Evaluation of Length and Bag Limits for Walleyes in Meredith Reservoir, Texas

Abstract

A 407-mm minimum length limit and a 10-fish daily bag limit were imposed in September 1987 on walleyes Stizostedion vitreum in Meredith Reservoir, Texas. The daily bag limit was reduced to 5 fish in September 1988. We studied the effects of the 407-mm minimum length limit on walleye recruitment, growth, population structure, and angler catch and harvest from 1988 to 1996, and compared the effects with 1984–1987 preregulation data. The effect of a change in bag limit on angler harvest was analyzed from 1985 to 1996. There was no change in recruitment of walleyes less than 305 mm total length. Growth of age-1 to age-5 walleyes declined, but walleyes continued to reach legal size by age 4. The length limit appears to have increased both total abundance and the abundance of legal-size walleyes. Walleye population structure indices did not change. Total angler catch rate of walleyes increased from a preregulation average of 0.068 walleye/h to a postregulation average of 0.323 walleye/h. Harvest rate and yield both increased, but the change was not significant. No change in mean bag size per party was detected. In Meredith Reservoir, the 407-mm minimum length limit appears to have been successful in building walleye stocks, increasing the density of legal-size fish, and improving angler catch rates without adversely affecting harvest and yield. A negative effect of the minimum length limit was a slight decline in growth of walleyes. Changes in the walleye daily bag limit had no significant impact on angler harvest.