Fisheries article review

Stocking programs exist across North America for a myriad of species. Some programs seek to control certain species of introduced fishes (e.g., tiger muskellunge stocked in New Mexico to control gold fish introductions), others to rehabilitate (e.g., sturgeon and lake trout), and still others to promote fisheries usage (e.g., salmonids in the Great Lakes basin and largemouth bass throughout U.S. waters).

For muskellunge anglers stocking this prized quarry may or may not be a familiar concept, depending on where you live. In my home state of Illinois, for example, our waters are maintained solely by stocking; there is little to no natural reproduction. For states like Wisconsin and Minnesota, stocking may be conducted on some, perhaps most, but not all lakes because some can be sustained through natural reproduction. As muskellunge angling has increased in popularity, the call to stock additional waters and current waters with more fish has risen greatly.

Muskellunge stocking in Wisconsin is commonplace and supported widely by anglers throughout the state, particularly in the more southern waters where natural reproduction has little influence on populations. One large problem exists with widespread stocking: genetic conservation. In other words, it is imperative to keep certain molecular components (i.e., alleles) within a population of muskellunge that will allow them to survive and thrive. Although this seems like it would be easy to do, not all fish from one lake react in the same way to conditions other lakes present. Some fish have rare genetics/alleles that allow them to survive in a given environment(s).

Hatchery programs often involve only a few individuals to supply vast numbers of fingerlings for stocking. When only a few individuals are used, the likelihood of extirpating rare alleles increases and muskellunge may lose the ability to naturally reproduce in the wild. This phenomenon is known as outbreeding depression.

One of the first issues researchers faced was figuring out where to take the adult individuals (i.e., broodstock) for Wisconsin's stocking program. Researchers identified broodstock as needing to have the ability to grow, mature, and reproduce in their present habitats. Another potential problem arises when choosing which bodies of water to take broodstock from because, in Wisconsin, some waters are either maintained solely by stocking, supplementally stocked, or not stocked at all. The latter water bodies are ideal as adults and offspring alike have not undergone artificial selection against various heritable traits (e.g., some behavioral traits). Researchers further identified lakes greater than 1,000 acres as appropriate for the stocking programs, and water bodies should be used on a rotating basis rather than only focusing on one. In addition, the minimum number of broodstock to be taken must be considered because if too few individuals are used then genetic diversity decreases. A higher number is better and researchers suggest a minimum 50 breeders to be used, with a target of at least 20 females bred with 3 males being ideal.

One issue that adds complications to conserving genetics within the bounds of a stocking program, is the needs of the angling public. More specifically, anglers want fast growth rates and big fish. However, in order to fulfill the objectives of a hatchery-based conservation program it is necessary to represent a wide variety of traits that mimic natural populations. Certainly, hatchery operations should include large fish, but should not be limited to the largest individuals.

Jennings et al. have provided researchers with excellent guidelines to improve hatchery operations. Although it may be difficult to swallow, stocking isn't or shouldn't be about only producing the biggest fish possible. Selecting only the biggest fish to be stocked could pose serious problems for the future of a fishery if important alleles are eliminated from the genetic pool. Instead, the goal should be to produce a population that can thrive and survive for many years to come (and still kick out big fish!). The future looks bright for muskellunge stocking programs, and an added benefit of this article is that the contents provide a set of guidelines for hatchery programs of other fish species to utilize for enhancing their fisheries.

Article reference: Jennings, M.J., Sloss, B.L., Hatzenbeler, G.R., Kampa, J.M., Simonson, T.D., Avelallemant, S.P., Lindenberger, G.A., and Underwood, B.D. 2010. Implementation of genetic conservation practices in a muskellunge propagation and stocking program. Fisheries 35, 388-395.

Holy Doodle!

The blog has been a little stagnant lately because I've been catching up on much needed writing and spending time with my girlfriend in the Catskills. It was a much needed break as, unfortunately, my break from this C&R muskie study to C&R muskies on Lake of the Woods did not rejuvenate me as I had hoped (though it was delightfully enjoyable!). Sarah and I returned home last night and after looking at the weather for today I decided it would be a good idea to get out and fish. I emailed my trusty sidekick and we made a plan to begin fishing around 1PM today.

