A Proposition for a Walleye Study on the DesPlaines River Watershed located in northern Illinois.
Filed under Conservation, Fisheries & Science |I originally posted this in our Walleye Forum at the HQ Forums but for the chance of receiving more traffic and readership, I’m throwing it down here:
Walleye Tagging and Migration Studies.
I know that a migration pattern among Walleye (Stizostedion Vitreum) exists between the DesPlaines River and its largest tributary the Salt Creek, but the state of Illinois has it all the other way around claiming that these fish are stocked and come downstream from Busse Lake. For these reasons above, I think their assessment is incorrect!
Does anyone know the proper procedures for tagging fish? Maybe telemetry studies? Following fish during migrations? Inserting transmitters into fish and studying their seasonal movements?
What often confuses me is the fact that there is a small fishable population of Walleyes in the Salt Creek (my back yard) - the subject that is of most interest to me by far for fishing in Illinois!
While I know for a fact that the fish are around in the creek, and are extremely healthy and unpressured specimens, they are not always around when I fish for them, even when I think I’m fishing at the right spots at the right times for them.
When this is the case, where could these fish be? Could they be traveling in single entity or in schools from spot-to-spot on the creek? Or better yet….. Could these fish be migrating downstream back to the DesPlaines River, one of the main sources in which I think they come from yet there is no factual or documented statewide proof of?
Within the last calendar year and ever since I successfully started catching these Walleyes by dumb-luck chance in spring of 2005, I have often wanted to do migration studies like this on my own, mainly for Walleyes, especially the ones I catch on the creek. These fish of the DesPlaines River system are so much bigger and healthier than any fish I’ve ever caught in my life! PERIOD!
What I am trying to accomplish is that I want to know how Walleyes travel within this river system (creek and river) and whether they have the capabilities of migrating successfully between the aforementioned river and stream. I fully understand the factors that influence their general seasonal movements (food, reproduction, refuge + more), but those are just overall reasons within this subject of why they migrate and what influences them. Unfortunately, that does not answer the question as it only provides solid reasoning for if my assumption of Walleye migration from river to stream occurs, which at this point is unknown by many.
A large pool like this consisting of riffles, increased amounts of dissolved oxygen, structure, cover, and refuge, often attracts forage species as well as predatory fish such as Walleyes. On the Salt Creek, this pattern of migration exists and is already well-documented by a handful of the area’s most educated and successful anglers.
Just a small stretch of water on the Salt Creek in which Walleyes travel back and forth from.
I think the Walleyes we (Tim, Myself, others) catch travel back and forth between River and Creek, but majority have it the other way around: They come from way up north and travel south 30 miles worth of stream!
Keep in mind that some fish, if hearty enough, have the capabilities of traveling downstream from 500 acre Busse Lake. However, with the conditions and all that are upstream in certain towns and stretches which are poor, (poor water quality, low PH - may be acidic in some cases, deathly low P.P.M.’s, and lack of good habitat), the chances of that happening seem rare but are not out of the question. However, it is another subject of its own. Hell, our own Nate Tessler, an Ichthyologist in training, showed me his Salt Creek study from the stretch of water near Addison and the proof is right there: Carp-infested waters, dead water, low oxygen levels, zero habitat, deathly ill-looking fish…. It does not help that the area is loaded on wastewater treatment plants but the proof that walleye migration in this scenario probably doesn’t happen, is right there.
Wastewater treatment plant located off of Irving Park Road in Wood Dale, IL.
The Illinois DNR thinks the fish I catch come from up north at Busse Lake but due to the mentioned poor conditions I know of which factually exist either from proof and observation, I do not see a way of how it can be successfully possible. It’s gotta’ be the other way around and Walleyes have to be coming upstream from the river, the section that is on the upstream side of the Hoffman Dam.
Status of the Walleye and Sauger Fishery of Illinois: March 2006
The lower DesPlaines River and Salt Creek continue to yield consistent walleye catch rates. In 2004, electrofishing catch rates were higher than previous years, with a total of 18 walleye collected per hour. Fish ranged in size from 12 to 20 inches with most in the 17-20 inch size, weighing up to 3.3 lbs. The source of these walleye is most likely Busse Lake on upper Salt Creek, where they are stocked by Cook County Forest Preserve District.
