I just did pretty good any legal even oh that's a damn soccer I got up to I got up to
oh well yeah good thing is you can leave them on the bank it'll be here
morning how are you doing well anything biting today well yeah we're out here
yesterday and there were quite a few fish around we got we tagged over 200
yesterday yep so oh okay well we'll get one of our dip nets out actually and
see if we can oh well then I don't know that we'll be able to get it if it's already
hooked on
I got distracted there for a second I thought it was somebody fell out of their
kayak right there and that was when I got too close to the too close to the
dock I thought there's somebody just fell in the water out of their kayak and
it's not a good time to be in the water but then I saw the little diver flag and
saw their fins so they scared the the jeepers out of me for a second
all right we should be ready to go but he can hop on here now that I'm not
hanging into the dog what is that add the diver do you know okay scared the saw
the empty kayak island right up here it's relatively shallow in this area only
four to five feet deep so our electro fishing works really well and there's
some really shallow ripple areas that we caught a couple of females that were
releasing eggs on the other day so there might be some of the early spawners
moving up to spawn in those areas typically not our electro fishing is
only effective in maybe five feet of water six feet of water at best and so
we typically stay up in these shallower areas where we can more effectively
operate once you move downstream it gets pretty deep pretty quickly it's a I
think more of a dredged river farther downstream so we're not that effective
so we mostly target areas where where our gear is going to be effective
so Brandon you want to spin the the booms around and
let's just move behind and grab a little bit of water out and collect some of the data that
we collect when we temperature the data that we collect
before we start
nominee river marinette county
eight is the eighth
the water temp is 36.5 degrees
first station for the day we're gonna give all the walleyes we capture flight eggs we're targeting
walleyes doing some pulsed sea seed
so
How does every temperature affect the walleyes
So, the water temperature is one of the key factors that brings them up to spawn as the
rivers start to warm up in the spring and we get higher flows.
They tend to move up to spawn.
It also likely influences their egg development.
We will get some females that are already spawning, you know, but being a cold water
fish kind of their metabolism and things work based on water temperatures, typically
while I try to spawn when water temperatures get to be that 42 to 43 degree range.
So, it was a little bit warmer last week, but it's since it's gotten pretty cold, so.
Okay, I don't know what's, why is this not closed?
Okay, now I have my bedroom.
It comes out of the generator, runs through the wire, and it actually comes into our box
through another wire down there, so this is our whole control box, this is what controls
the amount of electricity and the type of electricity, whether it's AC or DC that we're
actually putting into the water, and I'll be driving the boat as well as the electrical
settings from the box.
Once we get the electrical settings the way we want them, it goes through another wire
out of the box and through the boat, through wires, through the boat, and up through wires
that run through those orange booms that are sticking out in front of the boat there, and
then it, eventually those wires connect to those steel rings that are out on the front
of the booms and goes into the water in those droppers that are spun around, sprung around
the rings that are out on the front of the booms there.
So that's how the electrical field is created, and the whole boat actually completes the
electrical field, so the electrical field is kind of centered right out in between the
droppers or the ends of the booms and the boat out on the front, so that's where the fish
are going to get stunned, so that those people standing up on the front of the boat
can actually dip the fish and put them in the live wall behind them there, so.
Alright, it's hooked up, so are we getting ready?
Let's see what's going on here, and it's going to be 948, GPS coordinates 45, 0, 6.8,
0, 9, 3, 7, 3, 7, 4, 5, 8, 9.
So it's just our starting time and our starting GPS location.
Alright.
You guys are on, and we are cracking.
We don't need a lot of electricity to shock walleyes, especially when the water is in
the air is cold, we're running about 120 volts and 4 amps right now as far as our electrical
settings go, so we run much higher settings if we're doing like fast pan-fish surveys
later in the spring when water temps are warmer.
A lot of it is just the colder water, they do have different like ions in their body,
so they're susceptible, they have different susceptibility to electricity, and different
settings work best for different species, but with the cold water it doesn't take a
lot of electricity in my experience to really shock them.
We're in a little bit deeper water here, we're in 5 to 6 feet, I want to get up into
this and shallow our water up here, look our way up there.
You said that the light tank was about 30.
Yeah that's typically what we uncomfortable putting in there, we've got two fill pumps
that I can run and a recirculating pump to keep fresh water going over them, a lot depends
on the size of the fish, if it's smaller males we can put more in there, if we get more of
the bigger females, they don't fit as many of them, so we can fill it up every time we
go out.
