This spring, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) completed its annual stocking of waterways with walleye and saugeye. The fish are known for being excellent table fare and for the skill it takes to catch them. Because the fish don’t reproduce naturally in most of Indiana, DNR spawns and stocks them.

Spawning operations from late March to early April, which are organized at Brookville Lake, resulted in 32.2 million fertilized walleye eggs. The eggs yielded 18.9 million walleye fry, 487,304 walleye fingerlings (average 1.4 inches), and 156,725 saugeye fingerlings (average 1.4 inches). Fry were stocked at the end of April, and walleye and saugeye fingerlings were stocked at the end of May.

Additional walleye fingerlings are being grown in state hatcheries for fall stockings.

Stocked bodies of water, with their county in parentheses, include: Walleye fry: Bass Lake (Starke), Brookville Lake (Franklin and Union), Monroe Lake (Brown and Monroe), Patoka Lake (Orange, Dubois, and Crawford), and Shafer Lake (White).

Walleye fingerlings: Cagles Mill Lake (Owen and Putnam), Fish Lake (LaGrange), Kokomo Reservoir (Howard), Lake of the Woods (Marshall), Pike Lake (Kosciusko), Prairie Creek Reservoir (Delaware), Shafer Lake (White), Summit Lake (Henry), and Tippecanoe River/Oakdale Dam (Carroll).

Saugeye fingerlings: Cedar Lake (Lake), Clare Lake (Huntington), Glenn Flint Lake (Putnam), Huntingburg Lake (Dubois), Koteewi Park Lake (Hamilton), and Sullivan Lake (Sullivan).

The statewide bag limit for walleye, sauger and saugeye is six fish per day in combination. For walleye, the minimum size limit is 14 inches for waters south of State Road 26 and 16 inches for waters north of State Road 26. Exceptions to the walleye size limit are Bass Lake (Starke) and Wolf Lake (Lake), where the minimum is 14 inches; Lake George (Steuben), where the minimum is 15 inches; and Wall Lake (LaGrange), where the minimum is 16 inches with a two fish daily bag limit.

There is no size limit on sauger or saugeye, except at Huntingburg Lake (Dubois), Glenn Flint Lake (Putnam) and Sullivan Lake (Sullivan), and on the Ohio River, where the minimum size limit is 14 inches. Typically, walleye and saugeye will reach 14 inches after two years and 16 inches after three years.

Rebekah Trail extension opens

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the city of Greensburg celebrated the opening of the Rebekah Trail Extension on July 16. The extension adds 0.43 miles of asphalt trail in Greensburg connecting Rebekah Park, Pirate Park, and the Greensburg-Decatur County Public Library. The existing trail connects to Greensburg Elementary School, Greensburg High School, athletic fields, and residential neighborhoods. A future INDOT project will install a side path trail along State Road 46/Main Street to connect to downtown.

The project was constructed by the city with help from a $417,818 grant from dedicating trail funding from DNR. This is the first of 14 projects of Round 4 trail grants awarded in December 2023 and to be completed.

“The extension of the Rebekah Trail provides an important connection in Greensburg for people to get outside and connect with both their community and each other,” said Dale Brier, deputy director of community grants and trails for Indiana State Parks. “DNR is proud to be part of making this trail extension possible.”

Carmel man’s body recovered from Lake Wawasee

Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating an incident after the body of a Carmel man was recovered from Lake Wawasee. On July 12, at 11 p.m., Kosciusko County Dispatch received a call reporting a missing person near the 11100 block of Northeast Wawasee Drive. The family of the missing man said they had not seen him in approximately three hours since they had returned to their residence.

Conservation officers arrived on scene and began searching the shoreline and surrounding areas. At 2:22 a.m., the body of Riley Thoren, 21, was located and recovered by a conservation officer diver in 3 feet of water.

Thoren was pronounced deceased on scene. An exact cause of death is pending autopsy results.

Woman airlifted after ORV crash

Indiana Conservation Officers are investigating an off-road vehicle (ORV) accident occurring July 20. Around 5:30 p.m., Carroll County Emergency Dispatch received a 911 call of an ORV accident involving injury near County Road 900 North and Meridian Road.

Initial investigation revealed Randall Kesling, 67, of Delphi, was operating a side-by-side ORV on the roadway with a passenger in the vehicle when he lost control, causing the machine to roll.

Randall was ejected from the machine and sustained minor injuries. The passenger, Teresa Kesling, 62, of Delphi, needed to be extricated from the ORV by emergency personnel.

Kesling was flown via Lifeline helicopter to IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with severe head injuries and lacerations. The investigation is ongoing. Neither occupant was wearing a helmet, and only Kesling was wearing a seatbelt.

Indiana Conservation Officers would like to remind the public ORV operators and passengers should always wear a helmet, protective riding gear, and use all ORV safety restraints.

For information on ORV laws and safe operating procedures, please visit offroad-ed.com/in/handbook/ and on.IN.gov/offroading.

‘till next time,  

Jack

Readers can contact the author by writing to this publication or e-mail Jack at jackspaulding1971@outlook.com 

Spaulding’s books, “The Best Of Spaulding Outdoors” and “The Coon Hunter And The Kid,” are available from Amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle download.