However, an abundant alewife population has negatively impacted both walleye recruitment and angler success for walleye with only a few anglers catching an occasional large walleye. More recently, a research project looking at controlling alewife populations from a predator level resulted in the stocking of over 250,000 walleye fingerlings over a 5-year period ending in 2006. Although the desired results have not yet been achieved, these fish have reached the 18 inches (46 cm) minimum size limit and are quite abundant, but still difficult to catch.