Not necessarily if we have a really poor station, you know we kind of run out of shocking room
then we, what we get is what we get.
Hey Brandon, is that guy around the corner that was fishing there?
That's what you see, not off the point anymore.
Some of the fish do take a little bit of time to recover, it all depends on where they came
up in the electrical field and the time that they were in the electrical field for how
long they might have gotten stunned, some of them as you saw, as soon as you put them
in the live while they're swimming away, others of them take a little bit of time.
Oh boy Tim, now we're getting up and doing a little shallow water and should see some
more fish that are in three to four feet now.
There we go.
There we go.
Is your stuff okay getting wet?
Yeah.
So we started off into some of the deeper water where there are many fish, and we moved up
here to some of the shallow water right at the base of some of those fish right below
these ripples, so that's been scooping two, two, three fish at a time sometimes in the nets.
The green bay supports a really, really healthy walleye population.
Based on our creel surveys over the last couple of years, it's estimated that anglers are catching
about 300,000 walleyes and harvesting 150,000 walleyes, so it supports a really healthy walleye
fish. People come from all over the Midwest now to fish for walleyes, especially in the
spring when the larger females are moving up into the shallow water. People can shorefish
for them. You don't need a really big boat to fish for them out on the bay, but yesterday
I talked to a group of guys that were here from South Dakota. They came all the way over
from the Dakotas to try their hand at fishing the green bay walleye fishery, so it's a really
healthy, really popular fishery right now.
All their species are walleye and or they have ice, so they can do really fish.
Sorry Brandon, I was going too fast.
The interesting to see if you get some cool GoPro footage off of those nets, or off of
that net handle.
There we go.
The green bay fishery is the shore fishing opportunities that it provides in the spring.
It's not uncommon for us to see all kinds. There's along this shoreline here and shorelines
around the Menominee River. Also the Ocanto River, Pachtego River, Fox River, and Sturgeon
Bay areas all have really big spawning populations of walleyes and shore anglers. You don't even
need a boat. You can come and catch walleyes all day long from shore in these locations.
So it provides a unique opportunity that most other places don't exist. We do have reduced
bag limits in the spring. It's a one bag and a 15 inch minimum on much of the system except
for the Fox River. It has a one bag and a 28 inch minimum, but anglers certainly have the
opportunity to come out here and fish for really big walleyes without a boat, which is
pretty cool. There's not a lot of other places that you can fish for really big walleyes without a boat.
Nice tip.
Here I see that we're in rocks now.
And other fish, if we end up getting a lure that's in one of the walleyes that we capture,
I oftentimes donate those to kids if we see them along the shoreline just to give them a little
something from their trip as well. But there's not a lot of opportunities that younger kids
have to come and shore fish and see many walleyes and this many fish get caught.
I don't know if we've got a 30% bet.
No, I don't think we've got any 30s.
Submit that for 20s.
28.
I want to be outside.
Just back here.
Yeah.
I'm going to nudge this up a little bit under the sand.
We're a big reward tag study that we started last year.
Our goal is to tag up to 5,000 walleyes each year across, each spring across the green
bay system to get a better estimate of angler exploitation rates or the percentage of the
adult walleye population that's harvested by anglers every year.
So we're putting out about 5,000 tags and we can get the percentage of the adult population
based on kind of the percentage of tag returns that anglers report by calling them in.
So we're going to insert the tags right behind and right below the back dorsal fin on the left
side of the fish and each one of the tags has its own unique number associated with it
and there's an email address on the tags for reporting those tag returns to the email.
We also have a phone number to report those tags to and that's area code 9206625411.
So we encourage anglers to report all of the tag walleyes that they catch on the green
bay system.
So we're going to start with yellow tags.
Those are non-reward tags.
So if an angler reports catching a walleye with a yellow tag, we'll give them the history
of that fish, where it was tagged, when it was tagged, how big it was when it was tagged.
It's estimated age based on its length and our growth rates and things so it's cool.
We send it to them on a certificate.
We do are putting out red reward tags as well.
This year we're going to put out 400 red reward tags and anglers receive a $100 reward
from walleyes for tomorrow, our partner on this project, and we're really grateful for
their support in order to do the reward tag component of this.
So if an angler catches a red reward tag walleye and it's still valid, they'll receive $100
from walleyes for tomorrow.
The reward tags are valid for approximately a year.
