Was driving around Clear Lake in Waseca tonight at about 4pm and notices a trailer backed up to the landing. I drove in to check it out and wouldnt you know it, the DNR was releasing about 400-500 ( I was told by the guys doing it) little PIKE!!! From what I saw they were small, hammer handles. It was a neat thing to see!!! I mean they open the chute and out they come into the ice!!! This is good news for me as I do 80% of my summer and ice fishing on this lake and I love to chase the pike!!! I do hope that all the people that fish it this winter and next summer from the camp ground dont take these guys out and give them a chance to grow up!!!

cool maybe they will help thin out the millions of 1 inch sunnies:)


Joe

that would of been cool to see

Very Cool

you should of asked to put some in ! then you could of bragged to all your friends! lol

i sure hope they drilled a hole first

I wonder how they determine the number to release and the reasoning? Da Chise31 - you seem to have a handle on this, maybe you could explain.

I wish I had been better at math so I could have finished my Fisheries Biology degree!

Its a factor of area. The release a specific number of fish per acre of water.

Generally speaking, Illified is right. A prescribed pounds per surface or littoral acre is applied, and usually when you talk stocking, you are talking about walleye. In a nutshell, stocking rates depend upon the lake type, size, and depth, how much natural reproduction there is, and past management and stocking in the lake.

With Clear, there is a set quota of pike pounds to be stocked each year. Before settlement, pike flourished in lakes like Clear...all the lakes were connected to small streams and wetland complexes and pike had access to ample spawning habitat. Rice, Watkins, Loon, and Goose lakes were all connected, and there was probably a connection to the LeSueur river. Today those connections are gone, and with it went much of the pike spawning habitat. Just look around Clear - the entire perimeter of the lake is now paved. Shoreline is developed, much native vegetation is long gone, and barriers prevent fish movement.

Today pike are stocked into Clear from emergency rescue lakes or from pike rearing ponds and lakes, like Goose.

Thanks for the info from both of you. I wish there was a way we could roll back some of the things we have done in the name of "improvement" - but I can't complain how the DNR has handled most of this...

No they didnt!!! They cut a hole with a spud!!! Yeah there was a hole!!

Leave it to the DNR they should have put the fish in the water not on the ice JMO