Opinions vary on killing trophy walleyes

Should the ethical angler keep or release a trophy walleye caught in Eastern Washington waters?

That question posed in The Spokesman-Review aroused some passion from a few walleye anglers, while state fisheries biologists said it’s a non-issue.

“We already limit anglers from keeping more than one trophy-size fish a day, and that seems to be working fine to protect the big fish,” said Steve Jackson, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife warmwater fisheries manager.

“There’s plenty of reproduction in our waters. In fact, there’s too much reproduction some of them, especially in Potholes Reservoir, Moses and Sprague lakes.”

But Dave Zinecker, a tournament angler who’s been fishing for Lake Roosevelt walleyes since 1964, says the Columbia’s trophy walleyes are a treasure worth preserving.

“Since the ‘70s, we have 300 percent more people fishing for walleyes,” he said. “I’d rather see fish die of old age than to not have enough of them.

“People in Wisconsin and Minnesota can’t believe the number of trophy fish we have, but we could lose the big ones if everybody started bonking them.”

“Two years ago, from January to mid-February, I caught 30 walleyes over 10 pounds in the main river,” he said. “There’s no other place in the U.S. where you can do that. And every one of them went back into the lake.

“Every time I see a fisherman taking a big walleye I say, ‘I hope you’re mounting it.’ It would be a shame to kill those fish just to eat them. They’re a lot better to catch than they are to eat.”