The reward tags that we're putting out this year, this spring, are valid until March 31st
in 2026 and we've got about 250 or 260 of the 400 reward tags that we're going to put out
this year out in the system already.
So, yes, we'll work through processing some fish.
Get some real quick.
I'm ready.
Alright, green.
So that means that it's a female that hasn't released her eggs yet.
And she's still hard or green.
She's still past this lawn yet.
It's 730.
730 millimeters.
And that's what, like 28 inches?
28 to 3 quarter.
28 and 3 quarter inches.
Okay.
Then Brandon will insert the Floyd tag right below the door so fit on the side of the fish there.
And the Floyd tags have got a little T at the end and that T hooks into their rays that
stick down from their fin into the body to help hold those in place.
21514.
21514.
So that's the five-digit number that's associated with that walleye.
And then they get released.
Green.
638.
638.
So 21515.
This fella right here yesterday.
He still says it's 3 feet at the back of the door.
You seem to be doing okay right here?
Yeah.
No.
Okay.
Green.
694.
Another one that's just shy of 28 inches.
It's a walleye slide.
Male 493.
Green.
703.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
903.
1103.
Green.
613...
Green.
652.
Green, 652, are their bellies pretty hard, or are they softening up?
They're getting a little softer, but this one is not.
So as the females get closer to laying their eggs, their bellies start to get quite a bit softer.
21520 was the tag to run the last one.
Yep.
Green, 611.
Green, 640.
Green, 638.
Male, 553.
Green, 584.
That should be the last tag on that wrap, right?
Yep.
Okay.
Kiss him?
Yep.
Male, 513.
This would be 21526.
11526.
Perfect.
Alright.
Some of them are really, really bad.
Cool.
That was getting really soft.
Green, 649.
Nice female.
A bigger girl.
Green, 722.
Yep, 28-inch shirt.
Green, 568.
Male.
501.
Male.
498.
Male.
Let's do a tag check.
655.
533.
That's what I have.
2533.
Yeah, 21533.
Okay.
I said 2.
I don't know.
533.
Okay.
Green, 600.
Green, 633.
Male.
552.
Green, 594.
547.
Yep.
Male.
546.
Male.
515.
Green.
655.
Male.
547.
Male.
521.
Green.
610.
Is that 21594?
21594.
21594.
Oh, yeah, 444.
486.
Male.
528.
486.
Male.
603.
Green.
486.
Triple six.
Male.
568.
568.
It should be 2150.
Yep.
There's still quite a few fish in there.
No, not a pun.
That was fish number 37, now we were.
So.
There you go.
521.
551.
Yep.
Male.
478.
Definitely male.
532.
Male.
478.
Male.
467.
Male.
492.
Green.
568.
Male.
500.
Male.
562.
It should be 560.
Yep.
Green.
Let me say Jason.
It could be the first time this morning.
526.
Likely.
That took around 20 inches.
Yeah, a little problem would be 5.
5, and that's when they were expected in 30.
Most females start to spawn at 5 in the Green and Late system.
Okay.
Which is older than a lot of other places.
Male.
500.
Male.
514.
Oh, great one.
Male.
These are 23 inches.
589.
Let me just look at them and tell it's a little bit.
Oh, I know.
It's got an image.
Yeah.
It's got that look down.
It's center on the water.
Male.
485.
Alright, nice work.
Oh, Jesus.
I gotta change up what I'm doing apparently.
Anyhow.
Do you know where the sucker bite is?
Brandon will take you up on fishing for some,
especially if you catch a long nose sucker.
Yeah.
Here's styles.
I'm gonna name it.
I don't recall seeing as many long nose suckers when we were shocked in the Oconto.
More white suckers in Redhorse.
I think it's a single long nose.
For some reason they don't go in there, but the Pestigo and here they...
Yeah, I've seen a lot more in the...
I don't see them in the Fox either.
Why particularly do you want long nose there?
He wants it because there's not a state record for it.
And he wants another state record.
They're in the Great Lakes.
Typically there are fish that's caught in the place.
We'll see if I can get a service.
Yeah?
Yeah.
So like the fact that we have in the Great Lakes is super interesting.
Yeah.
To get him in the trawler in my tiny beach is on my top.
Oh.
So they sit on the deep water and they're only up here for a few reasons.
That trawler would be something cool to see.
Gotta be a lot of interested stuff in there.
Yeah.
I mean, it's cool to see some of the porridge.
