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Freshwater Gamefish
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The Walleye
Description
Walleyes grow to about 75 cm (30 in) in length, and weigh up to about 7 kg (15 lb). The maximum recorded size for the fish is 107 cm (42 in) in length and 11.3 kg (25 lb) in weight. The growth rate depends partly on where in their range they occur, with southern populations often growing faster and larger. In general, females grow larger than males. Walleyes may live for decades; the maximum recorded age is 29 years. In heavily fished populations, however, few walleye older than 5 or 6 years of age are encountered.
Walleyes are largely olive and gold in colour (hence the French common name: doré -- golden). The dorsal side of a walleye is olive, grading into a golden hue on the flanks. The olive/gold pattern is broken up by five darker saddles that extend to the upper sides. The colour shades to white on the belly. The mouth of a walleye is large and is armed with many sharp teeth. The first dorsal and anal fins are spinous as is the operculum. Walleyes are distinguished from their close cousin the sauger by the white colouration on the lower lobe of the caudal fin which is absent on the sauger. In addition, the two dorsals and the caudal fin of the sauger are marked with distinctive rows of black dots which are absent from or indistinct on the same fins of walleyes.
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Life History
In most of the species' range, the majority of male walleyes mature at age 3 or 4. Females normally mature about a year later. Adults migrate to tributary streams in late winter or early spring to lay eggs over gravel and rock, although there are open water reef or shoal spawning strains as well. Some populations are known to spawn on sand or on vegetation. Spawning occurs at water temperatures of 6 to 10º C (43 to 50º F). A large female can lay up to 500,000 eggs and no care is given by the parents to the eggs or fry. The eggs are slightly adhesive and fall into spaces between rocks. The incubation period for the embryos is temperature-dependent but generally lasts from 12 to 30 days. After hatching, the free-swimming embryo spends about a week absorbing the relatively small amount of yolk. Once the yolk has been fully absorbed, the young walleye begins to feed on invertebrates such as fly larvæ and zooplankton. After 40 to 60 days, juvenile walleyes become piscivorous. Thenceforth, both juvenile and adult walleyes eat fish almost exclusively, frequently yellow perch or ciscoes, moving onto bars and shoals at night to feed. Walleye also feed heavily on crayfish, minnows, leeches, and earthworms.
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Distribution
Since walleyes have excellent visual acuity under low illumination levels, they tend to feed more extensively at dawn and dusk, on cloudy or overcast days and under choppy conditions when light penetration into the water column is disrupted. Although anglers interpret this as light avoidance, it is merely an expression of the walleye's competitive advantage over its prey under those conditions. Similarly, in darkly stained or turbid waters, walleye tend to feed throughout the day.
"Walleye chop" is a term used by walleye anglers for rough water typical with winds of 5 to 15 mph (7 to 24 km/h), and is one of the indicators for good walleye fishing due to the walleye's increased feeding activity during such conditions.
Because walleyes are popular with anglers, fishing for walleyes is regulated by most natural resource agencies. Management may include the use of quotas and length limits to ensure that populations are not over-exploited.
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The Yellow Perch
Description
Yellow perch size can vary greatly between bodies of water, but adults are usually between 4-10 inches (10-25.5 cm) in length and weigh about 5.29 oz (150 g) on average. The perch can live for up to 11 years, and older perch are often much larger than average; the maximum recorded length is 19.6 inches (50 cm) and the largest recorded weight is 4.2 lb (1.91 kg). Large yellow perch are often called "jumbo perch."
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Life History
The perch spawns at the end of April or beginning of May, depositing it upon weeds, or the branches of trees or shrubs that have become immersed in the water; it does not come into condition again until July.
Yellow Perch are one of the finest flavored of all panfish, and this has led to misuse of their name in the restaurant industry. Menus will sometimes list "White Perch", "Rock Perch" or simply "Perch" that are actually other species, usually panfish related to the bass family.
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Habitat
The best time for fishing for perch is from June to November in Canada and the best time for fishing them in the United States is perhaps September to February, though they bite reasonably well all year and are readily taken through the ice. They haunt the neighborhood of heavy deep eddies, camp sheathings, beds of weeds, with sharp streams near trees or bushes growing in or overhanging the water.