When Hedrik and I launched the boat we immediately headed as far south as we could. Within 15 minutes I had a muskie charge a bucktail and nip the back end of the lure, missing hooks by mere millimeters. Little did I know - well, actually I had a pretty good feeling - that this was only the beginning of an outstanding day.

I will keep this brief because I need to apply some Icy-Hot to my muscles or pop a few ibuprofen, but we contacted 20 fish, with 10 strikes, and boated four - 39, 41.75, 42.25, and a whopper of a 48.25"er. As has been the case for the majority of the fish this year, each fish's lactate values were relatively high due to water temperatures. As we enter late summer-early fall, the same precautions should be taken to reduce the stress associated with the angling process. Pay attention to details of the fight (e.g., lots of headshaking, jumping, drag running, etc.) and modify your handling techniques accordingly.

Here are a couple pictures to whet your appetite:

Another transmittered fish recaptured from a past, unrelated project: Gillis et al. 2010

Hedrik's whopper.

To the waters whence you came.

Welcome Back, Sir!

Last night I fished with my trusty sidekick, Hedrik Wachelka, for a couple hours. Hedrik has been out of commission since June 8th after having surgery and this was one of his first times out casting since then. I mostly wanted to catch up with Hedrik and take a few casts, but in the process of chit-chatting I was able to raise two muskies. We made a plan to spend more time on this body of water the following day (today... well, yesterday for those on Eastern time) and call it Hedrik's first outing since his surgery.

We got a late start and arrived at the launch around 1PM. I didn't have a follow for several hours, and we kept returning to the same area multiple times in hopes of finding the fish during an active period.

Eventually, we did. It started with a bass here, then there, then here again. Three bass in a short period of time wasn't too bad, but we were looking for Esox masquinongy, the fish of 10,000 casts. As we continued drifting down our narrow path, I finally contacted what looked to be a very active fish. The black Weagle was suddenly looking very much like it would be the victim of an attack, but alas twas not to be. The fish sunk below the bait and out of sight when the lure reached the boat.

We finished our drift and I said to Hedrik, let's re-drift this area again. Without even pulling the trolling motor up I turn the boat and slowly start idling back to the beginning of our drift. Earlier, we were trolling bucktails to no avail and Hedrik still had that rod on deck. As I began slowly motoring away, Hedrik picked his rod up and chucked his bucktail out. Not more than 15 seconds later, Hedrik's rod is doubled over and Hedrik is struggling to gain control of the rod. Stupidly I ask, "FISH?" I needn't hear the answer as Hedrik's rod-tip began thumping wildly and the culprit churning the water to a froth in the distance. The fight lasted about 50 seconds and soon we had another fish for Project Noble Beast in the bag!

Hopefully this is the start of good things to come!

Let Me Paint You An Image

In the spirit of keeping you, the readers, aprised on the ups AND downs of this project, the following is my attempt to help paint a picture of what it feels like to blood sample... with good results and bad.

Before I pick up my brush and paint, you all must know what I will be painting on. In other words, you need to have a bit of context. For starters, imagine yourself quitting your day job and becoming a technician at a clinic's lab drawing blood from peoples' arms for a living.

One day, in walks a patient. This patients arms, however, look like the Hulk's as they bulge beneath the shirt that covers them. As the patient nervously sits down in the chair, arm outstretched and fist clenched, you politely ask him to roll his sleeve up. When the patient does, you are met with tattoos that parade up his arm and disappear beneath his Van Halen shirt. Upon closer inspection, the guy has actually had sequence surgically implanted into his arms. Body builder meets female fashionista?

You are now effectively working blind. You cannot see a vein to puncture. You know, in theory, where the vein is supposed to be, but everyone's veins are different - some big, some small in diameter. Needle and vacutainer in hand, you begin prodding. Your first attempt yields nothing, not even a single drop. You remove the needle and reenter, hoping to strike gold. Again, nada. This repeats itself several times, but now your patient is getting a little antsy and starts writhing, complaining about how long it's taking and that maybe you should never have quit your day job. Finally, the needle hits pay dirt and blood rushes into the vacutainer.

This is, sometimes, what it's like trying to take blood from a muskie. The amount of tissue between the anal fin and caudal fin is massive, and gets even more impressive the larger the fish. The scales are like battle armor that deflect needles like an M1 Abrams deflects 9mm bullets. The vasculature system you so desperately need to find lays hidden beneath tissue and scales, and lays in one particular fashion along the backbone. A difficult sweetspot to hit, indeed.

