Despite the low number of adult muskies now present in Lake Webster, Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) fisheries biologists were able to catch enough sexually mature females this spring to obtain nearly 500,000 eggs. The amount fills the annual quota needed to support Indiana’s muskie stocking program.

 

Biologists captured 88 muskies in trap nets set over an eightday period in late March and early April at the 774- acre lake in Kosciusko County. Fifty were adult males and 24 were adult females. From the group, five females were “ripe” enough to provide nearly 11 quarts of eggs, which were stripped from the fish, fertilized with milt from males and then transported to the Fawn River Hatchery in Orland.

 

The eggs were then shipped to the East Fork Hatchery in southwestern Indiana, where they will hatch and eventually produce 20,000 muskie fingerlings to be stocked in 14 waters throughout the state.

 

Muskie stockings are necessary because few muskie eggs and newly hatched fry can survive in the wild. As a result, the entire stocking program depends on the egg-take at Lake Webster. Biologists have had difficulty trapping enough ripe females in recent years as the population has declined. They say a combination of factors ranging from changes in hatchery production methods to changes in habitat conditions contributed to the decline.

 

To counter the decline, biologists are now stocking larger muskie fingerlings that have a better chance of survival, and have put limits on the amount of weed control at the lake to provide more cover for young muskies.

 

Apparently, efforts to boost the population are speeding recovery, as 27 muskies shorter than 30 inches long were captured during the trapping operation. “That’s the highest number of young muskies we’ve caught in 10 years,” said Jed Pearson, DNR biologist.

 

Five of the young muskies were stocked last spring in a group of 1,500 fingerlings tagged before their release. They averaged 12 inches long when stocked, and are already 20 inches long. “Based on this, anglers should have more muskies to catch in the coming years and egg-taking for us should get a little easier,” Pearson said.

 

 

Being a bird-feeding aficionado, there is one thing I find a little repulsive: Handling suet cakes in hot weather. It is a disgusting feeling to have ooey-gooey suet on your fingers after unwrapping a hot suet cake and putting it in the holder. I learned to beat the system several years ago with a “hot tip” on keeping one’s cool when handling suet cakes in the summer. Simply put them in the freezer. Once frozen hard, they don’t stick to your fingers. I keep my suet cakes next to my frozen tater tots! Barn owls have five owlets

 

The barn owl pair being filmed on the southern Indiana nest-camera has laid seven eggs, with five hatching. It is unknown whether the remaining eggs will hatch. Having a few infertile eggs in a clutch is common. To check out the action, the barn owl webcam is available at www.wildlife.IN.gov/8183.htm – the site can accommodate 20 viewers at a time.

 

The goal of the webcam is to promote public interest in birds and raise awareness about efforts to support barn owls.

 

The first egg hatched on March 29. The owlets look healthy and are accepting food from their mother several times daily. The young owls will remain with the parents for about 3-5 weeks after fledging. Due to the early hatching, the pair may lay another clutch of eggs this year. Barn owls were once common in the Midwest, living in hollow trees and wooden barns, and hunting in hayfields, idle grain fields, pastures and other grasslands for meadow voles. But many woodenbarns are being torn down, and few modern farms offer the land a barn owl needs for hunting. Additionally, grassland habitat has dwindled, affecting barn owls and other species.

  

The Indiana DNR’s Wildlife Diversity Program has been placing nest boxes for barn owls since 1984, with 29 placed in 2016. The nest boxes, like the one the webcam owls are using, give them a safe place to raise young. More information about nest boxes is at www.wildlife.IN.gov/3382.htm

 

The barn owl is one of more than 750 animal species, including many rare and endangered animals, supported by the DNR’s Wildlife Diversity Program, which depends on donations to the DNR Nongame Fund. You can donate online at www.EndangeredWildlife.IN.gov Donations to the program are down more than 60 percent in 2017. The loss is most likely due to a more complicated process now in effect for people wanting to donate through their Indiana state income tax forms.

 

 

Usually my wife stays clear of my fishing gear other than to clean around it or straighten it up once in a while. The other day, she had a need for some tough line to hang a wind chime. The original line had fallen victim to the environment and had rotted and broke.

 

Out of desperation, she came to the old angler for my recommendation on something to do the job. For a permanent replacement, I recommended going with a stainless steel leader. Whipping a 12-inch, 30-pound leader out of the tackle box, it was short work to get the wind chime hung again – this time on a permanent basis.

 

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments may contact Jack Spaulding by email at jackspaulding@hughes.net or by writing to him in care of this publication.