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05-25-2004, 10:29 AM
OUTDOORS: Over 300,000 walleye fingerlings pumped into C.J.
By BRIAN PLASTERS, News-Sun Sports Writer
It’s a quick process to grow a walleye from an egg to a fingerling.
Thanks to plenty of hard work from the Ohio Division of Wildlife, C.J. Brown Reservoir will be getting lots and lots of fingerlings this year.
After the ODOW pumped 115,000 walleye into the lake Wednesday and 194,000 on Thursday, the total number of young walleye in C.J. Brown Reservoir is approximately 309,000.
The walleye came from ODOW’s St. Mary’s fish hatchery. The were released off the boat ramp at Buck Creek State Park.
But don’t count on catching these walleye soon. The walleye stocked Wednesday measured 27 millimeters long and Friday’s batch was 30 millimeters long.
It will take close to three growing seasons for the walleye stocked last week to reach the 15-inch limit, ODOW District 5 fish management supervisor Doug Maloney said.
Not all the walleye will survive. Maloney said the survival rate is around 5 percent.
After some quick math, 5 percent of the newly stocked fingerlings is 15,450 catchable fish.
And more could be on the way.
This year 212,000 fish were requested for C.J. Brown, but surplus hatchings sometimes find their way to the reservoir. In 2003, 443,000 walleye were stocked.
"There’s a chance in the next week or so we might get another 100,000," Maloney said. "It’s been a really good year at the hatchery so far."
Morton Pugh, with St. Mary’s hatchery, said the walleye were stocked a little early this year due to the warmer May weather.
"We have to start a little early on the first fish," Pugh said. "Otherwise, if we wait until they’re 30-32 (millimeters), you’ll get monsters."
The fish feed on plankton in the water in their first few weeks. But as the fish grow faster in warmer water and reach a certain size — 26 to 30 millimeters — they begin feeding on each other, he said.
Four millimeters might not seem like much, but it does matter. As the fish grow they continue to become more aggressive, and they have little to fear of other little fish.
"When a fish gets to that size, it’s night and day difference," Pugh said.
It’s not a quick death. The fish pick at each other until one or both dies.
To counter that, the fish are released as soon as possible. By June 1, all the walleye at the St. Mary’s hatchery will be released into lakes across Ohio, Pugh said.
The walleye released this year into C.J. Brown were from eggs collected in the Maumee River in northeast Ohio.
Reach Brian Plasters at bplasters@coxohio.com
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http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/sports/newsfd/auto/feed/sports/2004/05/22/1085283633.02632.2104.3518.html
By BRIAN PLASTERS, News-Sun Sports Writer
It’s a quick process to grow a walleye from an egg to a fingerling.
Thanks to plenty of hard work from the Ohio Division of Wildlife, C.J. Brown Reservoir will be getting lots and lots of fingerlings this year.
After the ODOW pumped 115,000 walleye into the lake Wednesday and 194,000 on Thursday, the total number of young walleye in C.J. Brown Reservoir is approximately 309,000.
The walleye came from ODOW’s St. Mary’s fish hatchery. The were released off the boat ramp at Buck Creek State Park.
But don’t count on catching these walleye soon. The walleye stocked Wednesday measured 27 millimeters long and Friday’s batch was 30 millimeters long.
It will take close to three growing seasons for the walleye stocked last week to reach the 15-inch limit, ODOW District 5 fish management supervisor Doug Maloney said.
Not all the walleye will survive. Maloney said the survival rate is around 5 percent.
After some quick math, 5 percent of the newly stocked fingerlings is 15,450 catchable fish.
And more could be on the way.
This year 212,000 fish were requested for C.J. Brown, but surplus hatchings sometimes find their way to the reservoir. In 2003, 443,000 walleye were stocked.
"There’s a chance in the next week or so we might get another 100,000," Maloney said. "It’s been a really good year at the hatchery so far."
Morton Pugh, with St. Mary’s hatchery, said the walleye were stocked a little early this year due to the warmer May weather.
"We have to start a little early on the first fish," Pugh said. "Otherwise, if we wait until they’re 30-32 (millimeters), you’ll get monsters."
The fish feed on plankton in the water in their first few weeks. But as the fish grow faster in warmer water and reach a certain size — 26 to 30 millimeters — they begin feeding on each other, he said.
Four millimeters might not seem like much, but it does matter. As the fish grow they continue to become more aggressive, and they have little to fear of other little fish.
"When a fish gets to that size, it’s night and day difference," Pugh said.
It’s not a quick death. The fish pick at each other until one or both dies.
To counter that, the fish are released as soon as possible. By June 1, all the walleye at the St. Mary’s hatchery will be released into lakes across Ohio, Pugh said.
The walleye released this year into C.J. Brown were from eggs collected in the Maumee River in northeast Ohio.
Reach Brian Plasters at bplasters@coxohio.com
Email this page to a friend
http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/sports/newsfd/auto/feed/sports/2004/05/22/1085283633.02632.2104.3518.html