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Fort Peck
Fishing
with Bernie Hildebrand
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Phone: (406) 234-6342 E-mail: Bernie@MidRivers.com
Bernie's Fort Peck catch statistics
The following are my fishing results for walleye in 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001 listed for comparison.
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Year |
2010 |
2009 |
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 |
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Number of fish > 1 pound |
366 |
298 |
239 | 198 | 95 | 124 | 104 | 143 | 110 | 109 |
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Number of fish < 1 pound |
413 |
204 |
222 |
170 | 91 | | | | | | |
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Total in pounds |
688 |
595 |
545 | 635 | 443 | 427 | 523 | 573 | 454 | 393 |
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Average in pounds |
1.88 |
2.00 |
2.20 |
3.21 | 4.66 | 3.44 | 5.03 | 4.01 | 4.13 | 3.61 |
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Hours |
440 |
380 |
411 |
410 |
375 | 377 | 409 | 373 | 416 | 362 |
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Fish/hour |
.83 |
.78 |
.58 |
.48 |
.25 | .33 | .25 | .38 | .26 | .30 |
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10-pound-plus |
6 |
6 |
9 |
18 |
15 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 8 | 8 |
For 2009 several things stick out. The number of walleyes over 1 pound is the highest of any year since I have been keeping track. The walleyes under 1 pound is the second highest year. Walleyes per hour is also the highest of any year since I have been keeping records. The number of 10 plus walleyes is the lowest since I have been keeping records.
So what does all this mean? This year I asked allot of the clients whether they wanted to catch allot of walleyes or catch fewer walleyes but bigger ones. To my surprise most of the people want to catch a lot of walleyes over the chance of a big walleye. Because of their answers, we fished by pitching jigs instead of trolling crankbaits. Pitching jigs favors a lot of small walleyes( 10” to 22”) while trolling favors bigger walleyes ( over 5 pounds), but fewer walleyes.
A side benefit of pitching jigs is we caught 23 smallmouth bass that were over 3 pounds and four of these were over 4 pounds. Several days we were catching 12 to 15 smallmouth bass and 2 or 3 days over 50 walleyes were caught during the day.
The raising water levels, of the last two year, is going to pay dividends in the future. Hopefully, the water level will raise again next year.
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR FISHING ! ! !
Check out the latest Fort Peck water levels on WalleyesForever.com's Fort Peck Reservoir elevations chart page.
Check out some of our recent catches in our Photo gallery.
Good luck in your fishing. -- Bernie.
If you have any questions about fishing or are interested in booking a trip,
contact us at (406) 234-6342 or send me an e-mail at: Bernie@MidRivers.com.
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