Weird Weather and Walleye

MNR's Walleye Watch for our lake is over for another year ! Each year, about ice-out time, the rivers around the lake are watched for evidence of spawning walleye. My work , as a volunteer, involves checking the streams after dark with a powerful floodlight and during the daylight hours with amber Polaroid glasses. Any fish noted are categorized as to size and sex. Water temperatures and stream characteristics such as water depth and flow are logged. This year, because of low water levels [the fish can't navigate the streams] and widely varying water temperatures [spawning occurs at specific temperatures] the results were less than spectacular. The poor run this year was not just at our lake but throughout the County. But all is not bad news as Loon Lake's juvenile walleye are being caught and released by fishermen in increasing numbers each year.