Wyoming might be known primarily for its trout fishing, but walleye are also hugely popular, and the future of the main supply of walleye, from North Dakota, could be in doubt.
To get ahead of the problem, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is looking to ramp up the production of walleye and other warm-cold water game fish species at the Dan Speas Fish Hatchery near Casper.
The Speas hatchery can produce about 100,000 to 125,000 walleye each year. To meet anglers’ demand, it would take roughly a million walleye per year, Game and Fish Fisheries Division Chief Alan Osterland told Cowboy State Daily.
Patrick Edwards, an avid walleye angler who lives north of Riverton, said he supports efforts to increase in-state production.
“If you look at the trends, nationally, walleye fishing is on fire,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
“It’s good that they are talking about putting in the infrastructure to raise them here, because we’re going to need them,” he added.
Walleye are raised in specialized tanks at the Dan Speas Fish Hatchery near Casper. (Courtesy Wyoming Game and Fish Department) 
Walleye are raised in specialized tanks at the Dan Speas Fish Hatchery near Casper. (Courtesy Wyoming Game and Fish Department)
North Dakota Supply Under Threat?
Game and Fish gets about 1.5 million fish, including walleye, each year through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery in North Dakota.
But there’s a looming threat from invasive zebra mussels, which have been moving up the Missouri River system, toward the hatchery, Osterland said.
If the waters there become infested with zebra mussels, Wyoming likely couldn’t accept fish from there, for fear of spreading the infestation here.
It’s not certain when that might happen, but it could be within the next few years, Osterland said.
Expansion Planned At Speas
Meanwhile, there are plans to expand the Speas hatchery, to ramp up the production of walleye, as well as sauger, channel catfish, black crappie, white crappie, tiger muskies and largemouth bass.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission set aside $17.5 million for the project, and the engineering study and design phases are done, Osterland said.
The total budget might come in at $23.5 million, so the Game and Fish Commission might have to authorize more funds, after being presented with preliminary bids.
“We’re hoping that the final bid will come in lower than that ($23.5 million),” Osterland said.
The good news is there’s ample room at Speas for the expansion, so a project there should be far less expensive than it would be to build a new facility from the ground up, he added.
Glendo Reservoir is the only place in Wyoming where walleye population replenishes itself through natural spawning, Osterland said.
They must be stocked elsewhere.
Open ponds won’t work for hatchery production in Wyoming, they must be hatched in tanks here.
Along with Glendo, some other popular walleye fisheries include Boysen Reservoir, Ocean Lake, Keyhole Reservoir and Seminoe Reservoir.
There are walleye in Buffalo Bill Reservoir near Cody, but Game and Fish doesn’t want them there; it’s a premier natural spawning place for trout, Osterland said.
Walleye are native to the Midwest. It’s thought that they first appeared in Wyoming through the Platte River system, he said.
It’s not certain when that happened, or whether walleye reached the Platte system on their own or were transplanted there, he added.
Anglers Wild About Walleye
Rick Klaproth of Riverton told Cowboy State Daily that there’s few things he loves more than walleye fishing.
Part of the reason he moved to Fremont County from the Cody area was to be near the walleye fishery in Boysen Reservoir.
Boysen’s reputation for walleye stretches far and wide, he said.
There will be license plates from several states in the boat ramp parking lot when the fishing is hot, Klaproth said.
“Sometimes, during the summer, there’s so many people there, you can hardly get your boat into the water,” he said.
Walleye typically aren’t hard fighters, like trout. But they can be difficult to find, he said.
“They’re an elusive fish,” he said.
Edwards agreed that finding the fish makes angling for walleye a fun challenge.
“You have to be nimble as an angler. You have to be willing to move, and you have to be willing to change what you use to catch them,” he said.
Jigs, crankbait and live bait are some of the popular options he said.
Walleye are incredibly tasty, he added.
“They are such great table fare. You can’t beat a walleye fish taco,” Edwards said.
Klaproth said to keep the population robust, it’s best to keep walleye in the 15 to 20-inch range.
Smaller fish should be tossed back, so they can grow. And the larger ones should be tossed back, in case they might start spawning, he said.
I know people who have fished there (at Boysen) a lot longer than I have. And they’ve never caught a 29-inch walleye. But if they ever do, they’re throw it back, and I think that’s how it should be,” he said.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
