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| a group of very dedicated muskie fishermen has been working hand-in-hand with staff from the Wisconsin DNR to try and acquire disease-free fish in order to establish brood stock lakes Wisconsin for Great Lakes Strain muskies. accomplishing this would mean that Wisconsin would have a secure source for stocking future year classes into Green Bay waters - a critical issue due to the questionable natural reproduction success and the difficulties getting fish from out-of-state due to disease concerns.
well, they DID accomplish it!
after overcoming years of political hurdles and bureaucratic red tape, within the past few days, muskies from Georgian Bay, ON were stocked in Wisconsin. a few years down the road, when these fish are old enough to reproduce, the state will have it's own source for stocking Green Bay without any limitations based on disease risks or transport.
we all owe the volunteers and DNR staff a huge debt of gratitude.
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| i spoke with Shane Mason tonight, one of the lead volunteers working to help this become reality. he asked me to pass on the information described above, as well as his thanks to everyone involved, as posted on The Next Bite.
http://www.thenextbite.com/node/11078
I really wanted to give a BIG THANKS!!! to those who got this done this year. It has been a total team effort! And I wanted to thank those I have been working with directly who are largely responsible for getting things done behind the scenes...
In no particular order Joe (Stewey) Junion a.k.a Jomusky, Jason (huggy bear) Schillinger a.k.a. Reef Hawg, Roger (H2O Tackle) Waters, George (BeastTeaser tackle) Crum, Jeremy Van Ert (who is also responsible for saving my life once, to help me get to this point), Paul Huebner, Travis Kopke, Pete Maina, Scott Kieper, Karl Kagleman, John Ashenbrenner, Jay Zahn, Dr. Tom Betka, Tilkey, Dannyboy, Steve Horton, Bob Benson, Larry Ramsell, Jerry Newman, Gerard Hellenbrand, Greg Wells, Cory Painter, Jason Saint Mary, Eric Young, Steve Heiting, Dennis Radloff and John (muskiefool) Underhill. The C&R Musky Club (www.CRMuskyClub.com), Figure Eight Musky club, Titletown, Muskies inc., the Green Bay Musky Coalition and the rest of the Musky Clubs Alliance of Wisconsin. I know I will forget some, for that I am truly sorry but my brain is shot right now...
To David Rowe, WDNR biologist and head of the Green Bay musky restoration, a special thank you. As well as an apology, when Dave first took over this project, what he walked into can only be described as a real hornets nest. Dave came in stuck to his guns, but was always there to listen to what we had to say, and has been I pillar of integrity all the way. And even though we don’t agree on everything, Dave has EARNED my respect! I look forward to being a pain in his a$$ for many years to come. I wouldn’t want anyone else in charge of this project. Dave you have a Pabst coming on me.
Also to David Rowe’s team, Tim Simonson (WDNR head of the musky program), Mike Donofrio, (regional fisheries supervisor) as well as the others from the DNR who have put in insane amounts of work trying to get this back on track. Their jobs are pretty much thankless, please lets change that and send them some thank you emails.
The 3 lake associations who have been very helpful and eager to help out where they can. For allowing this project to take place. I know I have been in contact with several of these people over the last few days and they are really taking to helping us out where ever we need it. Getting them involved really helps make it personal for them as well. I have guys now who have never seen a musky much less thought of fishing for them, now becoming friends of the musky. I loaned my copy of “Musky’s Suck” by Pete Maina and he said it was one of the best reads has has picked up in awhile, he read it twice in the course of the last couple days. He now cant wait to screw up the rest of his life. Pete I think I am going to need some more copies.
And last but not least to our musky brothers to the north. Without the cooperation and hard work of our Canadian friends none of this would have been possible. So a very special thanks to you, EAH!
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Send some disease free fish our way....... |
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Location: Twin Cities | Love pics of those little guys, cool! |
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Location: Lake Tomahawk, WI | Nice work fellas, hats off to ya!
JS |
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| Thanks Lambeau! I posted something on a different site talking about a different subject (suick mods of all things) , It goes a long ways towards explaining why I have been somewhat lax in my coverage on the other sites like muskies first hope this helps.
"I wanted to elaborate more so that there are no more conspiracy theories. And this is directed at no one in particular its just something that needs to be said.
I don’t have high speed internet at the house. Its one of the pleasures of living in paradise lol. So what I have to do is take my laptop down to the local library (30 mile round trip)
I pretty much just sit in my truck, because the library by me has really goofy hours, which is what you usually see in towns where you have a few hundred residents. Heck the post office here goes on lunch break and closes down for an hour, yes that’s right the whole post office, which I believe is 1 person. I am totally at the mercy of my laptop battery, which lasts aprox 1 hour.
