WALLEYE NEWS:
Tickets available for 2010 Walleyes Forever banquet
The 2010 Walleyes Forever Banquet will be held at the Elks Club in Billings on March 27.
The annual event will include an all-you-can eat walleye dinner along with games, drawings and auctions for a variety of fishing-related items.
The doors will open at 4 p.m. with dinner served at 6 p.m.
Tickets cost $25 for adults and $10 for youths age 5-12. Kids under 5 get in free.
For tickets, contact a Walleyes Forever member or call Ron McClenning at 670-4550 or Daren Tomlinson at 690-9629.
Dale Gilbert coming to WF to present free seminar
Walleye pro Dale Gilbert will be coming to the 7 p.m. April 8 meeting of Walleyes Forever at the Elks Club to present a seminar on trolling techniques and what's new in electronics for 2010.
Gilbert, of Ulm, had a long and successful career in Montana Walleye Circuit events before turning pro and fishing the Professional Walleye Trail and FLW Walleye Tour. He is a Past State President of Walleyes Unlimited of Montana,
Past Chapter President of the Great Falls Chapter of WUM, made a member of the
Montana Walleye Hall of Fame in January 1996 and is part of
Walleye University - PRO Walleye T.E.A.M.
His sponsors include Lund Boats, Mercury, Navionics, Wave Wackers, Townsend Marine, Lowrance Electronics, St Croix Rods, Minn Kota Motors, Rapala, Odyssey Marine Batteries and Berkley/Pure Fishing.
The seminar is free and open to the public.
Ryan from Roundup, shown with club president Ron McClenning, was the tackle box drawing winner at the Walleyes Forever booth at the Great Rockies Show on Saturday. Hank Nilson won on Friday and Judy Lorenz was the Sunday winner.
Fall Classic moving to Fourchette Bay
The Fall Classic walleye tournament will be moved to Fourchette Bay in 2010.
The tournament will be held August 7Th and 8Th. The water is back and it
is time to move the tournament back to where it started. The plan is to
have it at Fourchette this year and move it back to Crooked Creek in 2011.
As you all know, Fourchette is a remote part of Fort Peck. We want to
make sure everyone knows, if you think you might need it (bring it)! Also
if you pack it in please pack it out,garbage facilities will be limited.
We are going to have fuel,ice,bait(leeches,night crawlers)and some
concessions. We are also planning a meal for everyone Saturday night.
Everything you have grown to love about Fall Classic will continue. We
are shooting for a 100% payout,paying 20% of the field based on sponsor
participation.We have cut back the entries for 2010 to 70 due to limited
camping space. This number will be back to 100 for the 2011 tournament.So
get in soon to insure your spot at one of the best fishing ares on Fort
Peck lake.
With camping limited, we are asking that if you are from the east side of
Fort Peck that you set up camp at Devils Creek. We will check boats in on
the water for your convenience. This will free up space at Fourchette bay,
so everyone can have a decent camping spot. There is room for 15-20 teams
at Devils Creek, and room for 55-60 at Fourchette.
We are also putting together a novice/family division. The entry will be
50 dollars, you can have up to 4 people in your boat. All other circuit
rules apply! Your boat will have a different looking decal and you will be
going against boats in your division only.Payouts will also just be from
your division. All boats will go out as normal everyday, you will just be
competing in a different division. This is a idea to maybe get more
families and new to tournament fisherman involved. The entries in Fish
Tales,and on the website will have a box to check if this is the division
you would like to fish. There will be more information to follow, if you
do have questions please give us a call!
This will be a fun and exciting tournament, that many folks enjoyed
fishing 10 years ago. The waters back and this awesome tournament
location is back. We hope to see you all there! - From Diane Brandt, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture
FWP seeking comment on reservoir plan
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is seeking public comment on a draft management plan and environmental assessment for three popular Upper Missouri River reservoirs.
"Canyon Ferry, Hauser and Holter reservoirs account for more than 200,000 days of fishing each year," said FWP’s Eric Roberts in Helena. "These waters are among the most popular fishing destinations in Montana. The draft plan establishes a management vision for the next 10 years for these waters and associated stretches of the Missouri River."
An 18-member citizen workgroup, representing an array of angling, reservoir and river systems interests, identified, defined and recommended fish management and regulation approaches for the draft plan during eight months of meetings.
An accompanying environmental assessment evaluates the management alternatives, including making no changes, and analyzes predicted impacts on biological, physical, social, economic, cultural, and other factors.
Roberts said the documents will update a plan in effect since 2000.
The public can review and comment on the draft plan and EA through Oct. 23. Copies of the plan and EA are available online at fwp.mt.gov. Click " Upper Missouri River Management Plan ." For information call Beth Giddings at 406-444-7815.
Flathead WU members who helped on the project included,
left to right: Doug Green, Thad Briggs, Jerry Barker,
Trent Young and Bob Hickey.
Flathead WU helps with dock at Smith Lake
A greatly improved fishing dock will greet anglers this spring on Smith Lake west of Kalispell. The Flathead Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited contributed funds to add a refurbished dock that, along with the existing dock, will more than double opportunity for anglers at this popular lake. Chancy Jeschke and Frank Danner were the project leaders for FWU.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) Fisheries Manager Jim Vashro notes that Smith Lake is one of the few places where shore anglers can catch perch and pike, but the existing dock was very overcrowded. The Flathead Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited paid for materials to refurbish an additional dock recycled from Whitefish State Park and add a T-extension at the end, more than doubling the number of anglers who can take advantage of the dock. The existing dock will accommodate wheelchairs.
