It Should Be Illegal to Have This Much Fun...

I guess it is, unless your with people who are permitted to do what I did last week Sunday night.

Jeff, a classmate and friend of mine from my earliest days in school, gave me a phone call a week ago saying that he was going to be in Spirit Lake doing some work. He is an employee of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) with the Fisheries Department. Every year he comes to the Iowa Great Lakes to assist the Spirit Lake Fishery with its annual egg harvesting of walleye and muskellunge. (Having lived in Michigan, I use the word "Great" rather loosely.)

Apparently, there are enough anglers that fish on the lakes, that if the fish were left to their natural reproductive process, the water there would be "fished out" rather quickly. When the fisheries department comes in and takes and hatches the eggs, raise the fry, and then release them back into the lake, the fish population can be sustained, and fishing can continue in the lake.

Anyhow, on Sunday night, after the PM service at Hope, I packed my things and headed out of town. I arrived at the hatchery around 9 PM and was soon in a pick-up with Jeff and his co-worker Jason, pulling a boat-trailer and heading out to West Okoboji Lake. (Later, when I was talking to a member from my church, he said that W. Okoboji was considered to be a "fish graveyard," because he never had luck there. My pictures are proof that there are fish to be caught, and big ones at that.)

Once we arrived at our ramp, we backed the boat into the lake, and we were off. Thankfully, I had a warm rain proof coat, and Jeff loaned me a pair of rain pants, which kept me dry. (I did have to roll the waist over a couple times, since the legs that support m y 5'11" and 3/4" in frame are a bit shorter than the legs that support Jeff's 6'6")

We took off into the choppy water and went into the lake. Using a spotlight, we identified a reflective buoy about 300 yards out into the lake. Attached to it was a long gill net, the other end anchored to shore. A gill-net, if you're not familiar (I wasn't before last week.) is made from a material similar to monofilament fish line woven into a net with holes about 3-4" square. The net was approximately 6-8 feet high and 300 yards long.

The process was pretty simple, slowly take the net in, taking whatever fish came up and bringing them into the boat. Muskie and walleye went into a stainless steel cattle watering tank, aerated to keep the fish oxygenated. All other fish--largemouth and smallmouth bass, drum, northern pike, carp, and whatever else went back into the water. Everything that was caught was charted.

We checked three nets, the first of which was practically empty. The thought crossed my mind that I was the source of the problem, but I was not volunteering to be thrown in water Jonah-style. Nor was I going to suggest that they cast their nets on the other side of the boat. I figured clergy-humor was not going to fly for men who were separated from their families for a week and having to spend cold nights on a lake until they had their quota filled.

The second and third nets proved to have a little more success, bringing in some muskie--but no walleye. As they said during the night, "Muskie are fine, but walleye get us home." We reset the nets and then headed back to shore.

Waiting for us was another truck from the hatchery--essentially a truck with large compartments of water. The fish we brought in were transferred from the boat to the truck by a pole net, and then we headed back to the fishery to wait until it was time to check the nets again.

Around 12:30 AM, we took the 15 minute drive once again from the hatchery to our ramp. This time, the fishing was better. We still didn't catch many walleye, but we caught a few, which was good. I know that I would be tickled to have one of those on the end of my fish line someday. The highlight for me was the two muskie we brought in. Both were trophy size, around 46" a piece, and weighing close to thirty pounds. Even though we were using nets, watching those fish brought up to the surface contained the same excitement for me if I had caught them with a rod and reel. It made sense to me when Jeff observed that when you bring these huge fish up, it kind of discourages you to try to fish for these monsters the conventional way, knowing how difficult it is to catch them. These fish, many over a decade old, don't get this big being stupid.

The second time out, we brought the nets in, to be set once again the next evening. We returned to the hatchery to see the evening's catch. It's a fascinating process. Fish are weighed and tagged. The next morning, they are stripped of eggs and sperm. Soon after this, the fish are returned to the lake and area where they were caught. The harvested eggs are then fertilized and placed in canisters to mature and hatch. In the hatchery there are row after row of these canisters. Once the eggs hatch, the fry are transferred to large tanks. When the fish achieve the necessary size, they are they released back into the lake. Voila! Fish for fishing.

It was a good night. Thanks, Jeff, your invitation and hospitality were much appreciated. Give me a call next year!