PIKE RIVER HATCHERY— A late start usually means a quick end to the walleye egg harvest and that was certainly the case this year as DNR fisheries staff here wrapped up their work in just five days.
The cool April weather made for persistent ice and slowed the increase in water temperatures that typically spur the spring walleye run. As the fisheries staff grew tired of waiting, they had to break and cut ice with a chain saw last week to get the nets in place. “We dropped the nets on April 21 and started taking eggs that Wednesday,” said Brent Flaten, hatchery manager.
Sunny and warm temperatures last Saturday helped push water temperatures to 46 degrees, said Flaten, and that seemed to spark quicker ripening of the walleye eggs. The longer daylength likely also contributed to the walleye run.
Hatchery staff collected nearly 600 quarts of eggs during the five days, slightly above their quota of 550 quarts. The vast majority of those eggs will be hatched into fry, at which point they’ll be used for stocking dozens of lakes within the Hudson Bay drainage. The largest percentage will be returned to Lake Vermilion.
A few fry will be directed to rearing ponds in southern Minnesota for stocking in lakes that see better success with fingerlings.