I spent about 45 minutes on September 5, 2024, visiting with the fisheries biologist in Lander that is in charge of Boysen Reservoir. I think his name is Zach. He stated the number of walleyes in Boysen is higher than it has been in many years. That has been my experience all summer. Friends of mine who work for the park maintaining fish cleaning stations tell me people are catching a lot of walleyes. I asked Zach about the fishing pressure, and he told me there are so many fish in the 12-14-inch range that fishing pressure makes little to no difference. We also visited about the massive numbers of suspended walleye. I have fished for suspended walleye in Boysen for decades and the biologists don't feel the Kokes have displaced walleye. Your experience might be different based on actual fishing. The main reason I visited with Zach was to discuss the Kokanee population. There have been very few Kokes caught out of Boysen. When the walleye survey was conducted, the biologist checks the stomach samples. Very few Kokes were found in walleye stomachs. However, the walleyes have taken a toll on the rainbow, perch, and crappie. The status of the salmon is a mystery and the game and fish is doing their Kokanee sampling this week. They are not sure if the water conditions at Boysen are just not conducive the Kokes. They should have some answers next week.
Hi @ronaldankeny! Thank you so much for replying and for watching the show. It means a lot! I too have visited with some of the biologists in Lander. The small "cigar" sized fish are definitely prominent in the reservoir. We caught a lot of 12-14" walleye all season and threw them back. I also visit with the state parks folks and Boysen over the past few years has had very strong angler pressure. More than in years past. I think that recruitment of smaller fish is in really good shape but the ones people come to Boysen for, the bigger eater fish are down a bit. At least, compared to what I normally catch. Keep in mind what I said at the beginning, this is a very subjective list. Also, keep in mind my angling techniques are changing all the time as I experiment with other baits and tactics. My average walleye that I catch in Boysen is down. It used to be much more in the 17-18" class and now I am consistently catching the 12-14" and the occasional big one or decent one. When I took Jim Zumbo, we caught some smaller fish and then a 29" and then back to smalls. We eventually put together a decent limit but we had to weed through a lot of babies. As far as the suspended fish goes, we have always caught walleyes in open water too, but the frequency is much higher. I think this year it was also higher because the water never did make it up to the depth it was last season where it floods a lot more brush and draws fish in. I have caught many walleye with Kokanee smolt in their stomachs and they even throw them p in my boat. So, I know they are working them over pretty hard. I think this MAY affect shore anglers more than anyone else if they aren't adjacent to where the Kokanee are more than the guys like me in a boat. For that reason, and the small sizes, I dropped my ranking down a bit. I still firmly believe Boysen has the biggest fish in the state. I always have thoughts that Seminoe and Boysen will be king for big walleyes in Wyoming. Again, thanks so much for your thoughtful response and for watching! I appreciate it :).
In waters of less than 20 ft I love a balanced leech pattern on my 6 or 7 WT fly rod for walleye. Maybe I can get Ed Gifford to come with me to WY this next year. We are missing you in Arizona right now.
That's great! I have never seen one even CLOSE to that size: I've only ever caught a few in the rivers of Four Corners Colorado. Some HUGE brown and rainbows, though! Thanks
The lake I fish in is always murky green. It never gets muddy. My thoughts on using darker colors is it doesn’t matter how stained or muddy the water is you would still use darker colors. If the water is clear you would use natural colors. How clear is clear water? What is the range of sight to be considered clear of stained?
I’d say you’d have to experiment and see what works best for you. When we say clear, it means being able to see significantly down into the water. Stained water that is very murky, you can’t see down into.
