by
Craig Lemon
Hatchery Superintendent, and
Ed Washuta,
Fisheries Pathologist
May, 2005
The
2005 spring trap-netting season got off to a late start due to extended ice cover
on most of the North Jersey brood stock lakes - but the late spring did not deter
the Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries
staff or prevent a successful outcome to the annual brood stock collection program.
Crew
Supervisor Ed Conley with Farrington Lake northern pike.
Click to enlarge
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While
ice cover remained on Budd Lake through most of March and delayed efforts to collect
adult northern pike, the Hackettstown
State Fish Hatchery staff set their sights further south on Farrington Lake,
which has harbored some nice northerns in the past. In one week of trap-netting
on Farrington (March 21-28), eight northern pike were captured, including a 14.4
pound female. Those fish produced enough eggs to give the hatchery a good start
to the pike rearing season.
Heavy
rains in late March removed enough of the ice from Budd Lake so that the Hackettstown
Hatchery staff was able to get a boat on that lake on March 30. Navigating around
some ice chunks, the hatchery brood stock collection crew set nets on Budd and
collected fifty-six northerns in less than a week.
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Because
of the late start on Budd, most of the female pike caught there were spent (had
already released their eggs); however, two ripe females provided enough eggs so
that the hatchery was able to reach their northern pike quota between the two
lakes (Farrington and Budd).
By the end of the first week in April, brood stock collection was in full swing.
On April 4th while the Hackettstown Hatchery staff were pulling their nets from
Budd Lake to complete the northern pike collection, a crew from the Bureau of
Freshwater Fisheries field office in Lebanon set their nets in Mercer Lake in
an attempt to capture adult muskellunge.
The
following day, April 5th, the Hackettstown crew was back out with their nets,
this time to Swartswood Lake in pursuit of walleye brood stock.
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Volunteer
Carly Serafin with Budd Lake northern pike.
Click to enlarge
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The
Lebanon staff had its second consecutive successful year at Mercer Lake collecting
30 adult muskellunge in five days (April 4-8). The size of Mercer's muskies continued
to surprise biologists with the largest female weighing in at over 20 pounds.
In addition to obtaining eggs for it's muskellunge rearing program, hatchery workers
take advantage of the overlap between northern pike and muskellunge spawning seasons
to create tiger muskies, a hybrid between the two species.
Fisheries
Worker Amy Schweitzer with Swartswood Lake walleye.
Click
to enlarge
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The
hatchery staff was pleasantly surprised with the size and quantity of walleyes
captured at Swartswood Lake. Over 170 walleyes were caught in the trap nets, including
42 fish over five pounds and three over ten pounds. The largest walleye from Swartswood
tipped the scales at 11.58 pounds and the longest measured 29 inches in length.
An unusual twist to the walleye collecting effort at Swartswood resulted from
the somewhat late start to the season. Prolonged ice cover on the lake allowed
pre-spawn male walleyes to ascend the lake's tributaries before trap nets could
be set.
Of
the first 160 walleyes collected, 130 were females and only 30 were males. Most
of the females were either ripe or within 1-2 days of releasing their eggs, a
situation which required some quick action on the part of the hatchery's brood
stock crew. To compensate for the imbalance between the sexes, the crew resorted
to an alternate method to collect the extra males needed for spawning.
On April 8th, hatchery employees electrofished Neldon Brook, a major tributary
to Swartswood Lake and in a short period of time were able to collect an additional
50 male walleyes. Overall size data collected from Swartswood Lake walleyes showed
that fish collected in 2005 were larger than those collected in 2004, a trend
observed over the past three years.
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The
final phase of the Hackettstown Hatchery's broodstock collection season involved
muskellunge trapnetting in New Jersey's two premier musky lakes, Greenwood Lake
and Echo Lake Reservoir. Between April 7th, when nets were first set in Greenwood
Lake, and April 22nd, when the nets were removed from Echo, a total of thirty-one
muskellunge were captured from the two lakes.
The
hatchery crew's success in collecting muskies from Greenwood Lake in 2005 was
notable in that eighteen fish were caught in just two days this spring. That compared
to only ten muskies caught over a 23-day period in Greenwood during the spring
of 2004. The size of muskellunge collected from both Greenwood and Echo was a
reflection of the "trophy" quality of the fishing that they provide.
