Age this walleye

[JohnB]

What is your thought on the age of this walleye. Length was 45cm.

[Penner]

Originally Posted by JohnB

What is your thought on the age of this walleye. Length was 45cm.

Pic was blurry for me. I’ll say 7 years.

[Drewski Canuck]

Looks like 5 age rings, so 6 - 7 years old sounds about right.

Huge difference between the south and north of Alberta for growth rates, as well as the problem with food abundance in the water body.

This length does sit right for a fish to have spawned a couple of times at the point it was caught (4 - 5 years to spawning maturity) as the whole idea is recruitment and replacement before harvest.

Nothing wrong with taking that size of fish, as they are usually the most plentiful in the lake. The big ones pass on the best genetics and the most eggs in successive years, keeping the lake in the age structure for a healthy population.

All the same, at a certain point the viability of the eggs declines, so there should be a tag system for taking out some of the bigger fish (8 - 10 pounds??) as they eventually do die anyways.

Drewski

[JohnB]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaL7fXZTmIw

Sorry if the photo was blurring. Might be clearer when I'm looking at it. I was thinking fish was going into it's 9th year. But I might not be reading it right.

[cube]

Originally Posted by JohnB

What is your thought on the age of this walleye. Length was 45cm.

looks to be 9 years to me.

Would be clearer if you toasted it a bit I think.

[cube]

Originally Posted by cube

looks to be 9 years to me.

Would be clearer if you toasted it a bit I think.

Forgot to mention it looks like it is stunting. ie too many fish not enough food/fish as the last numbers of years show very little growth.

If you know the length and weight you should be able to look that up on a chart.

[Hoopi]

Hi: Back in the day, I did this for an entire winter, at the St Paul Fish and Wildlife office.

I will guess 10 years. IMO, the first couple year's are hidden in the front.

Hoopi

[superuke]

See attached size age chart.
45 CM 8-9 years old

[JohnB]

Here is another I caught from another lake. How old is this one? I'm getting 10.

[CaveClown]

I got 9 but I am still learning so might of missed a very tiny line someplace

[FlyTheory]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Here is another I caught from another lake. How old is this one? I'm getting 10.

Some of those that you're counting are false annuli, and actually are just seasonal growth! You can see how much it grows in the first two years of life.
I got ~7 years for the post I'm replying to.

[trigger7mm]

Yep, 7.

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by FlyTheory

Some of those that you're counting are false annuli, and actually are just seasonal growth! You can see how much it grows in the first two years of life.
I got ~7 years for the post I'm replying to.

I wasn't sure on the first two. This fish was 62cm and 4#13oz. Must have some good feed in the lake.