Walleye Stripping Operations

[schweady]

Are they harvesting walleye eggs at the Pleasure Park or Walker Lake locations yet? (Or did they close down the Pleasure Park operation site, I forget.) It's always a good time to go down and take a look at the big ones. Isn't the stripping usually done in the morning? I've got some pictures from a few years back, but was in the afternoon and nobody around, just the pigs and eager little males sorted into their pens with their noses stuck into the upstream netting. Quite a sight, nonetheless. True sign of spring.

[DEADhead]

I would assume they're harvesting eggs down at Walker, since they started harvesting up in DL this week. Call Fergus Falls Fisheries if you need more info. 218-739-7576

[deacon]

Walker harvest is on, if you want to see lots of walleyes and big fish now is time. Spawn would normally last 2 weeks or so but with 60 degree weather it should go fast. They strip the walleyes until they have their quota and then shut down.

[schweady]

I went down and watched the operation this morning. There were a couple of busloads of students from DL and Fergus being given tours, and they let us come out onto the docks a few at a time during stripping. So, it was a little later when they got going. The whole thing went on from about 10:00 to 11:00... about an hour later than usual, I guess. They had set up and started on Thursday the 19th, but said that first day's run was quite heavy and they probably could have set up a bit earlier. They didn't think they'd be working much longer than this week; they may reach their quota of 475 quarts. Water temp was about 53 degrees, and the northerns were totally done, the suckers were pretty much done, and the bullheads were going strong. This is the last year that they will be giving away suckers and bullheads; they are just one of two places still doing that this year. Next year, they hope to build a viewing platform for visitors to observe the operations.

I posted some pictures in the Photo Sharing forum.

[GRAND DAD]

WOW great pictures thank you for posting them very neat to see

[Corey Bohn]

Schweady,

Great photos. It's a pretty cool process. I've seen them do it before at Walker (Dead River) and at the north end of Otter Tail Lake. Water temps in the river were already 53 degrees? That's pretty interesting. Great job on the photos.

[Mark Christianson]

Thanks Schweady!

[ChuckN]

Great photos Schweady!

I took a little drive up to that area last week, and the walleyes were running real good from my view from the bridge over the river.

[schweady]

Totally my pleasure, guys. A true rite of spring.

While I was there, I talked a while to a guy who said he usually does the 4:00 to midnight shift. Mostly cleanup and checking the nets, but also gets to do some "security." Had a couple of tales about folks who thought they could sneak in at night and pick up a few "samples." This guy said that some years when the water warms up really fast and they haven't gotten their quota yet that they'll pump in some colder well water to slow down the process. Never heard that one before...

Yeah, 53 degree water. I forgot to look for the charting they keep on water temps for the week, but it had to be warming up quick these past couple of days... We were down on Minnetonka for our anniversary dinner at Maynard's on Saturday night and a bank clock was flashing 78F at 8:15 pm.

[Moses2531]

Awesome pictures! A lot of fun to look at, thanks for posting!

[deacon]

Fantastic pictures, thanks for posting.

[Pleasant]

Great story and documentation with pictures. Don't know if you have seen this one at Racine, WI. My brother lives there and we took a look at it one time.

Root River Steelhead Facility

Lincoln Park

Racine, Wisconsin

http://dnr.wi.gov/fish/lakemich/rootriver.htm

LJ