Hello again my fishing a"fish"cianados!

    Last night we had our monthly meeting for the board of directors of the Oneida Lake Association at the Fish Cultural Station in Constantia, NY on Oneida Lake. Mark Babenzien, director of operations at the hatchery gave us a very impressive report on this year's walleye run.

    First net sets occurred on Sunday, April 6 and by Monday, April 7 the complete staff of hatchery personnel were on hand to assist with transferring both male and female walleyes from the nets to the hatchery tanks for processing...stripping eggs and collecting milt. The hatchery sits on Scriba creek where the water temperature changed from 38 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday the 6th. to 52 degrees by Sat., April 12. This accelerated the ripening of the females and by Sunday, April 13 the entire ordeal was over.

    Three hundred and twenty million walleye eggs, from 6300 females, fertilized by milt from 7100 males all in one week. Maybe our government in Albany should use this paradigm next budget go around.

     Roughly 150 to 200 million walleye fry are earmarked for distribution in Oneida Lake. Others will go elsewhere throughout the state to enhance and reclaim walleye stocks. Some are destined for "pond" rearing. The fry will be ready by the end of the month. Currently the eggs are in incubator jars in a controlled, disease free environment. This year's eggs were treated with iodine as an extra precaution to guard against VHS and other infections. 

    By contrast, last year's water temperature hardly rose above 38 degrees during the entire spawning effort. This prolonged ripening. If temperatures continue to rise, I suspect walleyes to be mostly in the lake on opening weekend, May 3, 4.  My best bet is that they will also be in the deeper holding areas  25 to 35 feet. Get out the jigs and blades!

    Don't miss this year's annual meeting of the Oneida Lake Association on Wed., April 30 at the Cicero North Syracuse HS at 6:00 A.M. We have an impressive slate of speakers and presentations. If you want information about: Hatchery operations, walleye/yellow perch populations, cormorant economics 101, NYSDEC plans for Oneida lake, global warming and Oneida lake, and New York Sea Grant's Oneida lake Education Initiative then don't miss this years annual meeting.  If you can not attend please support the Association by becoming a member. Simply visit the web site www.oneidalakeassociation.org  where you can join online. Better yet, come to the meeting and sign up there.

    A few walleyes were still in the tanks as of Monday night.

Here is a nice five pound walleye which will make its way back to the lake.

And of course no hatchery visit is complete without the requisite shot of a sturgeon. Oneida now has sturgeon pushing 60 lbs. Cornell scientists at Shackleton Point  netted a variety from 15 to 60 lbs. last year.