Walleye, wipers thrive in local reservoirs
The combination of last weekend’s closure of most hunting seasons and an upcoming stretch of warm weather will have many thinking about fishing. According to their biologists, the three major reservoirs within an hour of Wichita should provide good angling this year.
Cheney Reservoir
After several years of mostly catch-and-release angling, Jessica Mounts, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism fisheries biologist, said anglers should find decent numbers of wipers over the lake’s 21-inch minimum length limit. The long length limit, as well as a conservative creel limit of two wipers per day, have been in place for several years hoping a strong population of predatory wipers would help control Cheney’s population of white perch.
“We had a lot of wipers just on the cusp of being big enough to keep,” Mounts said of last fall’s test nettings at the lake. “They’ve had several years to grow because of the (restrictive) limits. A lot were right around 20 inches, so it won’t take much for them to grow that other inch. I’d say the wipers are the brightest spot for Cheney this year.”
She rated walleye a “close second” in terms of what a species can offer anglers. The fish with the legendary flavorful fillets share the same length and creel limits as wipers. Mounts said her testings last fall showed “ a lot of walleyes between 20 and 25 inches.”
Like most Kansas waters, Cheney should also offer some great opportunities for channel catfish, one of the most popular fish at the lake about a half-hour west of Wichita. Mount’s test nettings found both numbers and size. The biggest she sampled was about nine pounds, though channel cat up to twice that size are annually caught at Cheney.
She rated the lake’s crappie population as “good” for those who can find the fish, with strong numbers of 11-13-inch fish, and some larger.
Invasive white perch, which eat the eggs and fry of more popular fish, remain a nuisance for anglers and Mounts as she tries to manage a healthy fishery. But that some perch are growing to impressive sizes pleases some people.
“Cheney now has some of the largest white perch I’ve ever seen,” said Mounts. “We have a population with quite a few up to 12 inches. I’m hearing more people say they like to fish for white perch since they’re big enough to harvest and so good to eat.”
El Dorado Reservoir
Last year, Craig Johnson was possibly the state’s most popular Wildlife and Parks fisheries biologist with walleye anglers. That’s because El Dorado Reservoir, which he manages, was the place to be for big ’eyes. It’s expected to be the same in 2016, too.
“People have gotten used to the bigger, quality fish, and not just coming and catching one or two,” said Johnson. “It’s a good population in El Dorado. The biggest fish I had in my nets last fall was about 6 3/4 pounds but I know there were several eight-plus pounders caught on lines last fall.” Creel surveys showed several around 30 inches.
As at Cheney, Johnson credits El Dorado’s two per day, 21-inch minimum length limit to help control white perch for the nice population of big walleye. He predicts numbers and size of fish should be similar to last year.
An avid angler, too, he’s glad to see an increase in smaller walleye this year, which bodes well for the future. Still, about 26 percent of the lake’s walleye are over the minimum length limit.
The biologist referred to the lake’s wiper population as impressive. Numbers he said may be down a bit, but the average size has increased.
“We had fish in the 26-28-inch range last year, based on reports from anglers,” he said. “We’ll have a few more fish for people to take home, if they want.”
As it has most years, Johnson said El Dorado has a fair number of crappie but a good average size of 10 to 12 inches, or larger.
The lake’s largemouth and spotted bass populations appear to be low. El Dorado’s smallmouth bass population holds some good fish. Good anglers catch some up to about four pounds.
This year the lake’s black bass length limit, which includes all three species, has been reduced from 18 to 15 inches. Johnson said studies show the larger length limit has no benefits for the fishery.
Blue catfish are also seeing a change in length limits. Up until now the fish that were originally stocked, but are now reproducing well, had a minimum length limit of 35 inches so the population of big brood fish could grow.
Beginning this year, blue catfish between 25 and 35 inches are protected Others can be kept with a daily limit of five, but no more than two can be more than 35 inches.
“It’s going to open up quite a few blue cats to harvest,” Johnson said. “Anglers like to eat blue cats (below 25 inches),” he said. “Most blue cat fishermen release any they catch over about 10 pounds anyway.”
Marion Reservoir
It takes a lot for Johnson, who also manages Marion Reservoir, to give a fishery an “excellent” rating, but that’s how he’s graded the lake’s wiper fishery.
“They’ve been very successful in Marion and the densities are really high,” he said. “Sizes are OK, but not huge. A big one is 18 inches.” He pointed out that Marion is the only Kansas reservoir with a creel limit of five wipers per day and there is no length limit.
Marion’s walleye population will probably be down a bit from 2015, which Johnson said was a stellar year. The lake’s walleye density is good, and tests showed around 31 percent of the fish should measure more than the 18-inch minimum limit.
Marion’s channel cat population remains strong, but the white bass populations is still rebuilding after a fish kill of the species. Johnson said anglers should be able to catch whites this year, especially during the spawn. More than half of the whites were in the 12 to 15 inch range.
Johnson also said he’s “impressed” with what he saw for Marion’s crappie population. He said about 39 percent of the lake’s crappie population is 10 inches or longer.
“Guys who know where to fish for them should do really well,” he said. “Finding them can be the big thing. But the fish are there, and in good enough numbers we should have a decent spawn for fishing.”
This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 4:11 PM with the headline "Walleye, wipers thrive in local reservoirs."