DNR refines walleye stocking to improve fishing

Minnesota’s walleye fingerling stocking program - already the largest in the nation - is being further refined to improve angler catch rates.

The new stocking system is an outgrowth of an intensive six-month review of more than 900 stocked walleye lakes. The Department of Natural Resources’ review determined that higher stocking rates could improve walleye angling in some of the 560 lakes stocked with walleye fingerlings. Starting this fall the DNR will double stocking rates in about half of these lakes and increase stocking by about 30 percent in the remainder.

“We are shifting gears,” said John Guenther, DNR Fish and Wildlife Division director. “We are placing greater emphasis on maximizing return to the angler.”

Lakes with high fishing pressure but little natural reproduction will get the biggest bump in walleye fingerlings. Next will be lakes where walleye are pursued, but share the spotlight with bass and panfish. Lakes with sporadic natural reproduction will be monitored more closely and may receive more fingerlings over time. Since 2000, the DNR has stocked an increasing number of 5- to 7-inch walleye, known as fingerlings. On average 136,400 pounds of fingerlings are stocked annually.

Last year, the DNR stocked 143,000 pounds. This year’s target is 160,000 pounds. The DNR also stocks about 230 million walleye fry each year.

“The new stocking system will not change our management approach to the large self-sustaining walleye lakes,” said Guenther. “We do not stock the self-sustaining lakes nor do we stock lakes where walleye are not appropriate. However, the changes does mean for the lakes we do stock, we are serious about maximizing benefits to anglers and dispelling any misplaced notion that we are not doing enough.”

Guenther noted that despite the stepped-up stocking effort clean water, habitat conservation and catch-and-release are the heart of fish long-term conservation. “We raise millions of fish each year in our hatcheries,” said Guenther “but hatcheries are not a panacea. Anyone who wants quality fishing tomorrow needs to be working today to conserve the quality of our waters, shoreline and shallow habitat and the ethic of recycling our catch.”

Ron Payer, DNR chief of fisheries management, said statewide fisheries staff participated in the stocking review and helped develop the final plan. “It was collaborative effort involving extensive review and was a good investment of time,” he said. Dick Sternberg, an independent fisheries biologist, had a hand in the plan. Sternberg was contracted by the DNR in 2004 to review the walleye stocking program.

He compiled stocking summaries and worked with certain fisheries staff to pinpoint opportunities for potential higher catch rates for anglers.

“It was a good process,” said Sternberg. “The DNR shared its data. I reviewed it. And then we worked together to refine where and how often stocking should occur for maximum potential benefit to anglers. I was particularly pleased with the outcome of more intensive management of lakes where natural reproduction is sporadic.”

Sternberg also found favor with DNR stocking efforts related to walleye fry and frylings. “Fry and fryling stockings can also be very effective in supplementing walleye populations when a lake has poor natural reproduction,” Sternberg said.

“The way DNR manages its walleye waters - including the use of electro-fishing boats in fall to determine if natural reproduction or spring stocking took hold - is a very effective way of maintaining high quality walleye populations.”

Pete Jacobson, DNR fisheries researcher, said the new stocking rate — commonly the equivalent of one pound of fingerlings annually for every acre of the lake that’s shallower than 15 feet - should maximize walleye abundance in most stocked lakes.

“Because of limits on forage and habitat, stocking walleye beyond this rate would not result in more fish,” he said. “In fact, stocking beyond this rate might result in fewer walleyes.”

The additional stocking will increase costs. “Doubling our stocking rate in some 280 lakes effectively doubles the expense at those lakes. It does not, however, double walleye abundance. We expect a 23 percent increase in walleye abundance on average.”

Fisheries managers are hopeful that changes to the walleye stocking program today will result in better fishing four to five years in the future, when fish stocked at the higher rate begin to reach a catchable size.

“Walleye stocking, whether it’s fry or fingerlings, is a continuously adaptive process,” said Henry Drewes, DNR northwest regional fisheries manager. “That means we manage based on science and the realities of nature. The new stocking plan does not change that. Instead, it simply provides guidance to that end.”

Tim Goeman, regional fisheries manager at Grand Rapids, agreed. “The goal of the new stocking adjustments is to put more fish on anglers’ lines,” said Goeman. “And if that happens - it will take about a 20 percent increase in catch rates for anglers to notice - we will have moved the stocking program forward yet again.”