04-11-2019, 03:49 PM
[#0000FF]I asked Chris Penne (DWR) about the status and results of the annual walleye egg-taking at Willard. Here is his reply. Thanks Chris.[/#0000FF]
"The walleye spawn has been really good. We're sitting at around 20-22 million eggs collected. We don't really have a target number of eggs anymore due the fact that how many eggs we need is ultimately determined by what the hatch rate is on the eggs we collect and how many 100% triploid lots we produce for the waters in the Colorado River drainage. With the 20-22 million eggs, we're in a pretty good place and are starting to wind down our operations. We're seeing less fish in our nets now and more bycatch, so it's a good time to wind down. Judging by fish numbers and condition, we're definitely on a downward trend now on the spawn and I'm thinking there's about 1.5 weeks left to the walleye spawning activity.
We had more walleye per net this year and the fish were the fattest that we've seen them. Fatter fish meant more eggs and milt per fish and more efficiency, which was a great thing as we have had to cancel a lot of days of netting this year due to all the wind and storms.
Also, Willard just got stocked this week with its first batch of fry. That stocking was about 300-400K fish. More fish will be stocked in the coming weeks as the other lots hatch. We've got a quota of 1,000,000 fry and should have no problems getting those produced and stocked.
As for the Willard report - we're still behind on it and it won't have any more opportunities to work on it until the spawn is over, so it may still be a while.
Chris
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"The walleye spawn has been really good. We're sitting at around 20-22 million eggs collected. We don't really have a target number of eggs anymore due the fact that how many eggs we need is ultimately determined by what the hatch rate is on the eggs we collect and how many 100% triploid lots we produce for the waters in the Colorado River drainage. With the 20-22 million eggs, we're in a pretty good place and are starting to wind down our operations. We're seeing less fish in our nets now and more bycatch, so it's a good time to wind down. Judging by fish numbers and condition, we're definitely on a downward trend now on the spawn and I'm thinking there's about 1.5 weeks left to the walleye spawning activity.
We had more walleye per net this year and the fish were the fattest that we've seen them. Fatter fish meant more eggs and milt per fish and more efficiency, which was a great thing as we have had to cancel a lot of days of netting this year due to all the wind and storms.
Also, Willard just got stocked this week with its first batch of fry. That stocking was about 300-400K fish. More fish will be stocked in the coming weeks as the other lots hatch. We've got a quota of 1,000,000 fry and should have no problems getting those produced and stocked.
As for the Willard report - we're still behind on it and it won't have any more opportunities to work on it until the spawn is over, so it may still be a while.
Chris
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] maybe you can ask him this question. There was a article in the Standard Examiner on Sunday about the DWR planting sterile walleye in Willard, can you ask Chris to confirm this or deny this? Here is a pic of that article.
d.