(Storm Lake)– Annual gillnetting operations on the Iowa Great Lakes could start late this weekend if conditions allow. Mike Hawkins, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says they’re still waiting on water temperatures to warm up a little more…
“We need water temperatures in the mid 40’s and April 8th-12th is kind of that optimal period for length of day that helps to cue the walleyes to spawn. It looks like this year we’re right on track to be in that zone. We had some crews on Storm Lake last night that just started and it looks like their catch was pretty good. They’re still seeing a lot of females that are not ready to give eggs. Just a few of them that are ready to give eggs. So that tells us we’re right on the beginning part of this. And of course Storm Lake warms up quite a bit faster than the Iowa Great Lakes do and so yeah, we’re thinking some time late weekend, early next week, would be our start dates for some of our crews up on the Iowa Great Lakes.”
Hawkins says the process of collecting eggs will take roughly a week once the operations are underway…
“This year we need around 1,000 female walleyes to get the number of eggs that the hatchery needs to produce, and so right around 100 million eggs need to be collected. Usually if Storm Lake and Clear Lake are netting and doing well and then we start at the Iowa Great Lakes and the netting goes well, we can be done within a week with the netting operations. Of course the hatchery operations will continue on for the next few weeks as we take more eggs and also transition into muskie spawning as well, so. This next week would be a prime time if folks are looking to stop by the hatchery. I would say mid week would be kind of a great time through the following weekend.”
The fish hatchery in Orleans will be open seven days a week from 8:00 am until 8:00 pm once the operations are underway.
