This year’s unusual cold, late spring delayed the start of walleye collection efforts.
“Mother Nature presented many challenges this year, including cooler than normal temperatures, high winds, sleet and snow, as well as tornadoes,” said Jay Rudacille, supervisor for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Warm and Coolwater Fish Culture section. “Despite these less than ideal conditions, we still met our walleye egg collection goal thanks to the dedication, passion, and adaptability of our fisheries staff.”
Walleyes were caught at Clear, East Okoboji, Rathbun, Spirit, and Storm lakes from April 5-14. Netting crews collected enough walleyes to produce 796 quarts of eggs at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery and 900 quarts at the Rathbun Fish Hatchery. Crews at Storm Lake spawned enough females to produce 205 quarts of walleye eggs while efforts at Clear Lake produced 292 quarts of eggs. The Clear Lake and Storm Lake satellite hatcheries transferred their eggs to the Rathbun and Spirit Lake Fish hatcheries to be incubated and hatched.
“Our goal was to collect 1,600 quarts of walleye eggs to produce 145.3 million walleye fry (newly hatched fish) that we can stock in Iowa lakes or raise to a larger size in hatcheries before being released,” said Rudacille. “In total, 1,696 quarts of walleye eggs are being incubated.”
2022 was one of the best walleye collection seasons in more than a decade, netting 531 female walleyes from Rathbun Lake.
“We knew we would have a new year class of fish become vulnerable to our nets this year,” said Mark Flammang, fisheries biologist at Rathbun Lake. “This is very good news for anglers and the Iowa DNR.”
Five nights of walleye netting at Clear Lake produced its best year since 2015.
“We collected more than 700 fish that produced just short of 300 quarts
