Hatchery wraps up work with big surge of walleye

[Lee Borgersen]

5/4/11
Hatchery wraps up work with big surge of walleye

 
By Marshall Helmberger ......Timberjay News
 
Once the run started at the Pike River hatchery, it really started. Workers reached their quotas after just three days.  
 
The walleye egg harvest at the Pike River hatchery wrapped up quickly this year, after three big days in a row lifted the total take to just over 1,000 quarts.

"We reached our quota and then we quit taking eggs," said Hatchery Manager Duane Williams.

It marked a quick end to the egg harvest, which had just gotten underway a few days earlier. But a few milder days over the Easter weekend warmed water temperatures at the hatchery and sent a rush of walleye into the traps maintained by the DNR

The hatchery crew harvested more than 200 quarts of eggs on both Saturday and Sunday and more than 300 quarts on Monday. "It sure came fast," said Williams, who noted that each season at the hatchery seems to offer surprises. "Every year has its own peculiar way of developing," he said.

With the roughly one thousand quarts of walleye eggs in hand, the hatchery staff will manage the incubation of the eggs for about three weeks. Williams said about 80 percent of the eggs hatch in a typical year, which should produce just under 100 million walleye fry for stocking in area lakes. About 15 million of the fry will be released into Vermilion this year, with the rest distributed among a long list of other lakes in northeastern Minnesota.



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