Walleye survey shows big, healthy fish in local rivers

“With a cold front like this, the fish just do not move,” said Missouri Department of Conservation Fisheries Management Biologist Paul Cieslewicz, climbing out of a boat along the shore of the Black River below the Clearwater Lake dam Sunday afternoon.

Cieslewicz had spent the last couple hours running gill nets, hoping to catch lots of walleyes for his annual survey, with very limited success. He also was a bit nervous because he was tasked with catching 30 male and 10 female walleyes in peak spawning condition to be used as brood stock at MDC’s Chesapeake Hatchery.

He was, however, able to gather information on 20 paddlefish he captured.

Biologist Paul Cieslewicz (right) holds a large walleye while biologist Dave Knuth clips a segment of its tail fin for genetic testing.DAR/PAUL DAVIS

“If we didn’t have this front, there’s no telling how many paddlefish we’d have,” he said.

A couple hours later, after it got dark, the tables turned and he, Dave Knuth and other biologists ended up having one of their best walleye survey nights in memory.

“That’s the best I ever did in one night,” said Cieslewicz of Sunday night’s operation, where more than 30 female walleyes were captured using either gill nets or electrofishing equipment.

MDC’s Ray Hendrickson places paddlefish into a holding tank during a Sunday evening survey on the Black River.DAR/PAUL DAVIS

Along with the females, Cieslewicz said, more than 40 males were caught as well.

Weights ranged from 1- to 3-plus pounds for the males up to 13 pounds for the females.

“We had three that were 10 pounds,” Cieslewicz said, noting most females ranged between 4 and 6 pounds.

Only two of the females were spent, or had released their eggs, he said.

“They’re spawning right now,” he emphasized, “but it’s a little later than normal. The spawn was pushed back, and I think it’s because of the water temperature.”

The river was reading 42 to 47 degrees Sunday evening, depending on location, but had fallen to 41 Monday.

“We should be at 50 easy,” Cieslewicz said, which is the ideal temperature for walleye spawning.

Peak spawning time, he said, usually occurs during the first week of March and lasts about a week and a half.

“They don’t all spawn on the same night,” he said, noting spawning time typically tapers off through about March 20, when it’s generally done for the year.

Local walleyes are considered a special Black River strain, and fingerlings produced from the brood stock captured in the Current and Black rivers are used to stock those rivers, plus the St. Francis and Eleven Point rivers. Natural reproduction also occurs.

Sunday’s captured walleyes were tagged and samples from each tail fin were clipped for genetic testing, while a few received radio transmitters implanted into their abdomens.

The spawn-ready walleyes were transported overnight to the hatchery, west of Springfield, where they were to be added to the specimens captured a week earlier from the Current River.

After staff are finished with the brood-stock fish in a couple weeks, they will be released into the Eleven Point River, and most, if not all, will eventually return to the Black and Current rivers.

The 50,000 or so fingerlings raised at the hatchery this spring, Cieslewicz said, are scheduled to be stocked into the St. Francis River, which is on a four-year rotation with the other waterways.

If any tiny walleye fry are left over at the hatchery, they will be given to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologists for stocking in that state.

Such cooperative work with AGFC staff, Cieslewicz said, will only help each agency in the long run.

As far as the Black River’s fish, Cieslewicz said, they look to be in good health.

“They look good, and we saw all different sizes. We have quality fish, and with several walleyes ranging from 10 to 13 pounds in the river system, we have a unique fishery,” he said.

Typically, lake walleyes grow larger than river fish, but the Black River strain bucks that trend.

“Anglers have a great opportunity to catch some really nice walleyes here,” Cieslewicz said.

Walleyes must be at least 18 inches long to keep from the St. Francis River upstream of Wappapello Lake and anywhere in the Eleven Point and Current rivers. On the Black River, they must be at least 15 inches long.

While the larger females are legal to keep, Cieslewicz urges anglers to release them so they can successfully spawn.

“There are a lot of eggs in those 10-pounders,” he said.