Yeah.
See how they owe it.
Where did that piece of paper go?
What's looking for, Jason?
There's some paper just...
You are on and we are shocking.
I'm good.
Yeah.
I thought for sure we would have gotten some fish in there.
There's a little high-rise reef area right back there that they usually sit right behind.
But...
Certainly not right now.
And the idea of spawning dates, yet, or just for, you know...
For muskies, it's way too early for those.
Everything is...
I'm gonna do it as early as possible from a water temperature standpoint.
You know, things are trending a little bit...
A little bit farther behind.
This is the way this year.
Yeah.
We spawned walleyes on April 10th last year on the Menominee.
We don't have the water temperatures to really...
To really get...
I don't think enough egg development and stuff to be spawning in two days,
so it's likely gonna be next week when we're spawning walleyes.
And so everything seems to be about a week behind,
but that can really change very much in the next month or so.
I'm gonna try to do it the first week of May, if we can.
Last year, I don't remember if it was the 30th of April or the 1st of May or something.
It was...
Yeah, it was really early last year.
But I don't know where it'll be this year.
This was loaded with fish yesterday.
I wonder if new fish didn't push in?
Right.
We do see that sometimes.
Yeah.
For walleyes.
For walleyes for tomorrow?
Nope.
No.
For you guys for other systems?
Yes.
So, to follow our genetics guidelines...
You know, we have the Lake Michigan drainage for our walleyes strain,
so wild rose hatchery will actually be here spawning...
Menominee River walleyes.
Let's see what's up on this flat.
And then we also...
I think white sucker.
I missed it.
We also partner with Mole Lake,
which is a tribal hatchery.
They have their own hatchery and they...
The majority of their lakes are in the...
Lake Michigan drainage.
Sorry, I'm trying to talk and drive
and watch my locator to see fish in rocks.
So, I'm trying to watch what Brandon's doing to make sure that everything is good with him.
There we go.
So...
But yeah, those two hatcheries will be here collecting eggs and spawning walleyes.
So, it's mostly Lake Michigan...
Fish are what wild rose raises.
That's mostly the base in that...
You know, we're mostly in the Lake Michigan drainage,
so it's almost all Lake Michigan walleyes that get stocked.
It's one or so other strains, just where it's located, like close enough to the Wisconsin River.
They...
No, I won't like it to do.
I think I've looked at what's happening with me.
Okay.
One day, we can see what's happening.
That's not really like...
The day I like today,
they'll be out this afternoon when it warms up a little,
then it was pretty chilly this morning.
They're starting to show up. There's some over there.
When we had higher water earlier...
Last week...
we ran that rapid...
and we were able to shock up in there and we just didn't catch much yet.
Yep.
Thanks for coming and helping.
Thanks for coming and helping.
There's definitely fish around.
There's a lot of fish around here.
Have you ever...
Yeah, but you wouldn't go up there right now.
Yeah, because...
I was comfortable enough getting...
fairly deep in between that ripple and that railroad bridge,
but I could not get...
I was not comfortable with the amount of water that was coming through that railroad bridge
to get any farther upstream.
That looks like a tank.
Except off.
There we go.
Two bigger females laying down here again.
I run those mostly males, so...
There we go.
Yep.
Little rock islands are for those natural or...
Yeah, that's all natural.
That's kind of the whole island complex through there.
Almost until you get to that flagpole.
There's a name for that island, but I can't remember it off the top of my head.
What?
I did.
One of the first trips that we were up in.
There's not gonna lie on the list.
There's a lot of sand and fog.
Yeah.
There's some rock areas, but a lot of sand and fog.
Very good muffin.
Green.
6.1.5.
Good.
2.1.5.6.
Yep.
Ready.
Green.
5.8.7.
5.8.
Male.
5.4.1.
Male.
5.0.5.3.5.
Oh, that's a very capture.
Okay.
There we go.
Green.
Green.
6.4.5.
Tag number.
2.1.2.9.7.
2.1.3.9.7.
So that would have been one that we tagged earlier this spring.
Yep.
Male.5.1.
5.2.1.
Yes.
Male.
Oh no.
5.4.2.
Male.
5.3.5.
Good.
Yep.
End of the rack.
Nice.
Green.
6.8.0.
2.1.5.7.6.
Yep.
5.5.2.
5.5.2.
5.5.2.
Male.
5.2.0.
Oh, what's this, Jason?
That is mental systems.
