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Walleye fry stocking completed at Lake McConaughy
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has completed stocking over 26 million walleye fry in the North Platte River above the reservoir and upper portion of Lake McConaughy. To help increase survival, most fry were stocked from a boat to distribute them into areas with adequate food resources and fewer predators.
Beginning in mid-June, an additional 1.5 million walleye fingerlings with an average length between 1.25- to 1.5-inches will be stocked. A portion of those walleye fingerlings will be raised and stocked at a larger 2-inch size. Both the fry and fingerling stockings will be evaluated by Game and Parks research crews and University of Nebraska-Kearney fisheries science graduate students to determine stocking success.
Game and Parks is working with the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to design and conduct an angler survey in 2022 and 2023. Anglers will be asked about the number of fish caught at the reservoir, including at night in April and May and during the day between April and October.
This will be a multiyear effort to account for varying lake levels and potential weather effects on stocking and survival rates and will aim to balance the needs and concerns of anglers for successful management of the lake’s resources.
Photo 1: Fisheries biologists load walleye fry onto the stocking boat before distributing them into an area of Lake McConaughy that will provide food and fewer predators. (photo by Julie Geiser/NEBRASKAland Magazine)
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