Iowa Walleye Challenge

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BigAl
Posts: 148
Joined: March 16th, 2010, 10:41 pm
Location: Waterloo

Iowa Walleye Challenge

Post by BigAl »

I received the following from Jeff Kopaska with the DNR encouraging our Club anglers to also participate in the Iowa Walleye Challenge:


Iowa Walleye Challenge - Stand Alone Flier.jpg
Iowa Walleye Challenge - Stand Alone Flier.jpg (229.71 KiB) Viewed 285 times
The information I am sending today is a suggestion that you/your anglers can take credit for their catches while they are out fishing anyway. Iowa DNR has no issue with anglers "double dipping", competing in a location-based walleye tournament while also participating in this virtual statewide event simultaneously. Specifically for you folks, Iowa DNR has some systems we are quite interested in getting more catch data from, such as Lost Grove, Pleasant Creek, Easter Lake, Badger Creek, Little River and the Creston area lakes (3 Mile, 12 Mile and Green Valley).

A trial run of this event occurred in 2022, and anglers caught over 2000 walleyes at 41 different locations in Iowa, and collected $5000 in prizes. More information about the 2023 event can be found here:
https://www.anglersatlas.com/event/680/ ... lenge-2023

A couple of brief notes:
- To participate, the cost is $25 total for a 9 week tournament, and anglers download and install the MyCatch app for use during the tournament. Over $6000 in weekly, overall, and specific location prizes will be awarded.
- Cheating is not an issue, anglers take a photo of the fish they catch, on a ruler, via the app, which notes the time and location of the catch. People can't use the photo of the monster they caught back in '19.
- Secret spots stay secret, that information stays with the company running the app. Iowa DNR staff will be made aware of the size of the fish caught, and the water body, to use in population assessments, but no specific location details. No other anglers can see your secret spots either.

Iowa DNR intends to use the data collected to improve the management decisions we make regarding our walleye fisheries, such as altering stocking strategies to improve the quality of populations where necessary. We are also working with local partners for local prizes (and we are looking for more partners). Current local prizes currently total in excess of $1000 (in addition to the $5000 weekly and overall prizes) and include:

Sportsman's Warehouse in Des Moines, Biggest Walleye at Big Creek Lake,
JAX in Ames for biggest & most walleyes caught in Boone & Story Counties
Adams County Conservation biggest walleye at Lake Icaria
Lakeside Supplies by Corning for most walleyes at Lake Icaria
CRANDIC for biggest and most walleyes caught at Lake Macbride
Mak's Bait Shack (Dubuque), Ego Cooler for most walleyes in Pools 10 & 11
Bass Pro (Altoona), a local central Iowa site yet to be determined
Kwik Star, $50 gift card for the individual who catches a walleye in the most lakes/rivers in Iowa
Fleet Farm is also on board to sponsor, with more details yet to be finalized

What I am asking of you today is to consider entering this event yourself, and also to share this information with the folks who participate in your tournaments. There are "hard luck" prizes every week, so even if you go fishing and don't catch any walleyes, you still win (you went fishing), and you can still win prizes! If you have a social media presence, we would love to partner with you to put some information out about this event. Please reach out to me (email or phone) with any questions you may have. Iowa DNR very much appreciates your help with this endeavor, we know we cannot achieve our goals without the support of great folks like you. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Jeff Kopaska

PS - while the walleye tournament says it is Catch-Photo-Release, there is no legal requirement to release walleyes caught during this virtual tournament. Walleyes caught can be possessed in accordance with posted length limits and bag limits.

JEFF KOPASKA • BIOMETRICIAN
Fisheries Bureau, Research Section
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
c 515-204-8021

Boone Wildlife Research Station
1436 255th St, Boone, IA 50036
Al Dietz
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