by Vern Hollister - Correspondent

Email a friend  feed   Printer friendly  Comments

While dense fog hovered over Lake Metonga Friday morning, and through the combined efforts of Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa Community and the Metonga Lake Association, 5,000 walleye fingerlings were released into the 2,000 acre lake.

A past president of the Lake Metonga Association and now one of its directors, Les Schramm said, "We found through tests and field surveys that walleyes have decreased significantly."

In an earlier, written release Schramm wrote, "Extensive electro-shocking, fyke netting and creel surveying jointly conducted by the tribe and the DNR have shown a decreasing level of walleyes in the lake. The DNR has always contended that Lake Metonga has adequate natural reproduction; and therefore, the association was not permitted to stock."

In September, however, the DNR reversed its earlier position based on data collected by Mike Preul, a fishing biologist who works for the Mole Lake tribe.

"We make an assessment of the fish community," Preul said. "Like this past year, we did a survey of all the fish. It determines whether the stock is necessary. We've seen trends that show the walleye population is becoming less and less."

The 5,000 walleye fingerlings from six to nine inches long were transported to the beach area by Tim Winkel, one of the owners of Silver Moon Springs Fish Hatchery since 1977. The hatchery is located in Elton, Wisconsin, just west of Antigo on Highway 64. Before he stocked any fish, Winkel and an association member tested the lake's water temperature. His holding tanks were at 49 degrees, the lake at 51. To stock, the temperature, Winkel said, should be within a six degree range. This match was near-perfect.

Frisky, healthy fingerlings flipped and slid through thick hoses into water at the edge of the Metonga Park beach area. About 1,000 of the young walleyes were placed in storage nets first, and association members including Schramm and Vern Dvorak; Josh Grimm, who works with Preul, and Scott Yonker from the DNR used scissors to remove the right pelvic fin of about 850 fish.

"It will allow us to track the fish over time," Preul said. He, also, in a nearby trailer that looked as if he were selling morning coffee or bratwurst, checked the weight and length of another 100. In three to five years, the walleyes, if all goes well, will meet the 15-inch slotting limits of Lake Metonga. Winkel said in four years they should be legal size.

Yonker sported a cap which said, "Creel Survey." Throughout the past summer, he performed creel surveys, as his cap indicated, solely on Lake Metonga.

"We check to see how long people have fished, what they're catching, and how the fishing seems to be," he said.

Anyone who has fished Lake Metonga has more than likely spotted him. He is sometimes on the beach, other times in a boat. If 100 people are fishing, he may discover, he said, that only ten of them have caught any. The problem could be a fish lack or a fishing ability lack.

In his 600,000 fish hatchery, Winkel said he has a fish-for-a-fee pond during the summer, raises a variety of fish from eggs, and delivers in a four-state area.

"We raise bluegills, perch, walleyes, and all the trout species - brook, brown, and rainbow," Winkel said. "We go to lakes in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, and all have been tested for VHS."

VHS represents Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia, a virus that caused great numbers of fish kills in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River in 2005-2006. Signs of the virus include hemorrhaging in the muscle tissue and organs. Any stocking, obviously, needs to be with healthy fish.

Garland McGeshick, a Tribal Councilman II and one of those observing the project, said stocking and healthy fish are important to "the whole surrounding county. Water flows to Swamp Creek to Rice Lake to the Wolf River. Metonga is one of our major lakes here. It's a big asset."

Members of the Sokaogon Chippewa harvest fish, and according to Preul, "Tribal harvest is not a significant portion of the loss." He said that tribal harvest accounts for only seven to ten percent of the fish that are taken. The Department of Natural Resources has been working at Lake Metonga since May, according to Preul. "The lake's supply of fish is not what it used to be."

Reasons for dwindling numbers could range from invasive species such as rusty crawfish or Eurasian milfoil to zebra mussels or other causes, including lack of natural reproduction. Whatever the reasons, the fish population lowered enough for the DNR to allow fingerlings to be added.

The re-stocking, not from the DNR but from the Silver Moon Springs Fish Hatchery, was a combined effort of the Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa and the Lake Metonga Association. They shared the nearly $10,000 cost. Each fingerling cost $1.95. Winkel said that musky fingerlings cost $2.95.

How the fish fare will depend on a number of variables. Winkel said that this is the best time of year to stock walleyes, when the temperature is colder and predator fish are less likely to be hungry, as will the fingerlings. During the winter they survive in an almost hibernating mode, like a raccoon, he said. How complete their survival will be determined from tests Preul conducts from the fin-clipped walleyes. The fins grow back, he said, but a trained eye can tell. He estimated a non-specific wide range, from 25% to as high as 80%, as to how many would survive.

Both the lake association and the Mole Lake tribe share in their desire for the project to succeed.

"It's a beautiful natural resource," Schramm said, "and we want to keep it that way."

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.

Post a comment (150 word limit) »

We will not post reader comments containing racial, religious or personal attacks, slander, profanity, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers or Web site addresses that are for personal or promotional gain.

Name: Email: (optional) Comments: Image Verification: (Case sensitive)

Thank you for your comments! Once your comments are approved, they will appear on the site.