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Walleye nets are sure sign of spring
Many signs point to the pending arrival of spring, but anglers really know the season has arrived when they spy the Ohio Division of Wildlife walleye nets at Mosquito and Berlin.
The nets went out Tuesday at Berlin Reservoir. Four sets are visible along the U.S. 224 causeway. They also are set at Mosquito Creek Reservoir on east and west side flats and points.
Along with the nets come the first wave of fishers. They were out in force at Mosquito and Berlin over the past few days, taking advantage of the warming waters to hook the early run of walleyes and crappies.
The Division of Wildlife annually nets walleyes at Berlin and Mosquito as an important component of Ohio’s annual walleye and saugeye stocking programs, said Phil Hillman, Division 3 fisheries chief.
“The nets result in a substantial portion of the walleye and saugeye that we stock every year throughout Ohio’s inland waters,” Hillman said. “We use walleyes from Berlin and Mosquito and saugers from the Ohio River.”
The nets pull up females and males, which are handled out on the lake by trained Division of Wildlife personnel to collect eggs and sperm. The fish are released unharmed back into their respective waters. The eggs, meanwhile, are fertilized on the shore and treated with iodine to reduce the chance of spreading viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a disease that can affect fish populations, Hillman said.
The fertilized eggs are transported to Ohio Division of Wildlife hatcheries at Senecaville, Hebron and St. Mary’s.
The process is under way now. By mid-April, º-inch fry will be ready to stock in Berlin, Mosquito, Milton and other Ohio lakes. Later in May, fingerlings will be available for stocking, with Mosquito typically getting an infusion of the finger-long walleyes to augment fry stocking.
Ohio fisheries managers are able to determine the success of each lake’s natural reproduction by analyzing the origins of walleyes captured each year.
Hillman explained that it’s relatively easy for fisheries personnel to determine whether a fish was spawned naturally or perhaps because the Division of Wildlife crews played matchmaker.
“We mark the fry with tetracycline to track whether a fish is natural or from a hatchery,” he said.
Tetracycline stains certain hard portions of a walleye’s body a noticeable shade of yellow, which then is a clear indicator that it was spawned in a bucket and reared in a hatchery.
All of this work continues to pay major dividends for Ohio walleye anglers.
Local lakes such as Berlin, Milton and, of course, Mosquito are popular fishing holes for walleye anglers. They already are out in force and many already are making nice catches.
Jigs and twisters go together like peanut butter and jelly for Ohio’s March walleye anglers. They fire casts from the causeways and wing walls, as well as from the flats where dozens wade each morning and evening at Mosquito.
Meanwhile, back to the nets at Berlin and Mosquito. They are much more than the surefire sign that spring has sprung. They are the critical tool to serve fishers all across the buckeye state.
Thanks to the dedication of the Division 3 personnel working on Berlin and Mosquito, thousands of anglers all throughout Ohio get better than good opportunities to enjoy the fish stock of Northeast Ohio.