Walleyes For Chetek

This Fall (2004)  6-8 inch Walleyes are going to be planted in the Chetek Chain of Lakes. The cost of these Walleyes is 75 cents apiece. The goal is to plant a minimum of 10,000.

Normal mortality for Walleyes of this size and larger is 50% per year per age group. The normal mortality for newly hatched walleyes is .1% or one out of a thousand that will make it to be one year old. The mortality rate for fingerlings, like what the DNR plants every other year in the Chetek Chain, is not known but is to be believed to be as bad or worse than for newly hatched Walleyes.

Every cent donated to " Walleyes for Chetek" will go to purchasing and planting Walleyes into the Chetek Chain of Lakes and nowhere else.

To contribute to this effort make checks payable to:
  "Walleyes for Chetek"
   and mail to:
   Chetek Resort Owners Association
   P.O. Box 172
   Chetek WI 54728

Walleyes for Chetek made their first drop of 10,000 walleyes into Chetek Lake off the island by Klay's Happy Days Resort on Wednesday, Oct. 13
In the blink of an eye, the entire tank of 3 1/4" fish stock were introduced to the lakes which were once a major source of walleyes. According to Larrry Stafsholt, left, treasurer of the Walleyes for Chetek program, the walleyes that survive will reach legal size in 2-3 years. The walleyes were provided by John Gurtner, front, of Cranberry Lake Hatchery and Dan Hoover, back, of Stoney Hill Hatchery. Mud at the bottom of Rice Creek, which depletes the oxygen supply to the fish eggs and interferes with the reproductive habitat, has been attributed to the decline of walleyes in the lakes. An additional 5,000 walleyes were scheduled for a fish drop at Pokegama Lake early this week.

Checking the bathwater - Dan Hoover of Stoney Lake Fish Farm checks the water temperature inside a tank holding 6,000 walleye fingerlings. The fingerlings, which were part of a second drop by the Walleyes for Chetek group, were about three inches in size. The group had originally planned to plant 10,000 six-to seven-inch fish, but were forced to plant 16,000 three- to four-inch fish instead. "More fish hatched from the original hatch than were expected," says Dan Hoover of Stoney Hill Hatchery. "There wasn't enough food in the rearing ponds for the larger population, plus the cold weather didn't help."