Burley McCoy

Both of these things help you find fish.

Does it look like it's still there?

A bluegill, yeah.

Not a walleye.

Zax's bluegill are a warm water fish and one that will probably do better in waters like these as climate change continues.

So I take the fishing pole, give it a try.

Also a warm water fish, actually.

And now, as an avid ice fisher, I'm always looking for reasons why I'm not catching the fish that I want to catch.

So I asked Zach if changing ice from year to year could be the reason we're not seeing walleye today.

Yeah, often thousands to keep up their numbers.

It's done for conservation and for people like me who like to fish.

And it happens in a ton of places, including the lake I fish in the winter.

Now, Zach says the question becomes, when do people stop stocking if a lot of those fish are just going to die?

Right.

Like, if ice keeps shifting rapidly and significantly knocking down walleye populations...

How long should people continue adding them back?

And maybe, for example, switch to supporting warm water fish that people like to catch that would thrive in these warmer waters.

cold favorites yeah he says through surveys he's found people have definitely noticed a change in lake ice

which is a big first step to get people to think about then how to make changes.

Yeah, that's so true.