Walleye Lottery Offers Cash Prizes, Gets Anglers Involved in New Fish and Game Research Program
OutdoorHub Reporters 02.26.19
If the taste of fresh walleye fillets isn’t enticing enough, anglers will have added motivation to catch and keep walleye in Lake Pend Oreille and other connected Idaho waters with the introduction of the Idaho Walleye Lottery.
Beginning March 1, an experimental program launched by Idaho Fish and Game and Avista will offer a chance at cash rewards for anglers harvesting walleye marked with a special tag. According to a news release from IDFG, fifty walleye in Lake Pend Oreille, the Clark Fork River and the Pend Oreille River have been “injected in the snout with a tiny, internal tag.”
Anglers will not be able to see the tags, however turning in heads from LEGALLY CAUGHT walleye qualifies for a chance at two types of cash rewards. Anglers will receive $1,000 for a head from a tagged walleye, while each walleye head turned in enters anglers in the monthly drawing for ten cash prizes of $100 each.
There is no bag limit on walleye in the Pend Oreille system. For rules and entry details visit Fish and Game’s Lake Pend Oreille Angler Incentive Program website or any of the following fish head freezer locations:
- MacDonald’s Hudson Bay Resort, 17813 E Hudson Bay Rd, Bayview
- Fish & Game Field Office, 16805 Limekiln Rd, Bayview
- Garfield Bay Boat Launch, 61 W Garfield Bay Rd, Sagle
- Glengary Boat Launch, Marina Rd, Sagle
- Peck Landscape Supplies & Farm Store, 468215 Hwy 95, Sagle
- North 40, 477181 N Hwy 95, Ponderay
- Arnie’s Conoco, 32131 Hwy 200, Kootenai
- Holiday Shores Resort and Cafe, 46624 Hwy 200, Hope
- Hope Marine, 47392 Hwy 200, Hope
- Bonner Park West, 500 Railroad Ave, Priest River
- Fish & Game Regional Office, 2885 W Kathleen Ave, Coeur d’Alene (weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
General Information
- Please bag walleye and lake trout heads separately. Do not combine species in one bag.
- The entire head along with a completed data slip (available at freezer locations) must be bagged and deposited into marked freezers for inclusion in the program
- Multiple heads from the same species may be submitted in the same bag with one data slip as long as all fish were caught during the same month.
- The number of fish harvested, by location, must be clearly recorded on the data slip. In the case where the number of fish reported on the data slip does not agree with the number of heads submitted, the number of actual heads in the bag will be used to determine the number of entries to the program.
- Data slips must be completely filled out and signed to be valid.
- Please use pencil when filling out slips, as ink will not adhere to the waterproof paper.
- There is no bag limit on walleye or lake trout in Lake Pend Oreille.
Due to their rapid reproduction rates, and ability to survive in a variety of both lake and stream environments, walleye are very effective “invaders.”
“Walleye have dramatically changed fish communities in the western United States,” IDFG claims. “Canyon Ferry Reservoir in Montana provides a cautionary look at how walleye can eat themselves out of house and home. Illegally introduced in the 1980’s, walleye depleted the prey base in the reservoir, collapsing perch, rainbow trout, and white sucker populations over the next decade. Following the loss of prey, walleye condition and size dropped. Ultimately, angler satisfaction in the entire fishery declined due to walleye.”
The silver lining here is that walleye just so happen to be one of the best tasting freshwater fish you could catch. So, no matter what you’ll likely have all the fixings for a tasty shore lunch at the end of the day!
