(Orleans)– The extreme cold is resulting in a delay in the start-up of the annual gillnetting operations on the Iowa Great Lakes.
Typically operations start within a week or so of the ice going out. But hatchery manager Donna Muhm says the abnormally cold weather is pushing things back a bit this year. She says they’re planning to start this coming Monday, April 9th.
Muhm says it’s just too cold to start any earlier. She says the cold would cause gillnets to freeze. And Muhm says the operations just wouldn’t be productive.
Muhm says the fish hatchery will be open from 7:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. daily once the operations begin. She says female fish will be stripped in mornings; the males in the evening.
Muhm says northern pike fry have already hatched and are in tanks being fed.
