ferry may have come and gone, but quite a few fish are still cruising the shallows and showing up in our traps. Some of the smaller females are trickling in, but most of the catch continues to be smaller ripe males. Of the three Merwin traps weve been fishing for the past few weeks, the trap off the northernmost point of Pond #1 has remained the most consistent, mostly due steady warm water temperatures. Recent storm systems have slowed down capture rates and our ability to check the traps, but a short window of good weather early this week should allow for more fish to be tagged. We are approaching 1,200 captured walleye this spring! Heres what has been going on with the traps from the beginning:
Id like to send out a special thanks to Fred Kuchinski for volunteering on a moments notice last week when we really needed the help. Thanks again Fred! Again, if anyone is interested in volunteering for a day on the traps, please contact via e-mail (astrainer@mt.gov) or phone (495-3263)! Better call sooner than later as the end of the spawn is quickly approaching.
APRIL 21ST We have truly been blessed with ideal conditions since April 15 for our annual walleye spawning survey on Canyon Ferry Reservoir. Fish numbers increased simultaneously with water temperatures and the early spawning period may have peaked yesterday with exactly 200 walleye showing up in our three Merwin traps. We saw 10 ripe females come in over the past two days ranging from largest of 31.7 inces, 14.0 pounds, to the smallest female weve seen in a few years at 14.6 inches, 0.85 pounds. Thank you to all of the volunteers for their help over the past week and to all of the interested anglers calling! Every little bit helps. We officially broke the 800 fish mark (822 total walleye) this morning!!! Below is a trapping summary from the past two days:
APRIL 19th The weekend brought warm temperatures and very little wind which equated to the rainbows and walleye coming in hot and heavy. The total number of walleyes tagged increased each day throughout the weekend and this morning we tagged 180 walleye. The forecast calls for one more day of excellent weather with a cooling trend scheduled for sometime during the middle of this week. Numbers will probably decrease significantly until the next warming trend The largest female walleye tagged over the weekend was 12.8 lbs. The most recent tagging information is below:
APRIL 16TH After a week of fighting the weather to keep the traps fishing, a warm spell has moved in that has the fishing cruising the spawning areas. Walleye numbers in the traps are picking up and rainbow numbers are staying fairly consistent. We picked up the first female walleye of the year, a 16.6-pound bruiser, this morning. The weather forecast is calling for warmer weather through this coming weekend, so look for things to really start popping over the next couple of days. Below is a summary from the past few days:
If anyone is interested in coming out for a day, please contact me at by e-mail at astrainer@mt.gov or over the phone at (406) 495-3262. Well be heading out almost daily, including weekends. When theres room, the best days usually follow a storm system moving through as the temperatures increase post storm system. APRIL 13TH Well, were officially up and running with 3 Merwin traps
along the East shore of Canyon Ferry between Duck Creek and Pond #1. We
launched the third trap yesterday, but weve checked the other two traps
twice since they began fishing on 4/9/2010. Heres what weve learned so
far:
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Canyon
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