By Steve Weisman
The past two weeks have been an incredibly busy and crazy time for the DNR personnel at the Spirit Lake Hatchery as the annual northern pike, musky and walleye egg collection has taken place. After last year’s pandemic limitations using only hatchery staff (instead of other DNR personnel from other parts of the state) manning two/two-person boats to collect fish, this year’s efforts have included five two-person boats, which has definitely increased the numbers and speed of collection.
Northern pike collection always begins first, since adult pike will spawn in sloughs and shallow vegetated areas around the Iowa Great Lakes. Prior to ice-out, DNR personnel placed fyke nets in the outlets of the sloughs that flow into Big Spirit Lake to start collecting northern pike.
(photo by Chris Baker)
This year the process began on March 23, which was a week earlier than last year. In three days, a total of 207 adult northern pike were collected. The fish were transported to the Spirit Lake Hatchery, and the broodstock produced more than 1.7 million eggs which were then incubated in special jars that allow fresh water to flow over the eggs, supplying oxygen.
In less than two weeks, the fry were ready to be stocked in shallow water lakes across northwest Iowa. On Thursday, April 8, a total of 500,000 northern pike fry were stocked in these waters, including Little Swan Lake north of Superior and Diamond Lake west of Spirit Lake.
According to DNR Fisheries Biologist Mike Hawkins, the pike fry are stocked in an area of the lake that has emergent vegetation, so that the fry can attach themselves to the vegetation until they are large enough to release themselves and fend on their own. At Little Swan, for instance, the fry were stocked in stands of flooded reed canary grass.
Walleye collection
(photo by Chris Baker)
What a difference a year makes. This year five two-person crews were on hand for the walleye gill netting process with a goal of collecting a total of 1,700 female walleyes. The hope is that a total of 1,087 quarts of eggs will be reached.
The first night of gill netting took place on Sunday, April 4 with one boat working the north end of East Okoboji with a total of 81 females collected. On Monday, April 5, one crew collected 24 walleyes on East Okoboji, while two boats collected 129 females on Big Spirit.
By Tuesday, April 6, the East Okoboji surface water temperature had increased to 61 degrees, which was really causing the female walleyes to ripen quickly. Meanwhile, the surface temperature on Big Spirit was at 51 degrees. DNR personnel from across the state joined the local teams and added two more boats to the fleet. A total of 64 females were collected from East Okoboji, while 339 females were collected on Big Spirit Lake. On Wednesday, April 7, a total of 43 females were taken on East Okoboji with 310 collected on Big Spirit. Thursday’s overall collection was down to 180 with 66 females taken from East Okoboji and 114 from Big Spirit. On Friday, April 9, 87 females came from East Okoboji and 92 from Big Spirit for a total of 179, while Saturday’s efforts included 33 females from East Okoboji and 80 from Big Spirit.
Following Saturday night’s efforts, a total of 1,462 females had been collected leaving 238 more to reach the 1,700 goal.
Kim Hawkins, DNR Fisheries Biologist and Spirit Lake Hatchery Manager, has been pleased with this year’s netting efforts. “One thing we really noticed was how healthy the fish are on Big Spirit. The most plentiful females were in the 22-23 inch size, and they were in really good shape.”
IGLFC Facebook Live
Unfortunately, due to COVID protocols, the general public is not able to visit the Hatchery to see the fish and the egg collection process. However, through a partnership between the Hatchery and the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club (IGLFC), everybody will be able to witness the entire process via Facebook Live on the IGLFC’s Facebook page.
According to Paul Daniels, IGLFC board member, “The club is excited to bring this opportunity to anybody who wants to tune in to the Facebook page on Thursday, April 15 at 7 p.m. We will be going live from Stan’s Bait & Tackle. It’s going to be an exciting and informative evening.”
Daniels notes that he and Chris Baker, owner of F8 Creative Marketing in Spencer spent last Wednesday night with one of the two-person crews on Big Spirit. What an opportunity for us to be there. It was awesome, and Chris and I were fortunate to be in a boat that pulled in a lot of fish. We actually got to see a 30-inch female collected.”
While on the boat, Baker took the opportunity to video what was happening. Then on Friday, April 9, Daniels and Baker spent the morning at the Hatchery watching the stripping of eggs and fertilization process.
According to Daniels, Baker was again busy videotaping all of the Hatchery activity. “Chris will be putting together a video montage of the entire process from the boats and in the hatchery. Then on Thursday night, Mike Hawkins will be on hand to narrate the video.” Again, the general public is invited to participate in this Facebook Live event.
Following the video, the IGLFC will then end the evening with the membership raffle drawings.