At times, all it takes is one vacutainer. Sometimes, multiples. It is, without doubt, the most frustrating aspect of the data collection process for this project. Well, save for fishing eight hours and never even getting a single follow (now THAT'S frustrating).

Ah, thanks for letting me vent!

I was once told that earplugs bring good luck. Apparently, I was mislead.

When the Going Gets Tough...

Go electroshocking!

With upcoming projects that need the use of our electroshocking boat, I needed to take a few days to electroshock for Project Noble Beast. My hope is to obtain control physiological data from six muskies at temperatures above 20C (68F).

After hooking the boat up and driving down to the launch, I quickly realized that I had a case of the "Mondays"; I had forgotten multiple items. Fortunately, none were imperative to the success of the day, and in roughly 20 minutes we had things under control. When our tail-gate safety meeting was completed we zoomed off to begin probing the waters.

It was a slow start to our day, but after one muskie managed to evade the electric field another was stuck in the middle (with you?) and was immediately scooped by my expert netters, Keith Stamplecoskie (lab manager) and Sarah Larocque (fellow Masters student). The muskie measured 31.75" and had recently eaten a large meal as the outline of a fish could be seen protruding laterally from its stomach (looked like a sunfish). We released the fish in good health and kept on trucking until our generator ran out of gas.

A quick fill-up with our spare gas can and we were back at it. I decided to turn the boat around and head back toward the launch and down a particular weedline that would eventually put lead us to a popular muskie spot. We passed several boats, who all paused their fishing excursion to see what the heck we were up to. As we entered the aforementioned spot and began poking around with the electrodes, one of the nearby boats came closer to check things out. Not wanting to cause unnecessary harm to the other boat, we briefly cut the power to survey the situation. After I contemplated moving further downstream, I decided the other boat was sufficiently far away and motioned to Sarah to resume shocking.

As Sarah pressed her body weight against the power switch, the water immediately to her right suddenly illuminated the image of an extremely large muskie. The split second it took for everyone to react to what lay before us seemed like a millennium. When I snapped out of it, I took the boat and whipped it to the right, putting Sarah and Keith in perfect position to place a net at the head and tail of the beast. When it was secured I shut the power off and jumped to my feet, grabbing the net and hoisting the muskie on board. The nearby boat - dad (presumably) and four kids - eventually made their way over to us. Sarah fielded questions while I concentrated on extracting the blood. When I finally obtained the sample, made measurements and recorded other data, I asked the gentleman in the nearby boat to snap a quick picture for us. As I strained to lift the heavy fish up, the four kids quickly let out several OOOO's and AHHH'S. I laid the fish back into the water between our boats and let the kids touch the muskie before it paddled off out of sight. Needless to say, I believe I heard one of the kids say "I want to catch one of those!" and I smiled knowing that this group of kids will probably never forget the sight they just witnessed. In fact, tomorrow I need to retrieve the email address they provided us and send them pictures.

49 inches with a stout build. Go A-Team!

Released to hopefully be caught another day, and perhaps by the children that witnessed her capture today.

Many thanks were given to the other boat, and we kept chugging away. Not long after, we had the day's final muskie in our nets. This one taped out at 43.75".

It's been a while since I've handled a muskie for this project and it felt good to touch a few today. Hopefully tomorrow we can have similar results!

Yep, I see you too!

Please?

Will someone please flip that magical switch? You know, the one that makes the fish bite.

Hmmmmmm

"Hmmmmm" is a noise a lot of us make. Hmmmmm is also the noise a rod tip makes in a thunderstorm warning you of imminent danger from a lightning strike! We were chased to the safe confines of shore when our rod tips began humming in the air as a massive thunderstorm approached.

Be careful on the water. Signs of imminent danger from lightning strikes include your hair standing up, rod tips humming, and a metallic taste in your mouth. No fish is worth your life.

We're Back!

After a break spending time with family and friends, I have returned "home" in Ottawa to continue collecting data. The warm water I was hoping to collect data from seems to have backed off a bit, but I am crossing my fingers that the upcoming hot weather will bring the temperatures back up again. I will also be juggling a bit of writing in between field days, as I recently had a manuscript accepted into the Journal of Fish Biology and am working on a review paper.

My idea of a break from catching and researching muskies...