This, I believe, like a humble type infection that you get.
You see it on some of their size.
Okay.
Non-harmful.
The best.
The horror knowledge.
I haven't heard it ever attributed to fish kills.
Now it's tag number.
2.1.5.7.9.
Yep.
That's correct.
Male.
5.9.8.
Come on.
5.07.
Green.
5.78.
Male.
5.16.
5.40.
Male.
4.86.
What was that length I didn't have to go by.
5.27.
All right.
Tag number.
2.15.86.
Yep.
Male.
5.14.
5.14.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.16.
5.14.
Male. 4.68.
Male.
5.52.
Are we good?
Yep.
I'm rolling.
All right.
So I just wanted to add about the reward tags if anglers do catch a reward tag walleye
that is valid.
They do need proof that they caught that reward tag fish to get the $100 reward for walleyes
for tomorrow and they could either provide picture proof so they can take a picture of
the tag including the three digit tag number.
The red tags are all three digit tag numbers associated with them.
The yellow tags are five digit numbers so they can take a picture of the tag including
the three digit number as well as the angler holding the fish or if they keep the fish
they can mail the tag in or mail pictures of the tag after they fillet but they do need
to also provide proof to get the $100 from walleyes for tomorrow.
All right.
Just mulling at you.
How long have you been doing this?
Like as a biologist or doing this tagging for this year?
We're working the tagging with the walleye just in general.
So we typically start tagging in mid-March or early March down on the Fox River.
The Fox River is at far southern Green Bay and so that tends to warm up faster and get
the earliest walleye run.
So in our last tagging will be the last time you were out here.
It was very cold and windy.
Yep.
What keeps you coming out here in like that weather year after year?
It's the desire to do a good job at managing the walleye fishery.
When the fish are here this is our best opportunity to get our hands on large numbers of fish to tag
the numbers of fish that we need to tag and so as long as it's not a safety concern like our boats
started to ice up throughout the day yesterday so then we stop but as long as it's not a
safety hazard we work in all kinds of weather to get the job done.
So we need to do an effective job at managing the fisheries that we're tasked with managing.
A good answer for you other than it's likely or potentially driven by changes in substrate.
Just below there's some really shallow rapids sections up there and of course our cobble gravel
which is the type of substrate that the walleyes are likely looking for to spawn and there's
some deeper holes that seem to be holding really good numbers of fish right below those cobble
kind of fractured bedrock areas but I think once we move farther downstream it tends to be more
softer, sandier, muckier substrates and they don't seem to be holding down below the bridge
like they are up above the bridge so that's my only thought but that may be completely wrong
I don't have a guaranteed answer for you.
I didn't see if those guys got a walleye or if they had a sucker was a walleye?
Nice.
We'll have to fix that when we get home.
We'll have to fix that.
Based on size at stocking and stocking locations so that requires recaptures of those fish that we're
taking at the time of stocking so that would really really help us understand or maximize
the efficiency of our stocking based on how big do they need to get to maximize survival
and where should we be stocking these things because if we can't get enough natural reproduction
for muskies and it's going to be a stock fishery moving forward then it's really maximizing
the efficiency of that stocking success to create the best fishery.
We'll recapture that as the big one.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll have to fix that.
We'll fix that.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
I'm going to go ahead and see if I can get a little bit of water out of here.
What's your favorite one off the generator?
Oh, just a little battery right here.
Oh, the boat. Yeah, yeah, I got it. They run me. Yeah, everything's off a generator for the
electricity in that. They've got, see the other red, red thing there, it's what's pumping me pumping
the, pumping the electricity up to the front there.
Around the next couple or.
So
So
So
So
So
So
Oh
I'm going to grab a rack of each and do a little comparison of what the tags themselves
say. So these are the red reward tags that we're putting out and on one side it says
reward $100 and it has a date that they're valid until, so the tags we're putting out
this Springer valid until March 31st, 2026. It's approximately one year. We're trying
to get the annual exploitation rate, so the exploitation for basically a year from when
we're tagging them. And the other side, that's the three digit number that's associated
with this tag, so 376 and that's the email address to report tag returns to. So that's
what the red tags say on them. The yellow tags that are the non-reward tags, they say
Green Bay DNR office, that's where my team is based out of is the Green Bay DNR office
and it has the five digit tag number and then it has the email address that you can
report tags to. So we're going to put out some red reward tags this year. We're putting
out right now, we're putting out a total of 400, 150 for the Fox River, 110 for the
Menominee River, 50 for the O'Connor River, 50 for the Pestigo River, and 40 for Sturgeon Bay.
