Walleye Milking

[big musk411]

Are they Milking Walleyes on the Pine River yet? If not when do they usually start? Heading up there this weekend, would be fun to watch.

[fishblind187]

They should be starting soon. Its usually the beginning or middle of April depending on the water temp.

[BoxMN]

Where exactly do they do this? Is it right below the d-a-m(Contact Us Please - oh my goodness, you can't say "structure to hold back water" on a fishing site?), or farther down? thnx

[big musk411]

Thanks fishblind, i will probably be a bit early, but will sure take a look anyways.

Box, its right where the Pine River flows into Upper Whitefish. My[not really mine] cabin is right there. From what I here they get some big ones.

[BoxMN]

Cool, thanks! My cabin is in Crosslake (just barely), but not on chain, on small lake. I may have to swing by there next time up, prolly two weekends from now.

[ccarlson]

If I remember right, Tim Brastrup told me once that the stripping has began every year between April 9 and 12 without fail. I might be a day or two off but those dates seem to ring a bell. Lots of info and good directions other years on the brainerd site. Just do a search on the Brainerd forum during last march or early april. Maybe someone knows how to link to those posts from past years?

ccarlson

[smartguy]

I hope this works:

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB18&Number=164027&Forum=f18&Words=milking&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=164017&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=&daterange=1&newerval=&newertype=w&olderval=7&oldertype=m&bodyprev=#Post164027

[JP Z]

Directions:

Go up Hwy 371 to the north end of Jenkins. Take a right on Co. Rd 15 and stay on it through 3 sharp turns (1 block east, then 2 miles north, then 2 miles east, then ½ mile north). Take a right on Driftwood Lane and go .6 mile to Pine Knolls Circle and take a left. Go .3 mile to the end of the road and where it turns to the right, we are inside that metal gate

I remember last year I swung in the day of Trout Opener and they were busy milking, but had been for nearly a week. So that first weekend in April should be about the start time.

[Moses2531]

I see they get some big suckers and things in there as well... Think they take care of some of those rough fish well they're at it??

[gorrilla]

Suckers unlike carp don't damage a fishery, in fact they can be a great forage fish in a system. Not to mention they are native to the system.

[jnorm1984]

I believe that they are hoping to start the later part of next week..They were getting the nets ready today. so if the weather cooperates they will be out there..I am lucky enough to be able to help with the egg take this year, even though i am interning w/ a different department of the DNR. I'm super pumped!

[daddyducker]

Northerns run first, then 'eyes, then sucker.

Sucker are usually stripped around the second weekend of April, but are running sooner than that.

When you first here the frogs chirpping in the ponds/cricks, give it 2 weeks and the fish should be running.

The bait guys will be in right after the DNR to strip suckers.

?, does the DNR strip northern as well, or just eyes?

[bela0023]

Does anybody have an update on when they will start stripping eggs from the fish? I'm assuming this cold weather we're having has slowed things down!

[Flinny]

If anyone happens to bring their camera with, I would like to see some pics of the opperation. Too far away to go see for myself. Thanks in advance.

[big musk411]

Me too.

[bela0023]

I just stopped in this morning to see how it was going, and the best part of the run is yet to come. There was mainly suckers, probably 10 to 1 suckers to other game fish. There was a couple real hogs in there though! There was walleyes, a couple northerns, a whitefish, a largemouth bass, and a ton of suckers. The guys said by this weekend the walleyes should be running good, especially if the sun stays out!

I'll bring a camera with me when I go back so we can get a few pictures on here.

[CrappieAttitude]

What time of the day will you find them there? I am guessing that it is in the morning. Would a guy be able to still see the process if he got there around noon?

CA

[JP Z]

CA,

YOu should be fine. I remember last year they didn't start until 10am saturday on trout opener, as that was about when I was there. Either way you an walk on the docks and check the piggies in the pens.

[CrappieAttitude]

Where exacty is it? I know that you turn at the A-Pine and from that point... I would be driving around aimlessly.

CA

[Meat-Run]

Hey CA,

I'm thinking about taking Sean and going on Saturday is that something you want to hook up for??? Give me a jingle.

mr

[big musk411]

CA,

Go up 371.

Take a right on 50, in Jenkins.

It winds around a bit.

Then take a right on driftwood lane.

Then your first left on pine knolls circle

Its at the end of the road

[cat-man]

take a right on 15 in jenkins.

[bela0023]

I was there about 9:30 yesterday morning and they were just sorting the fish, then they'll strip and milk them after the sorting is done, so anytime mid morning is a good time to be there. They do hold the fish in the nets that aren't quite ripe so even if they're not stripping the fish, there's still a net full of big fish to look at all the time!

[CrappieAttitude]

Thanks guys! I am going to bring the family up there tomorrow. I tried to explain the process to my wife and she just looked at me like "and then what?". Either way whether she is excited or not, I am really looking forward to going.

Should a guy be wearing boots for this? I'll bring the camera along to take a few shots. Anyone willing to post them for me if I get a few good ones?

CA

[big musk411]

I'll post your pics. email [email protected]

[anchor man]

Watched them do their work yesterday morning. Still a ton of suckers in the nets and quite a few 5+ lbs eyes. Quite an operation. When they release these fish do they still go through the act of spawning even though they're "empty".

[CrappieAttitude]

I spent about 2 hours there this morning and I haven't seen that many pigs in my life. It was very interesting to see how narrow of a window they have in order to get the eggs fertilized. I talked with the DNR for about 45 minutes before anyone showed up to do the stripping. He gave me some very interesting statistics.

They want to strip out 600 quarts of eggs this year. For all of you math guys out there, there are approximately 125,000 eggs per guart. So feel free to do the math.

The gentleman informed me that some of the biggest females can produce up to 2 quarts of eggs themselves. That is 250,000 eggs in just one fish. Just another reason to let the big ones swim.

The process was facinating. They had the females and the males seperated and once the stripping began the process is as follows:

They took two females and stripped the eggs into a dry bowl. Once the eggs were in the bowl, the added a small amount of water to them to activate them. Once the eggs were activated, they only had about 30 seconds to a minute to get the sperm from the males in order to complete the fertilization process. Once the eggs were fertilized they woud stir them in the bowl.

After they had 6 bowls filled, they would need to rinse them off to prepare them for transport. The eggs once fertilized would swell to about the size of tapioca. Once rinsed they were placed in a larger tote for transport.

Stay tuned for pictures. I just need to send them to someone who knows how to post them.

CA

[anchor man]

I thought the process was pretty cool too. They work very quickly. One can't help but wonder if there would be a noticeable increased population of walleyes in Upper WF if they didn't remove all those eggs from the lake. One guy did say that some of the fry to come back to the Chain, but most are spread to other lakes.

[AWH]

Quote:

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One can't help but wonder if there would be a noticeable increased population of walleyes in Upper WF if they didn't remove all those eggs from the lake. One guy did say that some of the fry to come back to the Chain, but most are spread to other lakes.

---

Because the fish put back into the lake are allowed to develop some before they're put back into the Whitefish Chain, the chain gets a bigger introduction of new fish due to this stripping station than if they simply counted on natural reproduction entirely.

Survival rate of eggs from a naturally respoducing walleye? Extremely minimal. Survival rate from stocked fry? Still minimal, but significantly greater than what you will see naturally.

Aaron

[walleye vision]

Do you think they'll still be stripping on this Sunday, or will they be done before then?

Thanks,

WV