(Photo submitted) Captured muskie being returned to West Okoboji.

By Steve Weisman

On Thursday, November 8, I attended the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club’s annual fall club meeting at Godfather’s Pizza in Spencer. Designated as DNR Night, fisheries biologists, district law enforcement and local conservation officers spent the evening giving the 100 or so members updates on their areas of expertise. One of the ones I found to be especially interesting…the movements of muskies in the Iowa Great Lakes. Jonathan Meerbeek, DNR Fisheries Research Biologist and his technicians have spent the past several years tagging and following the movements of newly stocked muskies and a handful of adult muskies. Although we’ve known before that muskies move around, what Meerbeek found this past summer was totally amazing.

Meerbeek knew they were losing some muskies out of the Iowa Great Lakes going out of Lower Gar into Mill Creek, but get a look at these statistics. As a matter of fact, in 2017, they electro shocked below the overflow and recaptured 23 muskies that had left the lakes. Their size was 28.5 inches to 48 inches. Data also shows that muskies move downstream and leave the lakes at all times of the year and can get over the barrier in as little as 3.5 inches of water.

This year’s high water gave muskies even more opportunity to leave. A total of 56 adult muskies were captured below Lower Gar in Mill Creek and put back into areas as far away as Emerson Bay on West Okoboji. Yet, some ended up right back down to the overflow.

What’s the answer?

Well, the plan is to put a cable 20 feet on the upstream side that would emit an electric charge into the water with the idea of keeping the muskies in the lake rather than losing them downstream. With DNR budgets tight and no extra money for $2,000 project, where will the money come from.

Stan’s Bait and Tackle, located on the north edge of Milford, and the Iowa Great Lakes Fishing Club (IGLFC) are partnering on the project. According to Terry Thomsen, IGLFIC president, “Last spring Dennis and Travis Harmon, owners of Stan’s Bait and Tackle, sponsored the walleye opener’s big walleye category. With the money that anglers paid to enter, they donated that money ($1340) to the IGFC. The board members think that the Lower Gar muskie project is a good place to put this money. As a board, we will donate up to $660 additional dollars to help complete the project.”

The hope is that once the electric charge is going that the muskies will turn back and stay in the lakes. The DNR will monitor the situation and assess whether the charge is working and if not, what next steps need to take place.

(Photo submitted) DNR workers capturing adult muskies in Mill Creek.