So we're putting them out in all the different locations that were tagging. 25. Yes, and
we'll put out all 25 when we've got 50 out so far on the Menominee River. We try to spread
them out as we're tagging. You know, we tagged reward tag fish kind of at the same progression
as the rest of our tag. Now set, yep, green,
six, six, three,
seven, six,
three, seven, six,
seven, six, five, two, four,
three, six, four, five,
five, four, three,
three, five, two, five, two, five, two, five,
three, five, two, five, three,
five, two, five, two, four,
five, two, four, five, three, three,
four, nine,
four, nine,
nine, seven, three, five, eight, six,
five, eight, six, four, five, two, three, four,
yep, perfect, male, four, nine, five,
three, five, seven, zero,
male, five, three, two, three,
six, eight, two,
male, five, three, eight,
three, six, four, four, three, five, eight, three,
five, three, nine, five, five, two, three, nine, five,
five, two, two,
five, five, five, five, five, five, five, seven,
five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five,
five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five,
five, five, five, five, five, six, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five
and five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, six, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, eight, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, six, five, five, five, six, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, three, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, four, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, five,
exploitation based on sex and we don't get enough unknown fish to get a good
return rate and things. So we typically don't put the reward tags in the immature
fish. What was it? The length? 2-1-6-2-6. Yes, length of 407. Okay.
3-9-8. You need a red one? Yes. Okay.
1-1-6-2-6.
Now the one in Turtle Lake is not.
1-1-6-2-6.
1-1-6-2-6.
Run. Our goal this year was 1,700 for the fox, 650 for the Ocanto, 650 for the
pestigo, 1,500 for the Menominee River and 500 for the Sturgeon Bay area.
Ready? You guys ready?
Alright, you guys are on and you're shocking.
It's a good question. We don't have population estimates. It's just such a
big system. We'd have to do likely a mark recapture where we mark enough
fish and get enough recaptures to get a population estimate but we've had
handled 180 some fish so far today and we've gotten two recaptures and that's
it so we just don't see enough recaptures to get a good population estimate. I don't
know how many fish we'd have to handle and tag to get enough recaptures so lots.
I mean it's estimated that anglers harvest 75,000 to 150,000 walleyes a
year out of the system now. Our estimated exploitation rate from last year for the
last season you know the tags that we tag last spring you know for basically
the full year up until now is just under 5% you know so if there are
almost than 75 to 130, 140,000 fish and that's 5 to 10% of the population you
know lots and lots of fish in the system.
Just throw the sucker in their tambourine and get it out.
That's just the water bottle.
I'm going to take a look at the water bottle and I'm going to take a look at the water bottle and I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I
'm going to take a look at the water bottle I're going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take that look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I'm going to take a look at the water bottle I add in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I add in the water bottle I added the water bottle I added in a water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I add in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added in the water bottle I added
to feel like you're making a difference, managing our natural resources, ensuring a high quality
and a sustainable fishery into the future.
So a lot of people get into this field because they like to do this kind of work, field work,
you know, handle lots of fish, but actually enjoy talking to anglers more now than doing
this kind of work, hearing about kids' first experiences catching fish or somebody that
caught a fish of a lifetime, a 30-plus-inch walleye or a 55-inch musky, something like
that.
So it is quite rewarding to feel like we're making a difference in managing the resources
for the good of everyone, so for the future, so that kids and grandkids can enjoy these
as well.
A few fish in every time.
I do.
I fish.
Sometimes I go walleye fishing, I don't have a boat, so I do a lot of shore fishing.
But I'm all fish for trout and salmon and great lake streams and, you know, I will fish
shore walleye runs like this on occasion, but yeah, I do enjoy fishing in the outdoors
myself.
Do you have a pitch of walleye, this is the biggest one you eat these ones?
The biggest walleye I've ever caught with hook and line is 28 inches, so a nice fish.
Just back in Minnesota, so when I, where I grew up, where am I going forward here?
Biggest walleye is not, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,
come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on
male 557, male 553,
male 577,
come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on
male 493,
male 493,
male 530,
male 530,
male 471, male 467,
male 517,
male 517,
male 517,
male 547,
male 548,
male 491,
male
5
male
5
male
5
male
5
male
5
male
5
male
5
male
5