Fort Peck Walleye Spawn and Stocking Wrap-up

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks annual walleye spawn egg-take on Fort Peck Reservoir was completed at the end of April. In addition, stocking efforts were completed in June across Montana.

With the help of FWP personnel and 58 volunteers, the egg collection goals were exceeded. A total of 2,796 walleye were captured in trap nets, with approximately 96 million eggs collected.

"Inclement weather during the first part of April made collection efforts challenging with gusty winds and cold-water temperatures, but FWP staff and volunteers persevered," said Fort Peck Reservoir biologist Heath Headley. "Water temperatures returned to more normal conditions towards the end of the end of April and walleye responded very favorably."

Volunteers

Volunteers are key to this operation. This is the first time in the last three seasons, due to the pandemic, that FWP staff were able to gain the valuable help from volunteers.

"It was great to see many returning faces, and we enjoyed meeting many new volunteers," said Fort Peck Hatchery manager Wade Geraets. "It was great to see the volunteers back in action and helping with this wonderful program this year, and we hope for another exciting and fulfilling year in 2023."

"We wouldn't be able to set all the trap nets, collect fish, and spawn them on a daily basis unless we had help," added Headley. "Volunteers are the main reason this has been so successful over the years."

Stocking totals:

Roughly 51 million eggs remained at the Fort Peck Multi-Species Fish Hatchery, with about 45 million eggs going to the Miles City Hatchery.

"Not all of these eggs survive to the hatching and fry or fingerling stage, but overall, the hatcheries had good success for stocking Montana lakes and reservoirs," explained Geraets.

Combined stocking efforts from the Fort Peck and Miles City hatcheries resulted in approximately 29.8 million fry stocked back into the Fort Peck Reservoir, and 1 million fry into Tongue River Reservoir this spring.

In addition, approximately 3.2 million fingerlings from the hatcheries have been released into various water bodies this summer, including:

Region 7: Tongue River Reservoir- 52.5 thousand. South Sandstone Reservoir- 10 thousand. Lake Baker- 5 thousand. Beaver Creek- 2 thousand. Castle Rock Reservoir- 1 thousand.

Region 6: Fort Peck Reservoir- 2.9 million. Nelson Reservoir- 100 thousand. Fresno Reservoir- 50 thousand

Beaver Creek Reservoir- 15.5 thousand. Little Nelson Reservoir- 5 thousand.

Box Elder Lake- 5 thousand. Ester Lake- 4 thousand. Cow Creek Reservoir- 3 thousand.Anita Reservoir- 5 thousand.

Region 4

Lake Frances- 50.6 thousand.

Petrolia Reservoir-20.9 thousand. Bynum Reservoir- 50 thousand.