For over 24 years the Lake Nipissing Walleye Restocking Association has been running a Walleye Restocking Program to help maintain a healthy fish population in our beautiful lake. Each year volunteers put in hundreds of work hours to make sure future generations will be able to enjoy fishing Lake Nipissing.

Studies show that the survival rate in a natural spawn is about 3 - 4 % while restocking in a properly run hatchery has a success rate of over 85 %!
 

In 2001 / 2002 a new mobile hatchery was built to replace the old but still good working facility. It will allow us to run the hatchery wherever the circumstances (water supply etc.) are best for a particular year and even to take it on the road to schools and other interested groups. Education is one of the main concerns to make this and other similar programs work.

 

In spring when the Walleye spawn the work begins: volunteers catch the fish in nets that will allow them to release it healthy and unharmed after milking them.       Male and female Walleye are brought to shore in live wells and milked to collect and fertilize the eggs.

Milking the fish is a very delicate job and demands a lot of concentration, knowledge,experience and attention or the fish could easily be harmed.

Once the eggs and sperm are collected they have to be mixed. Using a birds feather and stirring them gently makes sure all the eggs get fertilized without being damaged.
The eggs are then hardened by circulating in a basket of fresh lake water. Using tannic acid will prevent them from sticking toghether. Aftert this step it is save to move them to the hatchery...
...where they are put in jars until they hatch. This will take between 17 and 35 days. The hatchery holds up to 2 million eggs.

 

Clear lake water with the right amount of oxygen and at the right temperature is essential for success.

Once the fish hatch they are called fry. At this stage these baby walleye will be released into the lake at carefuly chosen locations or into special ponds to allow them to grow. At about 1 1/2 inches in size (fingerlings) they will also be release into the lake.

After the release of the year's spawn the hatchery and equipment needs to be leaned and maintained to be ready for the next year's run.

We want to thank everybody involved for the time and effort they put into this great cause. Without all the volunteers it would be impossible to do all the work!
 

Pictures by: André Rieser
Text by: Susanne Rieser