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Why wintertime brings prime walleye fishing to WV

Article by John McCoy, Charleston Gazette Mail, December 18, 2016

As a fisheries biologist, Mark Scott often works with walleyes. He also likes to fish for them, and he says the winter months are an especially good time to catch large female walleyes as they get ready to spawn.

West Virginia is trying to protect its native-strain walleyes by imposing special regulations on waters where native walleyes are known to live. There’s a good reason why the words “winter” and “walleye” both begin with a “W.” The two go together like — well, come up with your own pairing. Bacon and eggs. Barbie and Ken. Scooby and Shaggy.

Winter is a great time to fish for walleyes. As soon as the weather turns cold, walleyes start moving toward their spawning grounds. Mark Scott, a fisheries biologist and avid walleye angler, said the spawning urge tends to concentrate the fish in specific areas.

“In the New River, they congregate downstream from Sandstone Falls,” he said. “On the Kanawha, you can find them below Kanawha Falls or downstream from the navigation dams. At Summersville Lake, you’ll find them in the shoals just upstream from where the Gauley River flows in.

“On the Greenbrier River, it’s the area downstream from Bacon Falls. On the Elk River, it’s the area downstream from Sutton Dam.”

Scott said walleyes sometimes swim remarkable distances to reach good spawning habitat. A recent study showed that some individuals spent their summers in the New River just upstream from Hawks Nest Lake and their winters 44 miles upstream near Sandstone Falls.

“When they’re moving, they’re more susceptible to angling,” Scott said. “They’re actively feeding, and when they get to their spawning zones you can find good numbers of them in a relatively small stretch of river.”

Wintertime water temperatures slow down the activities of bass, catfish and other warm-water species. Walleyes like the cold.

“They’re a ‘cool-water’ fish,” Scott explained. “They’re a lot like muskies in that regard. They remain active even when most of the other fish in the river aren’t.”

Scott said live bait and artificial lures both work well for walleyes. “Some guys like to troll using deep-diving plugs that bang the bottom. Some people like jerk baits or swim baits. The key is fishing slow and on the bottom. Some of the biggest walleyes caught during the winter are hooked by muskie anglers throwing big muskie-sized baits,” he added.

For bait anglers, large minnows or suckers are usually the ticket. “When you think about it, a 30-inch walleye is going to want a big bait,” Scott said. “The New River has lots of hogsuckers in it. They mass to spawn in the same areas the walleyes do. For the walleyes, it’s kind of like the buffet bar at Shoney’s.”

Anglers who target winter walleyes should carefully read the Division of Natural Resources’ regulations pamphlet and update themselves on recent changes in walleye creel limits. In 2015, the DNR adopted a watershed-based system with specific regulations for specific lakes and rivers.

“Those changes were made to protect our native-strain walleyes,” Scott explained. “Anywhere we had our native strain, we put regulations in place to restrict the take of large, spawning-age females.”

In some parts of the state, the regulations are simple: a daily creel limit of eight with no length restrictions. The special regulations are more complicated. For example:

n A 15-inch length minimum has been put into effect on the Cheat River, the Elk River upstream from Sutton Dam, the Monongahela River, the Tygart River, the West Fork River downstream from Stonewall Jackson Dam, and at Burnsville, Cheat, Stephens, Stonecoal and Tygart lakes. The creel limit on those waters is eight.

n An 18-inch minimum size limit and a two-fish-per-day creel limit are in effect for the Ohio River and for the New River between the mouth of the Gauley River and Hawks Nest dam.

n A slot limit is in effect for the Coal River, the Elk River downstream from Sutton Dam, the Greenbrier River, the Gauley River downstream from Summersville Dam, and the New River between the Virginia line and Hawks Nest Dam (except in the catch-and-release section detailed below). All walleye between 20 and 30 inches in length must be returned to the water at once. A two-fish daily creel limit is in effect, and only one of those fish can measure more than 30 inches.

n A slot limit is in effect on the Gauley River upstream from Summersville Dam, including Summersville Reservoir. All walleye between 20 and 30 inches in length must be returned to the water at once. An eight-fish daily creel limit is in effect, and only one of those fish may measure more than 30 inches.

n Catch-and-release regulations are in effect on Charles Fork and Dog Run lakes, and on the 5-mile stretch of the New River from Sandstone Falls downstream to the Meadow Creek public access site. All walleyes must be returned to the water at once. Scott said the catch-and-release regulations were put into place to protect the New River’s prime walleye spawning habitat and the two lakes where native-strain walleyes are kept to provide hatchery brood stock.