Which means I have to get everything done, then go home to recharge the battery. That is why when I do post something its usually on one website. I really don’t have the time right now to jump on 3 different websites to repeat everything I just said on the one. Its not a one site against another thing. Far from it. All the sites have the same goal in mind, improving the fishing for everyone. Some sites do things differently with their boards, which really doesn’t concern me. As I am usually too busy trying to get things done to worry about any trumped up imaginary rift that is not there. If people directed the energy they put into stirring the pot, into helping improve the fishery, I think we could get a lot more things done. If someone sees something I posted elsewhere that they think would be useful on one of the other sites, feel free to copy and paste what ever you want from me. Because its strictly a time constraint, nothing else. If you had any idea how many miles I put on each running back and forth to sponge bandwidth I could have probably sent my own satellite into orbit and been cheaper.
I really didn’t want to mention this because it makes me look like a complete space cadet I got my great grandpas name wrong in the initial posting that is referred to. Only after my dad read it was my brain fart pointed out. To me he was great-grandpa Jansen, I called him Harold in the initial posting, Harold was actually my great uncle. My bad. So if I can forget something like that, you can hopefully understand why I missed a couple of dudes on the first post. And I know there are still some I probably forgot, it really isn’t intentional. They know who they are. And as I get back to it I will pop them in. I really hopes this clears things up. Cause this post cost me 20 minutes to crank out, so I got about 40 minutes to catch up on the important stuff." |
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Posts: 3240
Location: Racine, Wi | Awesome guys!!!! Great group of guys doing great things for the muskies out there. Keep it up!!!! |
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| That's good news. Thank you for all your hard work.
Edited by MuskyFix 4/16/2009 8:14 AM
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| SPECTACULAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dannyboy |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Shane being a space cadet! LOL! 
A hats off to everyone that helped out, and continues to help out with the cause! Besides the 54" on the Bay, there are groups of guys working on other causes as well that most don't know about. Gotta give props to Shane and others that are putting a ton of effort into these other efforts as well! |
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Posts: 620
Location: Seymour, WI | A big thanks to everyone who worked on this project. I'm glad spotted muskies now have a future in Green Bay.
Does anyone know if any spotted muskies will be stocked in Green Bay between now and the time these fish reach maturity?
Grass, |
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Posts: 574
| Very cool!
Did they stock those in a lake/lakes that previously had no muskies? Trying eliminate the possible interbreeding?
Edited by Jason Bomber 4/16/2009 12:21 PM
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Location: Green Bay, WI | Grass - 4/16/2009 11:46 AM
A big thanks to everyone who worked on this project. I'm glad spotted muskies now have a future in Green Bay.
Does anyone know if any spotted muskies will be stocked in Green Bay between now and the time these fish reach maturity?
Grass,
No. To my understanding, there is no additional stocking planned. However this could in fact change, once an acceptable method of disinfecting eggs of VHS is developed. I haven't talked to David Rowe on this recently though, so I don't know where that process is--but if it does indeed happen, then they could in fact harvest gametes from fish in the Fox River, rear them, and then stock them back into the system.
I completely agree with your sentiment regarding the stocking--it is great news. But here's hoping for the disinfectant...
TB |
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Posts: 1270
| GREAT NEWS! Thanks for all that made this possible. |
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Posts: 292
Location: SW MI | Congrats! We made the switch to Great lakes strain this year in Michigan too. We'll be getting ours from LSC. |
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Posts: 2024
| Many thanks to all those who contributed their time to this cause. I have never fished GB (would like to some day), but appreciate the dedication that everyone involved (in this project and other muskie ones!) exhibited. It is your kind that help perpetuate this sport for generations to come. May the Muskie Gods bless you with MANY 50s this season! |
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Posts: 101
| If you guys want to see more pics of these little guys, I put them all up online. They are downsized, but if you want I do have full-sized images of them.
~Dawg
http://s169.photobucket.com/albums/u203/MuskyDawg/Broodstock/ |
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Posts: 303
| Does anybody know if fish will be able to be stocked in the lower fox river, maybe down to Winnebago and even all the way back to Poygan? If not with these fish, can something simaler be done to begin stocking in those waters agen? |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | Well, you're really asking two questions here...CAN they be stocked, and (if so) WILL they be stocked?
For the first question, I would say that the answer is NO, not right now. There simply is no source of eggs for rearing right now, so the stocking has been halted for the bay system. As soon as an acceptable egg disinfectant protocol is developed (or the recently-stocked fingerlings become sexually mature), then stocking can resume.
