CrappiePro,

Here are some numbers from 2008 to 2010 for NE Arkansas. Walleye are stocked in other water bodies around the state but I don’t have first hand knowledge of the numbers.

Current River:
2008 - Fingerlings - 23,720 fish
2009 - Fingerlings - 24,500 fish
2009 - Catchable - 24,250 fish

11-Point River:
2008 - Fingerlings - 44,800 fish
2009 - Fingerlings - 33,330 fish
2010 - Fingerlings - 43,341 fish
2009 - Fry - 12,113 fish

Spring River:
2009 - Fingerlings - 38,332 fish
2010 - Fingerlings - 16,000 fish

Also in the early 2000's, there was an intense study conducted on the 11-Point River to evaluate the walleye stocking in this river. It looked at whether the stocked walleye contributed to the overall population in the river.

Shortly after that, the walleye population in Spring River was evaluated during an intense three study looking at the sport fish population in the river. We are currently finishing up a study on the Strawberry River and we have seen plenty of walleye there. Next year, we are going to start back on the 11 point river for three years.

The problem with stocking walleye is growing them in a hatchery system. When walleye reach a certain size, they exhibit a high rate of cannibalism. So what you end up with is very few large fingerings. To reduce cannibalism, walleye are stocked at a little smaller size compared to other sport fish. Thus stocking smaller fingerlings means lower survival rates. Currently the Spring River Hatchery is conducting a study to utilize different grow out techniques to increase size of walleye stocked by reducing the cannibalism. This will increase the survival rates of walleye stocked in these fisheries.

There is some work occurring on the walleye population in cold water streams. However, the information may not always get out to the public like it should. We are consistently working on getting information out by utilizing forums like this one.

I hope this helps.