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Employee Profile  

Background 

About the Area Office 

A Typical Day 

The Busy Season 

A Favorite Story 

Rewards & Challenges 

Educational Opportunities

Special projects... 

The Fisheries office conducts a variety projects throughout the year, including lake reclamation projects, habitat improvement, the walleye spawn take in the spring, lake and stream surveys during the summer, and environmental reviews during the winter months.  

NORTHERN PIKE AND WALLEYE SPAWNING RUNS:   Northern pike and walleye have their spawning runs in the spring.  Northern pike are simply observed in their spawning runs, to ensure that they're not blocked by beaver dams.  

The walleye, however, require a little more attention. Each spring, the Fisheries office conducts a walleye spawn take. This involves taking eggs and sperm from the walleye, putting them in a hatchery in Brainerd, and then keeping a daily, and nightly, watch on them. Water levels and temperature must be maintained just right for about a month. The monitoring continues as the fry hatch because the eggshells can plug up the screens (walleye are called fry after they hatch).  

Then Tim and the staff distribute the fry to other parts of the state, as well as their own area waters. At the same time, Tim's staff conducts nettings on the walleye rearing ponds, which are natural ponds where some of the fry are stocked so that they can grow. The nettings are conducted to check for any other species of fish, including any walleye left over from the previous year.  If there are other fish there, a decision needs to be made whether or not to use the pond. They may decide not to use a pond if, for example, there are bullheads in the pond, since the bullhead spines will pierce the walleye during the netting in the fall. The fry that are stocked in ponds will grow to fingerling size, and in the fall, they are harvested from the ponds and used to stock the lakes, where the fry would not have survived in their early stages.  

ELECTROFISHING: The Fisheries office also conducts spring electrofishing to sample fish, such as largemouth bass, walleye, and black crappies. Electrofishing uses an electrical current that comes from a generator on the boat. The current passes through the water and sets up a stun field. The stun field gives the staff a chance to net the fish.  Then, the fish can be measured and a scale sample taken. The scale sample allows the staff to age the fish, and to determine the rate of growth and size classes.  After the measurements and samples are taken, the fish are released. 

Tim and the staff sample for crappies early, a couple of weeks after ice-out, because that is when they are most easily caught.  As the water warms up, and there is more food available, the crappies swim in from deeper water, and are more easily caught. Bass are net-shy, and so the staff will electrofish for bass a little later in the season when they come into spawn in warmer water. The staff will try to net walleye, but if they can't net them, they will electrofish the first couple of weeks after the ice leaves the lake.   

LAKE AND STREAM SURVEYS: During the summer, the Fisheries office staff conducts lake and stream surveys. This involves sampling the fish, using gill nets, trap nets, and seines.  

A gill net is set to sample in deeper water.  The gill net entangles the fish (walleye, yellow perch, northern pike, and suckers).  The trap nets are set along shore, and they catch fish (sunfish, pumpkinseeds, bluegills, bullheads) by entrapment.   The seines are dragged along the shore and are used to catch smaller fish, like minnows and young of the year game fish.  

Chemical sampling is also conducted at this time, where lake and stream waters are tested for quality parameters.  The physical environments, like the bottom soils of the lake, the shoreline habitat, and the watershed, are also observed.  Aquatic plant species are also identified during the lake and stream surveys.  

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: All year around, the staff conducts environmental reviews.  During an environmental review the anticipated impacts of the private and public sector projects are evaluated. These projects might include new roads or culvert placements.  The staff makes recommendations on how to limit the impact on the environment and surrounding fisheries. 

MONITORING OXYGEN LEVELS IN LAKES: The Fisheries office monitors dissolved oxygen in the shallow lakes.  At intervals throughout the winter, the staff uses an oxygen meter that detects the concentration of oxygen in the water.  If there is too little oxygen in the water, a decision is made on how to remedy the situation.  Tim and his staff may chose to rescue the fish before they die and transfer them to another lake, allow the public to take the fish in an unlimited number if they know that the fish will die otherwise, or perhaps recommend aeration. 

AERIAL SURVEYS: During the winter months, aerial surveys are conducted to count the fish houses on the area lakes. It usually takes Tim and his employees about two days to perform a survey. Estimating that there are approximately two anglers per fish house, the survey provides an indication of winter fishing pressure. 

LAKE RECLAMATION PROJECTS: In order to maintain a successful fishery, it is sometimes necessary to eliminate the competitor species from a lake. Often it is rough fish such as carp or bullheads that must be eliminated. Or, in a trout lake, anything other than trout may be eliminated.  Fish are eliminated by adding a pesticide to the water. A pesticide is a pesticide that specifically kills fish. Picsicides are used only on a limited basis.

A lake reclamation project can be divided into three parts. For example, a lake reclamation project that the office conducted last October involved first acquiring a piece of land from a willing seller.  Old buildings that were on the site were removed, and the land was classified as an Aquatic Management Area. Tim's staff and Trails and Waterways staff created a small parking area and a carry-in access for those who would be using the area.

The second phase of the project required the staff to apply rotenone, a pesticide, to the lake. The rotenone killed the competitor species. In the spring, the third and final phase of the project was conducted, which involved re-stocking the lake with brook trout.  

HABITAT IMPROVEMENT: Habitat improvement projects allow a fishery to be maintained by improving the environment of the fish, rather than having to re-stock the fish.  For example, the Brainerd Area office has a very popular, very highly populated trout stream on which the staff conducts habitat improvement. The stream has a naturally reproducing trout population, so, if the habitat is maintained, the fish can reproduce on their own rather than having to be re-stocked. 

Trout need a stream with good cover to live long enough to spawn, reproduce and grow larger. Fisheries staff may try to improve the cover of a stream by narrowing the stream. To do this, wooden structures are placed in the stream, and are then covered with rocks to make them look natural. When a stream is narrowed in this manner, it deepens, providing the trout with more cover.