ABSTRACT: Each year, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) invests significant resources to support its walleye fishery. Determining the success of stocking activities is imperative, but collection of broodstock for hatchery production dominates the appropriate timeframe for sampling and population monitoring, thus only a handful of the stocked waterbodies are ever surveyed. Creel surveys are conducted at a limited number of fisheries. From 2022 to 2024, Iowa DNR partnered with MyCatch, an app-based tournament platform, to conduct a state wide catch-photo-release fishing tournament to determine if angler reported data could provide a reasonable overview of walleye catch rates and length distributions for waterbodies across the state. Sampling survey data were used as a benchmark to evaluate similarity to angler derived data, and initial comparisons were promising but limited. Results from 2022-2024 will be addressed. Scientifically, if angler reported catches are consistent with the standardize sampling and/or creel surveys, it could provide a new, cost-effective way to develop a state-wide assessment of the walleye populations. Identifying locations where stocking success/failure occur, and resilient populations persist, will allow more effective allocations of limited hatchery resources.
