|
Walleye
Harvest
reported
by Brian
Mulherin,
Ludington
Daily
News,
Wednesday,
June 5,
2013
|
In 25 years, the Mason County Walleye Association has raised more
than a
ton of
walleyes
for the
Michigan
Department
of
Natural
Resources.
That
means
more
than 3.5
million
walleye
fry have
been
planted
in area
lakes
after
being
housed
and fed
in the
pond the
association
maintains
southeast
of
Ludington.
Although
the
association
doesn’t
get to
pick
where
those
fish go,
a
sizeable
chunk of
them
have
gone to
Hamlin
Lake —
about
1,157,000
thanks
to
Tuesday’s
planting
of
150,000
more
walleyes
for the
county’s
largest
lake.
The
Michigan
Department
of
Natural
Resources
harvested
walleyes
from the
pond on
Tuesday
using
Fyke
nets.
The
total
harvest
was
about
187,000
fish,
with
about
30,000
going to
Rose
Lake in
Osceola
County.
Whatever
is left
over
today
will go
to other
lakes in
the
northwestern
Lower
Peninsula.
DNR
Fisheries
Technician
Supervisor
Scott
Heintzelman
said the
fish
looked
great,
if a
little
on the
small
side. He
said it
appeared
their
timing
was
dead-on
as they
found
just one
pair of
fish
that had
attempted
to
cannibalize
each
other.
Heintzelman
was
optimistic
for
today’s
harvest
because
they
were
still
seeing
fish
around
the
ropes
leading
to their
nets as
they
pulled
full
nets
from the
pond on
Tuesday.
“We’ll
copper a
little
heavier
tonight,
come
back and
see what
we get,”
he said.
DNR
Fisheries
Biologist
Mark
Tonello
said the
fish
looked
good.
“These
guys
have
done a
good
job, as
usual,”
Tonello
said of
the
MCWA. “I
like to
say
if you
walleye
fish in
northwestern
Michigan,
you owe
the
Mason
County
Walleye
Association
a debt
of
gratitude
because
the fish
here go
into a
lot of
different
lakes.
Most of
our
inland
lakes,
they
don’t
get
enough
natural
reproduction
or don’t
get any
natural
reproduction,
so
stocking
is key.
In this
day and
age of
smaller
government,
we’re
going to
have to
rely
more and
more on
groups
like
this.”
Among
the
other
DNR
employees
at the
harvest
were
Fisheries
Assistant
Mark
Vaas,
Fisheries
Technician
(and
hatchery
truck
driver)
Bob
Kerry
and
intern
Zach
Kopfman.
Kopfman
is a
West
Shore
Community
College
student
who was
a 2012
graduate
of
Manistee
High
School.
More
manpower
was
provided
by MCWA
members,
who
pre-weighed
buckets
of water
that the
fish
from the
nets
were
dumped
into.
The
buckets
with
water
and fish
were
weighed
and a
number
of fish
was
calculated
based on
the
average
size of
the
fish.
MCWA
President
Carter
Koles
said
it’s
always
good to
get
enough
fish to
stock
Hamlin
Lake,
which
gets
150,000
fish
every
other
year.
“I don’t
know if
it will
be a
banner
year,
but it
will be
a good
year,”
Koles
said
Tuesday,
noting
that it
was a
cold
spring.
“If we
do as
well
tomorrow
as we
did
today,
it will
be a
banner
year.”
|
FUNDRAISING BANQUET |
The MCWA will hold a banquet June 22 at Ludington Boat Club to
raise
funds to
support
the
rearing
pond in
its 25th
year.
The pond
takes
between
$5,000
and
$6,000 a
year to
operate,
with the
bulk of
those
costs
being
electricity
for
pumping
water
into the
drainable
6-acre
pond.
The
association
is
supported
entirely
by
donations
and
fundraising
banquets.
Tickets
to this
year’s
banquet
are $15
each and
available
through
directors
or at
Ludington
Truck
Tops,
302
Fifth
Street.
Tickets
include
a perch
dinner,
access
to
silent
auctions
and an
informational
presentation.
Call Ron
Soberalski
at
845-0110
or Koles
at
843-2183
for
tickets
or more
information.
Those
who are
unable
to
attend
can
support
the
association
through
earmarked
donations
to the
Community
Foundation
for
Mason
County.
Contact
Koles at
843-2183
for
details.
|

DNR
Fisheries
Technicians
empty a
fyke net
at the
walleye
pond
Tuesday.
|

The DNR
harvested
187,000
walleye
from the
walleye
pond on
Tuesday.
|

Mason County Walleye Association President Carter Koles keeps
track of
the
harvest
as
volunteers
work to
help the
Michigan
DNR
weigh
the
walleyes
coming
from the
six-acre
pond in
Pere
Marquette
Township.
About
187,000
fish
were
harvested
Tuesday,
with
about
157,000
of them
going
into
Hamlin
Lake.
The
other
30,000
went
into
Rose
Lake in
Osceola
County.
The MCWA
harvest
will
continue
today. |
|