The best baits for perch are minnows, earthworms, shrimp and artificial lures.[citation needed] The tackle should be light. If fishing off the shore, one can use the simple but effective bobber and bait technique, or just cast and slowly retrieve. If fishing from a boat, tie on a snap swivel to your line then adding a small 60 g (2 oz.) swivel weight to it along with a #5 snelled hook. Bait the hook with a whole earthworm and drop the line directly below the boat. Let the bait sink all the way down to the bottom, and when reaching the bottom, reel in a couple hundred notches to keep it suspended above the bottom higher than a couple feet. Keep the line curvy and tense or you won't feel the Perch's bite.[citation needed] Perch have an uncanny way of biting on the bait without the angler knowing it. Also be aware that Rainbow Trout, Bluegill, and various other fishes may strike the line, so be prepared for a tense fight if using heavier pound test line. Perch, unlike fish of prey, are gregarious, and in the winter months, when the frosts and floods have destroyed and carried away the beds of weeds, they congregate together in the pools and eddies, and are then to be angled for with greatest success is greatly varied usually starting at one a.m. until two a.m.
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Distribution
The yellow perch (Perca flavescens) is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have 6-8 dark vertical bars on their sides. The yellow perch is in the same family as the walleye and sauger, but in a different family from the white perch.
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The Sauger
Description
The Sauger (Sander canadensis) is a freshwater Perciform fish of the family Percidae which resembles its close relative the walleye. Saugers, however, are usually smaller and will tolerate waters of higher turbidity than will the walleye. In many parts of their range, saugers are sympatric with walleyes. They may be distinguished from walleyes by the distinctly spotted dorsal fin, by the lack of a white splotch on the caudal fin, by the rough skin over their gill, and by their generally more brassy color, or darker (almost black) color in some regions. The average sauger in an angler's creel is 300 to 400 g (0.75 to 1 lbs) in weight but the world record was 8.1 kg (17 lbs, 12 ounces.) Saugers are more typical of rivers whereas walleyes are more common in lakes and reservoirs. The sauger is highly prized as a food fish.
usually olive-gray on back with white belly; back crossed with 3-4 dark saddles extending down sides; 2-3 rows of black dots on the anterior dorsal fin; large, glossy eyes and sharp teeth
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Life History
Sauger spawn over gravel/rubble shoals in
May or June when temperatures are around 3.9-6.1°C
. Sauger do not
build nests but broadcast adhesive, demersal
eggs over shoals in 0.6-3.6m of water at night. The males typically
arrive at spawning shoals before females. Spawning
takes place in about a 2 week period. The recently
hatched sauger spend between 7 and 9 days along the
bottom absorbing yolk.
Sauger can live up to 13 years and become sexually
mature between 2-3 years for males and 4-6 years for
females.
Sauger are sight predators and exhibit negative
phototropism, meaning they tend to say away from light,
and so feed at night in clearer waters and may feed
throughout the day in more turbid waters. Young sauger mainly feed on zooplankton and
aquatic insect larvae. Adult sauger feed on fish and invertebrates,
specifically gizzard shad, emerald shiner, crappie, bass,
freshwater drum, leeches, crayfish, and insects.
In the Ohio River, gizzard shad and emerald shiner were
the most common prey of sauger, followed by
freshwater drum, channel catfish, and mimic shiners.
Emerald shiners are an important component of sauger
diets during most of the year, declining somewhat from
October to January. In the spring, invertebrates are
their staple. From September through January gizzard
shad make up a large component of sauger diets and
freshwater drum and channel catfish become large
components of the diet in July and August. The most
rapid period of growth for sauger is during September to
March. Females typically
grow faster and are larger than males.
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Habitat
The sauger can be found in lakes, reservoirs,
and large rivers and seem to prefer
systems that are turbid. The turbidity ?may prevent
excessive egg adhesion and thereby reduce suffocation,
protect young from predators, and facilitate feeding of
young by concentrating plankton near the surface. Sauger generally prefer
systems where temperatures in the entire water column
are within their temperature preferences.
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Distribution
Over-fishing and
environmental degradation are often blamed for the
saugers decline. However,
these reasons are not always agreed upon. Due to the saugers tolerance of
turbidity, their population declines are not likely related
to habitat degradation. There is also debate as to
whether competition with walleye has aided in sauger
declines. Management targeted towards restoring and/
or preserving spawning and other critical habitats is
needed.
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