Otisco Lake Fall Walleye Survey (2008)
Survey Number: 708038
Survey Date: October 2, 2008
Abstract
Fall night electrofishing was conducted along the eastern shoreline of Otisco Lake, south of the causeway, to determine the relative success of the 2008 stocking of 45,000 pond fingerling walleye. A total of 203 Young-of-Year (YOY) walleye were captured in only 0.74 miles of shoreline sampled. The number of YOY walleye captured is the highest we have seen to date. The high number of YOY walleye observed indicates that survival of stocked fish was exceptional in 2008. Applying Serns' 1982 formula for estimating numbers of YOY walleye provides a population estimate of 20,772 in the south end of the lake below the causeway. This is obviously a very rough estimate since it is based on only one sampling run but it does provide a number to calculate a survival rate (46%). Growth of YOY walleye was also very good with their mean length being 190mm (range: 151 - 225).
Since no walleye stocking occurred in 2007, it is not surprising that no yearling walleye were captured during the sampling effort. However, the lack of 2-year old or older is a little surprising since the 2006 year-class of stocked walleye had been well represented during the October 2006 sampling event. Still the lack of these or any other older walleye is no reason for concern since larger walleye tend to be poorly represented during fall, near-shore electrofishing efforts. Furthermore, it is likely that many of the 2006 year-class walleyes have moved north through the causeway and into the main lake, where sampling did not occur.