Now as to whether or not the DNR will actually stock the fish where you mentioned...I have no idea. That is except to say that at one time I believe I spoke with a biologist (I don't believe it was Dave Rowe) who told me that the ultimate plan is indeed to continue stocking that system. But please don't take this to the bank--I cannot remember for certain if it was a biologist, or someone who said they *talked* to a biologist about it. But it would seem reasonable that this would be a consideration--why not? As I have been advised, Lake Winnebago has been stocked with GLS strain fish...so there are certainly going to be some fish in those waters anyway.
I bet you haven't seen the last of GLS musky stocking in the waters you mentioned, but that's just my opinion.
TB |
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Posts: 2024
| Just out of curiosity (and this isn't questioning anything/anyone), why was the stocking done at night? Reduce aerial predators? Convenience? I've never seen a stocking take place at night. Kind of adds a neat mystique to the operation! |
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Posts: 113
Location: Green Bay, WI | Sean the stocking took place at night because that is when David Rowe the biologist got back from Ontario. He wanted to waste no time stocking. Also it was a natural progression with the lakes that were planted. He hit the lake to the south on his way through and just moved his way north. There was help at each lake by clubs and individuals who just wanted to help. I know that these people were waiting or on "call" all day that week.
Jay Zahn
Titletown Muskies Inc. |
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Posts: 1270
| I'm a little confused which isn't that unusual. You say that when these fish become mature Wisconsin will have a source of disease free fish to use for stocking. But if they are released in to GB aren't they now considered diseased? Why would the DNR allow these new fish to be used for egg harvesting and stocking?
Or were these fish released into another lake in the state and they will be used as a disease free source of eggs? If so what lakes were they released in? |
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| they were released into 3j other inland lakes in order to establish those lakes as broodstock lakes...from where the DNR can collect eggs/hatch/raise fish for stocking into Green Bay.
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Location: Green Bay, WI | reelman - 4/21/2009 10:43 AM
I'm a little confused which isn't that unusual. You say that when these fish become mature Wisconsin will have a source of disease free fish to use for stocking. But if they are released in to GB aren't they now considered diseased? Why would the DNR allow these new fish to be used for egg harvesting and stocking?
Or were these fish released into another lake in the state and they will be used as a disease free source of eggs? If so what lakes were they released in?
Actually, this is a good question. Once an approved egg disinfectant protocol has been developed, then (as David Rowe explained to us last fall) the DNR could indeed harvest eggs from the fish that currently live in the bay/Fox River. But as of his talk last fall at our MI Chapter meeting, the protocol hasn't yet been approved--so there is no sure way to get VHSv-free eggs for the hatchery. Now I haven't talked to him lately to see if he's heard of progress being made, but I haven't heard anything contrary to what he told us last year.
By the way, if you haven't already checked out his talk that I video-taped, it's up on this site (thanks again MF!) so you can download it. It's in 4 parts, but easily downloaded. It turned out pretty good, and you can hear David himself talk about the egg disinfectant protocol in development...among many other things.
TB
EDIT: Here's a link to the first part of the video:
http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/watch.asp?id=1247
The other parts are on the same page...
Edited by tcbetka 4/21/2009 11:31 AM
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Posts: 1270
| OK that explains it.
Would it be possible to use a portable on sight hatchery to get around the VHS rules like are done by a lot of walleye clubs? If you are not familiar with these they are set up right on the shore of the lake and pump that lakes water through the hatchery and then when the fry hatch they are released into the lake. That way VHS eggs or water never leave the lake and go to the big hatcheries.
I'm guessing that this has already been brought up because I can't think that with all the hard work these people did someone didn't ask this question already but just in case it hasn't been is it an option? |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | Hmmm...not sure. I haven't heard anyone talk about that at all, so I can't say. But it is an interesting idea though! The next time I talk to one of the biologist-types, I'll ask them.
TB |
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Posts: 1270
| Tom, If you need some more info on this I know that Walleye's for Tomarrow runs these and I'm pretty sure that they do it for sturgeon also. Granted the fish released would be fry and not extended raised fish but anything is better than nothing. |
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Posts: 27
| How long will it take before these fish are mature? I'm not sure how long it takes for muskies to become mature in inland lakes in WI> Seems like there will be a 10 year period with no stocking in GB. Thanks. |
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Location: Green Bay, WI | At least 4-5 years old, from what I have heard. So, since there's been no stocking for the last two years now (essentially), then add five more and you are talking a good 6-7 year gap in stocking. The wild card though is the egg disinfectant process, as I mentioned above. If an acceptable process is developed, then they could harvest eggs from the existing population and stock them back into the system. It doesn't address the issue of "genetic diversity" of course, but it certainly does get new fish into the system again--and of course since VHSv isn't going away, it would be very nice to have an acceptable disinfectant process for use on the eggs of ALL broodstock, should it be necessary.
TB |
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Posts: 225
Location: Ontario, Canada | Take good care of our babies! |
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