2014 Illinois Musky Stocking Report
2014 Illinois Muskie Stocking Report
By Ray Thompson
Note: This article is in part, a summary of the 2014 Jake Wolf Hatchery report. It also includes muskie fingerlings purchased by the Fox River Valley chapter of Muskies, Inc.
A total of 29 Illinois bodies of water were stocked with 15,327-11+ muskies, produced at the Jake Wolf Hatchery, by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in 2014.
Additionally, the Fox River Valley Chapter of Muskies, Inc. donated 450, eleven to thirteen inch fingerlings purchased from the Gollon Hatchery in Dodgeville Wisconsin.
The hatchery also produced and stocked surplus fry and under-sized fingerlings. Note, fry and under-sized fingerlings have been proven by past studies to have insignificant survival and amount, in my opinion, to nothing more than food for existing fish in stocked lakes. The totals are summarized below:
Fry-295,494 (≈ 0.5)
Undersized fingerlings (2.25 - 4.2) - 53,977
11.2 & 11.3-7,461, + 11.8-7,866 = 15,327
+ 12-450-(donated)
Grand Total (11+ fingerlings) = 15,777
Table 1 summarizes the pond production, which averaged about 65 percent (compared to 83 percent in 2013).
Table 1
Pond
Number Date
Stocked Number
Stocked Size at
Stocking Date
Harvested Number
Harvested Size at Harvested Yield
%
20 6/25 7,996 5 8/6 0 0 0
21 6/25 7,984 5 8/27 7,697 11.2-11.3 96
22 6/25 7.957 5 9/2 7,866 11.8 99
Total-15,563 from 23,937 = 65% yield
15,327 stocked, 236 lost
According to Steve Krueger the Hatchery Manager: Some of the fish lost during loading was due to mechanical damage while we were crowding the fish in the raceway. Muskie typically want (to) swim up against the crowder and end up getting pinched between the crowded and the raceway wall, and some of the fish just didnt like the handling and rolled after being weighed and placed into the last stocking truck. This was the majority of the mortality. Rather than stock this load of fish, they were put back into the raceway with the plan to send samples of both symptomatic and asymptomatic fish to the USFWS lab at LaCrosse (WI) for a health inspection, but by Tuesday the fish looked great, there was no additional mortality, and when I handled them once again, they acted normal. None rolled, none died. This behavior is unique to this pond this year, and I am not positive why it happened. I did see some minor abnormality in a few gill filament in a few fish. This might have been a cumulative stress situation, where the handling from harvest the day before, warming the fish up in preparation for stocking and then handling them once again the next morning severely weakened those fish with the compromised gills. But this is just speculation on my part.
Table 2 details the individual lake stockings from all sources.
Table 2
Body of Water Number Size Date Remarks
Busse 842 11.8 9/4
Canvasback 50 11.8 9/5
Carlton 77 11.3 9/3
Clear 40 11.8 9/5 First muskie stocking for this 38 acre lake in Vermillion Co, (Kickapoo State Park)
Double T 64 11.8 9/3 Formerly known as Goose Lake
Diamond 300 11.8 9/4 First muskie stocking for this 152 acre lake in Lake Co. since the mid 70s
Eagle 202 11.8 9/5 First natural muskie stocking for this 101 acre lake in St. Clair Co. (Peabody River King State Fish & Wildlife Area)
Evergreen 926 11.8 9/3
Fox Chain 450 12 5/21 Donated by FRV-Mississippi Drainage Strain (Leech lake) Over-wintered
Fox Chain 1,590 11.8 9/4
George 168 11.3 9/3
Goldeneye 50 11.8 9/5
Hennipen-Hopper 12,500 3.5 6/4
Hennipen-Hopper 9,921 3.5 6/12
Johnson 36,084 fry 4/28
Johnson 603 11.8 9/3
Kinkaid 1,996 11.2 8/28
Mallard 90 11.8 9/4
Mill Creek 366 11.8 9/5
Otter 765 11.8 9/3
Pana 220 11.3 9/3
Pierce 162 11.8 9/4
Prairie 200 11.9 9/3
Shabbona 319 11.8 9/4
Shelbyville 23,256 2.25 5/27
Shelbyville 8,300 4.2 6/18
Shelbyville 4,080 11.2 8/28
Shelbyville 920 11.3 9/3
Shovel 69,443 fry 4/28
Shovel 11.8 11.8 9/3
Spring (North) 141,583 fry 4/24
Sterling 151 11.8 9/4
Staunton City Lake 84 11.8 9/3
Super 230 11.8 9/5
Vulcan 280 11.8 9/4 Previously known as Three Oaks
Wheel 48,384 fry 4/28
Wheel 350 11.8 9/3