"This is the kind of project that benefits everyone that likes to fish," says Vashro. "These docks especially provide good fishing opportunities for kids and people with disabilities. We really appreciate the Flathead Chapter of Walleyes Unlimited helping to expand fishing opportunity in the valley."
Bridgham selected as Fort Peck Hatchery manager
Charlie Bridgham |
GLASGOW, Mont. - Longtime biologist and scientific researcher Charlie Bridgham has been appointed as the new manager of the Fort Peck Multi-Species State Fish Hatchery.
Bridgham formerly served as assistant manager at the facility and was named acting manager after former Fort Peck Hatchery head Andrew Ollenburg left the position late last year.
“Charlie will be an excellent manager of the Fort Peck Hatchery,” said FWP Hatchery Bureau Chief Bob Snyder. “He has a lot of warm-water fish culture experience and is very familiar with the hatchery’s program and complex infrastructure. Charlie will provide continuity to the hatchery’s program, as the Fort Peck Hatchery staff has proven that they work effectively as a team. Under Charlie’s supervision, I expect this to continue.”
Bridgham, 45, grew up in a military family that frequently moved. He was born in Monterey, Calif., and his family lived in Southern California and Rhode Island for a time before settling in South Carolina. Bridgham graduated from Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, S.C. in 1981. He completed bachelor degrees in biology and geology at South Carolina’s College of Charleston in 1987.
Prior to entering the fisheries management field, Bridgham worked as a radiological technician at a South Carolina shipyard. In the early 1990s, he signed on with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, where he served in the agency’s Marine Resources Division.
Among other duties, Bridgham’s research team was involved with identifying candidate fish species for potential culturing. Much of the mariculture team’s work focused on red drum, a popular saltwater species commonly known as redfish or channel bass. Mariculture is the marine, or saltwater, branch of aquaculture.
Bridgham said red drum populations had been depleted from a variety of factors, including early commercial fishing and a later lack of sport fishing seasons and limits. Team members were tasked with determining the feasibility of stocking hatchery-raised red drum to augment natural populations. They also needed to look at the potential environment impacts of adding another artificially raised fish into the local estuary.
“Red drum is a relatively easy species to culture, but (full-blown culturing) never took off,” Bridgham said. One of the biggest challenges, he said, was determining whether red drum stocking programs were economically feasible.
“We knew we could raise and release the fish and they would survive,” he explained. “But the question was always: How many would survive?”
Along with red drum, Bridgham’s team conducted groundbreaking research on a variety of other fish species, including the endangered shortnose sturgeon, cobia, spotted sea trout, black sea bass, flounder, striped bass, white bass and striper-white bass hybrids. The work was split with time in the field studying the fish and their habitats and countless hours in the laboratory trying to manipulate their reproduction traits and behavior.
“I’ve worked with a bunch of different species,” Bridgham said. “It was all looking at spawning and raising fish.”
In 1997, Bridgham’s team received national recognition when it won the American Fisheries Society’s Outstanding Sportfish Restoration Award for their work on red drum.
In late 2004, Bridgham, an avid waterfowl and upland bird hunter, left South Carolina to become a fish culturist at FWP’s Giant Springs State Fish Hatchery in Great Falls. He was promoted to the Fort Peck Hatchery assistant manager position in early 2006.
Missoula angler catches
new state record walleye
By BRUCE AUCHLY
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
On Saturday, Nov. 17, Bob Hart, of Missoula, caught his first walleye, a 14-incher.
On Sunday, Nov. 18, for his second walleye, he broke the Montana state record.
Hart, 46, caught a 17.75-pound walleye at 7:15 a.m., Sunday, on the north shore of Tiber Reservoir southeast of Shelby. The fish measured 35 inches long with a 22-inch girth.
The previous state record – 16.63 pounds and 31.5 inches long – was caught January 2000 in Fort Peck Reservoir.
“We were just sitting on shore fishing with a minnow and a weight to keep it on the bottom,” Hart says. He had the five-inch minnow at about 20 to 30 feet when the walleye struck.
It took about 15 minutes to land, Hart says. He had 6- or 8-pound test line on his reel.
“I said ‘Ohmigod,’ and called my friend to get the net,” says Hart, who was fishing with Gordon Smedsrud of Shelby.
The pair immediately took the fish to Shelby.
“It took us a while to find a certified scale in Shelby on Sunday morning,” Hart says.
Fortunately Taylor’s Hardware Store was open. The fish was then taken to a local taxidermist.
So how does a fish grow that big in Tiber, not known for extremely large walleye?
“There is a very abundant forage fish, cisco, in Tiber for a large fish,” said Dave Yerk, fisheries biologist for FWP. During previous netting surveys, Yerk and his crew have sampled a 14-pound walleye from Tiber.
As for Hart, a life-long fisherman, he has caught bigger saltwater fish – a 180-pound marlin – but no freshwater fish even close to this one.
Now, several friends are offering to take the fish off his hands. No dice, Hart says.
“I think I’ll hang it in my office,” says Hart, sales director for Blue Cross-Blue Shield.
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