I think that’s a load of blasphemy, but how would we know if it truly is not documented?
The professional assessment of “Most Likely” does not help!
A good start for a migration study would be to obtain the numbers of adult size fish (14 inches or larger) that are in the DesPlaines River on the upstream side of Hoffman Dam. Does anyone have an estimate of the adult fish (walleye) population up there and within a 5-mile radius of the creek mouth near First and Ogden Avenue? Doubt it. Electroshock that area first and then we’ll be in business.
The DesPlaines River and mouth of Salt Creek - It is perceived by myself and others that this stretch of water is the source of these Walleyes. Unfortunately, the Illinois DNR and Forest Preserve District has it the other way around and it remains undocumented. Not only that, but it is unknown if a fishable population of Walleyes even exists in this stretch of river.
I think the Walleyes I catch seasonally travel back and forth between large river and small tributary but if zero studies are done by anyone, then how would anyone like me know??!!
If a study of this caliber were to be done, either some study and assessment on Walleye migrations, whatever it may consist of, I think I would be able to better understand their migration patterns, as well as age and possibly growth rates within this river system.
Not only would a migratory study be excellent, but tagging would be beneficial as well, as it would be the easiest to do, but must consist of more volunteerism and angler support if it were to be done. However, a tagging study would obviously work best if Walleye specimens are to be caught over and over again by successful, intellectual, honest and conservation-minded anglers. Tagging would not give me the whole story, but it would be a good start to figure things out such as average growth rates + age, population dispersals, habitat locations, behavioral studies, proof of reproduction, and migratory patterns.
We have the assumptions and proof of a viable fishery and its behavior but we have ZERO facts of where these Walleyes come from and when they come!
I would really love to find out and study Walleye migration patterns between the Salt Creek and the DesPlaines River which is where I THINK at least 75-percent of these fish I catch are coming from. I fish a six mile stretch of free-flowing river and the fish have this much of small stream to work with until they reach their first barrier which happens to be the dam at Graue Mill.
After a 6-mile journey of free-flowing water from large river to small stream, it is believed that the dam at Graue Mill in Hinsdale, IL, is the ending point of any possible Walleye migration pattern between Walleyes of the DesPlaines River and Salt Creek.
Since last school year, I have been checking out and reading books from my school’s library (Loyola University Chicago) about fish migrations. I have been specifically reading and comprehending a lot of basic information about Walleyes and migration patterns, so that is what I am most interested in. It provided me with a foundation on trying to understand Walleye migrations. This is what I really read hard and what’s getting me going here:
Migration of Freshwater Fishes
Martyn C. Lucas and Etienne Baras
Blackwell Science 2001 - Ames, Iowa
What is scary is how I was able to understand the terminology.
I was planning on buying it on Amazon/eBay but to my dismay it sells for some $300 freaking dollars!
Does anyone have any possible ideas or advice on where the ground can be broken and a study can be started from somewhere? Can a proposed study like this, whether state-funded or by “privatized parties” be done successfully on Walleye migrations, even if it doesn’t have to involve a biologist or in my honest opinion, a practically worthless, underfunded, and undermanned Illinois DNR agency? Is there any form of study that can thoroughly assess fish migration between river and stream for Walleye, or any gamefish in general?
Many of us know that the Walleyes we catch are always on the move. But what is troubling us is that we don’t have the facts yet!
There has to be a reason for why fish of this caliber often end up in the stretches of Salt Creek that my friends and I often fish! Unfortunately at this point, it remains to be unknown, and just like the misunderstood tendencies of Walleyes and trying to catch them, not being able to know and understand the facts behind this perceived fish migration is equally as troubling.
If you have questions or comments regarding this issue, or would like to receive more comprehensive information regarding the subject of a possible but truly undocumented and unstudied Walleye migration between the DesPlaines River and its largest tributary the Salt Creek, feel free to add your comments below, or send me an e-mail at andrew@fishing-headquarters.com