Green Lake Fisheries Project

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space can you be a little more specific thanks

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Type in West Central Tribune Click search When screen comes up click #1 which is West Central Tribune,You'll get the papers web site sign on with your email address and password it'll open the menus in left column click outdoors there you are. Good reading

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Can Green Lake’s walleye turn the corner?

Tom Cherveny West Central Tribune

Published Saturday, March 03, 2007

SPICER — Walleye appear to be on the rebound in Green Lake, but anglers complain that their numbers are still lacking and that they are mainly catching small cigars and not the keepers they seek.

Can more be done to improve the walleye fishing despite the dramatic changes that have occurred in the lake?

Yes, according to Dick Sternberg, formerly a senior fisheries biologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and respected author on the subject of fishing.

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Sternberg told about 40 people who met in Spicer during the start of last Saturday’s sleet and snowstorm how he believes the walleye recovery in Green Lake can be helped. He evaluated years of DNR collected data and analysis on the lake on behalf of the Green Lake Fisheries Project, a citizens group interested in restoring the lake’s walleye fishing.

He recommends that the DNR increase the number of larger, fingerling walleye that it stocks in the year.

The DNR should upgrade the lake’s classification for stocking from a contingency to a core lake to help make that possible, according to Sternberg. The change would improve the ability of the DNR fisheries staff in Spicer to acquire the larger, fingerling walleye for stocking in the lake.

He would also like to see the DNR set specific, and higher stocking numbers for the lake.

He opposes the idea of suspending stocking in 2008 as part of an effort to monitor the effects of stocking versus natural reproduction, he told the Tribune in a telephone interview.

Sternberg said he agrees the walleye in the lake are rebounding, but he added: “Is that going to last? That is the big question.’’

Green Lake has seen an aggressive walleye stocking program since 2000. The Spicer DNR fisheries staff has stocked walleye fry in the lake by the millions and fingerlings by the tens of thousands.

Sternberg believes that many of the fry and some of the smaller fingerlings became no more than fish food. Bigger fish have gobbled them up.

Efforts to improve the walleye population have to reckon with the complexity of the lake’s rapidly changing ecosystem, according to Sternberg. The lake has seen changes in recent years that are “unbelievable” for their extent and rapid pace, he said.

The yellow perch population has declined dramatically. Perch are an important food for walleye.

Panfish numbers have proliferated. Panfish feed on perch eggs, keeping their numbers further in check.

Most important, the smallmouth bass population exploded. It grew at a pace that no one could have predicted when the special regulations to protect them were adopted, according to Sternberg.

Smallmouth bass feed on crayfish, which normally keep chara algae in check. The algae have expanded throughout the lake. Chara algae can cover walleye spawning areas.

Eurasian milfoil has also invaded the lake.

Water clarity has improved, but erosion during the Minnesota Highway 23 project also sent volumes of sediment and nutrients into the lake.

No one is more familiar with all of these changes and the challenges they pose than Bruce Gilbertson, fisheries supervisor with the DNR in Spicer. Gilbertson joined Sternberg in addressing the Green Lake Fisheries Project participants last week.

Both Gilbertson and Sternberg agree that the lake would benefit by more fingerling stocking.

But that’s easier said than done. Gilbertson said he hasn’t been able to obtain as many of the larger fingerlings for stocking as he has wanted. He had plans to stock a large number of fingerlings last autumn, but an early cold snap prevented harvesting many of the fingerlings eyed for stocking in Green Lake.

Green Lake must also compete for fingerlings with requests from many other, popular walleye lakes in the state.

The fisheries supervisor said he will be talking to regional and state fisheries personnel in hopes of getting Green Lake classified as a core lake for stocking. He too believes this will help Green Lake acquire more fingerlings.

Gilbertson said he is also reconsidering the idea of not stocking walleye in 2008. A “blank’’ stocking year would help the DNR evaluate determine the effectiveness of stocking versus natural reproduction in the lake.

The local fisheries staff will continue its extensive monitoring program to keep close tabs on the walleye recovery in the lake.

Gilbertson and Sternberg said anglers will be hearing a lot more about that data in the years ahead. The two said they feel it is important for anglers to learn more about what is being done to improve the lake, as well as the challenges faced.

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Outdoor news also had an article about the meeting. I thought it was pretty good.