04-27-2005, 09:48 PM
[size 2]Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery
Broodstock Collection Notes
Week of April 18, 2005
Hackettstown Hatchery broodstock collection operations for 2005 concluded for the year on April 22 when the hatchery crew pulled its trap nets from Echo Lake Reservoir in Passaic County. In ten days of trap netting on Echo, 11 adult muskellunge (five males and six females)
were collected and transported to the hatchery for spawning. The
muskies ranged from 34 to 49 inches in length and weighed between 9 and 29 pounds. Water temperatures during the 10 days of broodstock collection in Echo Lake Reservoir ranged from 44 to 62 degrees.
Other fish captured in Echo Lake trap nets included 973 yellow perch, 550 landlocked alewife, 386 black crappie, 212 bluegills, 93 pumpkinseed sunfish, 32 chain pickerel, 12 smallmouth bass, 16 golden shiners, five rock bass and two juvenile muskellunge. Black crappies from Echo Lake were of exceptional size, some measuring as large as 15 inches in total length. Smallmouth Bass ranged from 12 to 18 inches and chain pickerel from 16 to 24 inches. All non-target fish were released immediately back into the reservoir. Adult muskellunge were transported to the Hackettstown Hatchery where they will be spawned and returned to the lake in one to three weeks.
Trap nets and other collection equipment will be maintained, repaired and put away until the next broodstock collection season; however, at the Hackettstown Hatchery, the work has just begun. Eggs collected from broodstock are incubated in hatching jars and once hatched, are raised in hatchery tanks and ponds until they are large enough to be stocked in lakes throughout the state. A summary of the broodstock collection activities for 2005 will appear on the Division's Web site at
[/size][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/www.njfishandwildlife.com"][#0000ff][size 2]www.njfishandwildlife.com[/size][/#0000ff][/url][size 2] within the next few weeks. [/size]
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Broodstock Collection Notes
Week of April 18, 2005
Hackettstown Hatchery broodstock collection operations for 2005 concluded for the year on April 22 when the hatchery crew pulled its trap nets from Echo Lake Reservoir in Passaic County. In ten days of trap netting on Echo, 11 adult muskellunge (five males and six females)
were collected and transported to the hatchery for spawning. The
muskies ranged from 34 to 49 inches in length and weighed between 9 and 29 pounds. Water temperatures during the 10 days of broodstock collection in Echo Lake Reservoir ranged from 44 to 62 degrees.
Other fish captured in Echo Lake trap nets included 973 yellow perch, 550 landlocked alewife, 386 black crappie, 212 bluegills, 93 pumpkinseed sunfish, 32 chain pickerel, 12 smallmouth bass, 16 golden shiners, five rock bass and two juvenile muskellunge. Black crappies from Echo Lake were of exceptional size, some measuring as large as 15 inches in total length. Smallmouth Bass ranged from 12 to 18 inches and chain pickerel from 16 to 24 inches. All non-target fish were released immediately back into the reservoir. Adult muskellunge were transported to the Hackettstown Hatchery where they will be spawned and returned to the lake in one to three weeks.
Trap nets and other collection equipment will be maintained, repaired and put away until the next broodstock collection season; however, at the Hackettstown Hatchery, the work has just begun. Eggs collected from broodstock are incubated in hatching jars and once hatched, are raised in hatchery tanks and ponds until they are large enough to be stocked in lakes throughout the state. A summary of the broodstock collection activities for 2005 will appear on the Division's Web site at
[/size][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/www.njfishandwildlife.com"][#0000ff][size 2]www.njfishandwildlife.com[/size][/#0000ff][/url][size 2] within the next few weeks. [/size]
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