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WALLEYE SPAWN MEANS
MORE THAN FISHING
KDWP biologists now taking
eggs for hatcheries
PRATT -March 23, 2005- One of Kansas' most popular angling opportunities
is just around the corner as walleye move into shallow, rocky
areas - usually along the face of dams - to spawn. As waters
warm and days grow longer, walleyes abandon deep water and migrate
to these spawning beds. This can be one of the best times to
catch this tasty fish.
This is also the time when Kansas
Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) biologists begin the
work that makes fishing for these fish possible. This year, KDWP
fisheries biologists have placed nets at four Kansas reservoirs
- Kirwin, Milford, Hillsdale, and Marion - to catch spawning
females that provide eggs for the department's walleye hatching
program. Biologists will work night and day for the next few
weeks collecting walleye eggs that eventually bring this popular
sportfish to lakes throughout the state.
Because fewer than 5 percent
of eggs normally hatch in the wild, artificial spawning and hatching
are widely practiced and increase egg survival rates to as much
as 40-50 percent. When eggs reach the hatchery, biologists monitor
incubation closely. Water flows are checked to ensure constant
but controlled movement. Water temperatures and oxygen content
are also routinely checked. Dead eggs rise to the top of the
jars and are siphoned off each day. At 60 degrees, hatching generally
occurs on the eighth or ninth day of incubation.
As the fry break out of their
egg cases, they swim and are carried upward by the water into
large circular holding tanks where they are held for two to four
days. Then, they are ready for stocking.
Some fry are stocked in hatchery ponds to be raised to fingerling
size and stocked later in the summer. Others are stocked directly
into lakes as fry. Whatever the case, this often unseen work
means fish in the frying pan for Kansas anglers.
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