PUEBLO — Walleye in Lake Pueblo are getting some reproductive help this week from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW).
“They spawn at Pueblo, early March through mid-April, when the water temps are between 38 and 45 degrees,” said CPW Aquatic Biologist Carrie Tucker, “So it has to happen at this time of year. If we're too early, they're not ready, and if we're too late, they're already done.”
CPW teams put out nets along rocky areas of the shore where the fish gather to spawn.
“The fish don't see them very well, and they'll swim like, kind of straight into them,” said CPW Senior Aquatic Biologist, Paul Foutz, “Doesn't really harm them. Just kind of holds them.”
The process brings in thousands of fish over the 10 to 15 days of the effort.
The Walleye are brought back to a CPW boat house where they are sorted into tanks.
Male and female.
Females are classified by the status of egg production.
“Ripe means that the eggs are ready to come out of the females,” said Tucker, “Green fish means that it's a female that has eggs, but the eggs aren't quite ready to come out yet.”
This year’s collection is harvesting nearly a quarter million eggs for every three to four female fish.
“Our statewide egg goal is 130 million eggs,” said Tucker.
Walleye do reproduce on their own in the lake, but the CPW process is more successful.
Tucker said, “This is critical to us. Having a very diverse fishery across the state, but especially. Pueblo Reservoir.”
The fertilized eggs go to a nearby hatchery.
In just a couple of weeks, the hatched fingerling fish will go back into the lake.
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