Stocking Walleyes from Clifford Lake. - FWS photo

From October 2^nd to the 5^th, Dave Wedan from the La Crosse National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, along with Dave Bennet, Bob Hiltner, and Jay Ciucci, from the Rydell National Wildlife Refuge, set fyke nets in Clifford Lake (70 ac), initiating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Minnesota DNR annual walleye harvest and stocking effort. 

Additional crew members included Dan Kumlin and Jeff Lockington from Genoa National Fish Hatchery.  Each spring, Genoa National Fish Hatchery staff release newly hatched walleye fry into Clifford Lake, a shallow freeze-out lake on Rydell NWR.

After a summer of growth, these young of the year walleyes are netted, transported, and stocked in Tribal, Federal, and State waters. The continued rearing success at Rydell has made it Region 3 fisheries premier source of walleye fingerlings for stocking Minnesota Tribal and State waters. 

The 2007 harvest included 20,280 fish netted by the USFWS crew and 20,704 fish netted by the Minnesota DNR crew for a total of 40,984 walleyes (approximately 5-8 inches).  After the harvest, Genoa NFH's Dan Kumlin and Jeff Lockington transported 20,280 walleyes to Upper Bass and Sandy Lakes on the Red Lake Reservation and to North Twin Lake on the White Earth Reservation. 

The other 20,704 walleyes were transported off-reservation to 10 different lakes managed by the Minnesota DNR including Maple, Island, Elbow, Little Bemidji, Cotton, Floyd, Pickerel, Roy, Turtle, and Glenwood.