Of the eighteen muskies collected from Greenwood, six were over 40 inches long,
with the biggest being 48 inches long and weighing 33.6 pounds. Five of the thirteen
Echo Lake muskies exceeded the 40-inch mark; the longest was 49 inches and weighed
26.6 pounds.
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Fisheries
Worker James Hartobey with Mercer Lake muskellunge.
Click
to enlarge
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Fisheries
Pathologist Ed Washuta with a Swartswood walleye.
Click
to enlarge
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All
adult muskies handled at the hatchery over the past several years have been tagged
with orange streamer tags inserted near the base of the dorsal fin. The tags bear
the message "CALL HACKETTSTOWN HATCHERY 908-852-4950" along with
a tag number. Anglers who call in to report catching a tagged fish will be told
when the fish was tagged as well as its length and weight at the time of tagging.
The
purpose of the Hackettstown Hatchery's brook stock program is to provide the eggs
from which fish are raised at the hatchery. All fish raised at the Hackettstown
Hatchery are stocked in public waters throughout the state to provide recreational
fishing for licensed anglers and their families. (See the Stocking Summaries for details.)
In
2005, Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries biologists have requested the Hackettstown
Hatchery to produce the following:
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24,520 northern pike fingerlings for stocking in:
Cranberry Lake (Sussex County), Pompton Lake (Passaic County), Spruce Run Reservoir
(Hunterdon County), Pompton River, Budd Lake (Morris County), Farrington Lake
(Middlesex County), Deal Lake (Monmouth County) Millstone River and the Passaic
River.
2,864
tiger muskies for stocking in:
Furnace Lake (Warren County), Greenwood Lake (Passaic County), Lake Hopatcong
(Morris County), Delaware & Raritan Canal and Little Swartswood Lake (Sussex
County).
6,965
muskellunge for stocking in:
Greenwood Lake (Passaic County), Lake Hopatcong (Morris County), Manasquan Reservoir
(Monmouth County), Carnegie Lake (Mercer County), Mercer Lake (Mercer County),
Echo Lake Reservoir (Passaic County), Mountain Lake (Warren County), Monksville
Reservoir (Passaic County), Shenandoah Lake (Ocean County), and Cooper River Lake
(Camden County).
244,420
walleyes for stocking in:
Lake Hopatcong (Morris County), Swartswood Lake (Sussex County), Greenwood Lake
(Passaic County), Canistear Reservoir (Sussex County), and Monksville Reservoir
(Passaic County)
Below
are summary tables of fish collected in Spring, 2005.
NORTHERN
PIKE
WATER BODY
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# DAYS NETS WERE SET
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# FISH CAUGHT
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AVERAGE LENGTH (INCHES)
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LARGEST FISH (INCHES)
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AVERAGE WEIGHT (POUNDS)
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LARGEST FISH (POUNDS)
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BUDD LAKE
|
5
|
56
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20.9
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34.4
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2.36
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9.1
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FARRINGTON LAKE
|
6
|
8
|
23.3
|
37.5
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4.13
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14.4
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MUSKELLUNGE
WATER BODY
|
# DAYS NETS WERE SET
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# FISH CAUGHT
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AVERAGE LENGTH (INCHES)
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LARGEST FISH (INCHES)
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AVERAGE WEIGHT (POUNDS)
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LARGEST FISH (POUNDS)
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ECHO LAKE RESERVOIR
|
9
|
13
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39.5
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49
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15.8
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28.9
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GREENWOOD LAKE
|
2
|
18
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37.2
|
48
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15.5
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33.6
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MERCER LAKE
|
4
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30
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33.9
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41.6
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10.98
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20.4
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WALLEYE
WATER BODY
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# DAYS NETS WERE SET
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# FISH CAUGHT
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AVERAGE LENGTH (INCHES)
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LARGEST FISH (INCHES)
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AVERAGE WEIGHT (POUNDS)
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LARGEST FISH (POUNDS)
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SWARTSWOOD LAKE
|
3
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225
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20.4
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29
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3.77
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11.58
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