(Orleans)– Crews with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources have started gillnetting operations on the Iowa Great Lakes, now that the ice is pretty much completely out. Kim Hawkins of the DNR tells KUOO news they got started this past Friday…
“Well we haven’t quite started for the walleye and muskie season yet, but we did get the northern pike we needed to get the quarts of eggs from them on Friday. So we have one batch of northern pike eggs up and probably starting the end of this week, early next week, we’ll be starting our walleye and muskie collection. This year we will have four to five boats still coming and some out of town DNR assistance to spawn those fish and we’re requested for about 72 million walleye fry this year, so.”
Hawkins says that number is up considerably from last year, which was heavily impacted by COVID-19…
“We did have a decrease in requests just because our spawning season hit right when COVID did, so we weren’t allowing outside personnel to come in and we did limited nights of netting. We did spawn and produce around 52 million fry, so we’re back up to our normal request numbers and with the population out in the lake and the ice off and the weather warming up it looks like a good year again.”
Unfortunately, because of the continuing pandemic, Hawkins says the fish hatchery in Orleans remains closed to the public yet this spring…
“We would love to have everyone come in and see the big fish, but if anyone tested positive at some point on our team, that would mean anyone who came in contact with them would also have to be quarantined and we just don’t have enough personnel and staff to make up that shortfall to continue our process. So we are going to keep our doors closed this season but I’m sure hoping next year we’ll be able to open them up again.”
Hawkins says she plans to post some photos of this year’s operations on the DNR’s Facebook page.
