Posts: 25
| Tuesday April 9 at Sweeney's Saloon: MNDNR employees
Adding an additional predator to Minnesota's stocked muskie lakes has been controversial. In 2018 there was even a bill introduced in the Minnesota Legislature to limit stocking of muskies. The bill did not pass but indicated the need for research to study the foraging habits of the fish community. In 2019 Kamden Glade, then at Bemidji State University, began studying the stomach contents of muskie, walleye, northern pike and bass. Stomach contents are collected by pumping lake water into the fish's stomach, then examining the regurgitated contents. Yep, muskies eat ducks, coots and even sea gulls! And lots of other fish. Kamden, now with Tower MNDNR, will summarize the results of pumping thousands of fish stomachs.
In a cooperative project between MNDNR and Muskies Inc, pit tagged fingerling and yearling muskies have been stocked in Minnetonka, White Bear and Bald Eagle Lakes for over a decade. Kristan Maccaroni and Matt Petersen of West Metro MNDNR will give a progress report on the recapture of tagged fish to date, including data collected by fishermen using the tag readers provided by the Chapter. If you have a pit tag reader, bring it to the meeting and Kristan and Matt will download your data.
Eat off Sweeney's inexpensive menu 5 to 7 if you like, Meeting at 7 upstairs.
Greg Ide
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