walleye from ky

[SSKY]

Just a question, If somone could get some walleye fry from the upper reaches of the rockcastle and had some ability to get them about 4 inches to stock in where ever, yes in where they came from, or in other places that they were asked for. would that be a problem from a legal standpoint?

[condusivecranker]

If I'm not mistaken, I'm 99.9% sure that it is very illeagal to transport fish of any species from one waterway to another by human transport. This is to protect the introduction of diseases and nuisence pests.

[Dave Stewart]

Obviously if you have those little walleye in possession you are illegal.

[birdstrike]

If you are willing to give it a go, I'm thinking you could get the required permits and possibly even a grant to do your "research". Pairing up with EKU or a local collage might grease the wheels. Good luck. Let me know if you need any help with your experiment.

[Jbyrd]

What is fueling your fire about this "native strain of walleye. They are already there ,granted you don't catch as many on Cumberland fishing the main lake as you do the Erie strain but they are there. They are the ones that run up the rivers and feeder creeks EVERY spring . The Erie strain spawns on the main lake flats and gravel bars.
What is the benefit of "native " over stocked strain if the are all spawning.
Cumberland is full of walleye no matter where their ancestors where hatched

[birdstrike]

Well Jbyrd,

From the studies I've read, the only genetically pure Southern Strain walleye have been found in remote reaches of the Rockcastle. They are true river fish and do not migrate to the lake. The Erie fish will attempt to spawn in the lake and up the feeder rivers. Just like the walleye in lake erie do. There very well may be some southern stain fish living in the lake, who knows. The thought is that if they lived together and used the same breeding areas, they would have hybridized over the decades. It is also my understanding that the KDFW used the BSF spawners as brood stock for a period of time but now use dam spawners. Anyway to answer your question. The state record walleye and perhaps even the world record walleye were likely Southern strain fish. These fellows were well feed after the river was dammed up and lacked competition from stripers. So the thought is out there that if we stock the pure southern strain (Rockcastle) walleye and conditions are right for growing, we might just have another record fish in our mist. Nice thought anyway.

What is fueling your fire about this "native strain of walleye. They are already there ,granted you don't catch as many on Cumberland fishing the main lake as you do the Erie strain but they are there. They are the ones that run up the rivers and feeder creeks EVERY spring . The Erie strain spawns on the main lake flats and gravel bars.
What is the benefit of "native " over stocked strain if the are all spawning.
Cumberland is full of walleye no matter where their ancestors where hatched

[Mean Morone]

I've heard the stories of not only one walleye over 10 lb, but stringers full of over 10 lb fish being caught "back in the good ole days". You don't hear those stories now. My biggest walleye is a 9 lber which is a good one but nothing like what used to be in the lake. I don't care what hits my crankbait at night weather it's a 15 lb striper or a 15 lb walleye, it's all good.

[birdstrike]

I don't care if it's a 15 lb bluegill! it's all good

I've heard the stories of not only one walleye over 10 lb, but stringers full of over 10 lb fish being caught "back in the good ole days". You don't hear those stories now. My biggest walleye is a 9 lber which is a good one but nothing like what used to be in the lake. I don't care what hits my crankbait at night weather it's a 15 lb striper or a 15 lb walleye, it's all good.

[Jbyrd]

Well Jbyrd,

From the studies I've read, the only genetically pure Southern Strain walleye have been found in remote reaches of the Rockcastle. They are true river fish and do not migrate to the lake. The Erie fish will attempt to spawn in the lake and up the feeder rivers. Just like the walleye in lake erie do. There very well may be some southern stain fish living in the lake, who knows. The thought is that if they lived together and used the same breeding areas, they would have hybridized over the decades. It is also my understanding that the KDFW used the BSF spawners as brood stock for a period of time but now use dam spawners. Anyway to answer your question. The state record walleye and perhaps even the world record walleye were likely Southern strain fish. These fellows were well feed after the river was dammed up and lacked competition from stripers. So the thought is out there that if we stock the pure southern strain (Rockcastle) walleye and conditions are right for growing, we might just have another record fish in our mist. Nice thought anyway.

So you are saying that they are "hybridized" they are not spawning? Hybrid anything doesn't reproduce. Seems like an awful lot of walleye in the lake that are coming from some where. AS for the "big ones that used to be " what did the Bass cross with? In the old days they caught 5,6 7,8 lbers all the time . (sounds like Roland Martin ). LOL The lake has changed , more pressure. In the early 80's before Jamestown Marine was built you could fish the lower end of lake cumberland all night and Maybe see 3 or 4 boats. Heck now there are that many boats on every point around the mouth of beaver creek EVERY Sat night during the summer!!!!
Don't have any scientific info to back it up with but I think that is the main reason you don't see the big fish in the numbers that they had way back then .

[RoadToad]

So you are saying that they are "hybridized" they are not spawning? Hybrid anything doesn't reproduce.

This is a common fallacy. Spawning has been documented in resovoirs known to contain only "wipers." as documented on the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center's web site: http://aquanic.org/publicat/usda_rac/efs/srac/300fs.pdf

Also, hybrid bluegill do reproduce, although at a very slow rate, due to the fact that almost all their offspring are male: http://www.mosportsmen.com/fishing/bluegillmyth.htm

But what's more relevant to this discussion, though, is that even "saugeyes," which are walley/sauger hybrids, are fertile: http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000077
so there's no reason to believe that native walleye can't interbreed with the Lake Erie strain, and produce fertile offspring.

[Jbyrd]

This is a common fallacy. Spawning has been documented in resovoirs known to contain only "wipers." as documented on the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center's web site: http://aquanic.org/publicat/usda_rac/efs/srac/300fs.pdf

Also, hybrid bluegill do reproduce, although at a very slow rate, due to the fact that almost all their offspring are male: http://www.mosportsmen.com/fishing/bluegillmyth.htm

But what's more relevant to this discussion, though, is that even "saugeyes," which are walley/sauger hybrids, are fertile: http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=000077
so there's no reason to believe that native walleye can't interbreed with the Lake Erie strain, and produce fertile offspring.

Now you are comparing apples to oranges. A wiper is the result of two different species. If a walleye is spawning with another walleye the result IS NOT A HYBRID!!!! That was my point. Saugeyes "two diferrent species" also.
If you will read all the threads I didn't make the statement that they wouldn't spawn.Bird strike said they were getting hybridized.Also if you look into your findings that you quoted the reproduction rate in hydrid species is less than 10 percent.....
My question was what was the big point of looking for the "native" strain or the erie as long as they are reproducing and plenty of them.
So far the reasons listed have been they don't get as big. to which I replied I think the reason you don't see as many big fish ( in my opinion) is because of the fishing pressure.