Biologists survey Black River walleye

Walleyes in the Black, Current, St. Francis and Eleven Point river are fat and healthy, according to Department of Conservation Fisheries Management Biologist Paul Cieslewicz, who conducted his annual gill netting and electrofishing survey on the Black last week.

Using several gill nets strategically placed along the shoreline below the Clearwater Lake dam, along with two electrofishing boats in other nearby areas of the river, crews spent Wednesday evening trying to capture walleyes for genetic testing and the department's stocking program.

Fish are taken from the Black and Current rivers each year because natural reproduction in those rivers is better.

Cieslewicz, Dave Knuth, John Ackerson and other fisheries staff were tasked this year with capturing 10 males and 10 females in prime condition to use at MDC's Chesapeake Hatchery west of Springfield.

The week before, they captured 25 males and one female from the Current River.

"This year is completely different than last year," Cieslewicz said, noting the water temperature in the Black River, thanks to recent releases from the Clearwater Lake dam, already was up to 50 degrees.

That, he said, is the optimum temperature for walleye spawning.

"I have a feeling the spawn will get going this weekend," Cieslewicz said. "It's always the last week of February and through the first two weeks of March, and when it gets right, they get going."

From the Black River, Cieslewicz and his crew captured about 20 males and 13 female walleyes, and 10 of each then made the overnight trip to the hatchery in a specially-outfitted tank truck.

The females, Cieslewicz said, all ranged between 22 and 26 inches and weighed 5- to 8 pounds.

"To me, it looks like we have a big year class of that size," he said.

Female walleyes in the local rivers, however, get much bigger, he said.

The male walleyes, Cieslewicz said, also were "plump," but they rarely get longer than 18 inches.

Once the fish were captured, Cieslewicz said, the fish were tagged and a small section of each one's tail fin was clipped off for genetic testing.

That, Cieslewicz said, is because the genetic strain found locally, known as the Black River strain, is exclusive to the Black, St. Francis, Current and Eleven Point rivers.

Once at the hatchery, the walleye eggs extracted from the females are hatched, fertilized and grown until the young fingerlings are about an inch and a half long. Then, they are released into one of the four rivers on an annually rotating basis.

The brood stock captured from the Black River, and the week before on the Current River, will be released into the Eleven Point River after about three weeks at the hatchery, and many, Cieslewicz noted, will quickly find their way back to the Clearwater dam.

"I've had them back here at the dam within nine months," he said.

This year, Cieslewicz said, about 52,000 walleye fingerlings are scheduled to be released into the Current River sometime in May.

"We know these fish live 8 to 10 years," Cieslewicz said, so the stocking program is used to boost year classes.