"Chris Barton" said:
My concern is since the DNR did not take eggs out of Thornapple this year and they cannot seem to find many fish in LSC there will be no or limited stocking of muskies again this year.

Yes. My first thought is that maybe they should've still taken eggs from Thorn just in case they didn't get any, or enough from LSC. I know there was a concern about VHS, so they didn't want to cross contaminate at all. But surely there's a spot to keep some eggs for a little while? That way, if the eggs from LSC don't take, go back to square 1 with the northern strain?

WISCONSIN!!! "gimme back my GLS, gimme back my GLS fish"

Sorry to all that I wasn't able to get the info in the newsletter this month so you were aware of what happened this spring. Yes, there will be no or VERY limited stocking of GLS this year. If the two brood lakes are stocked I'll be really happy and 2011 will be a success. However at this point that looks unlikely unless the limited number of eggs in the hatchery do very well.

As far as the other concerns… Pretty sure we've answered all the questions about going to GLS for this year (if not forever) at Wolf Lake. Just to be clear though…
– There can not be two different sets of fish in the muskie building at Wolf Lake due to VHS contamination concerns
– Fertilized eggs take about ten days to hatch. There is no reasonable way to keep collected eggs from Thornapple at the hatchery while waiting to see what happens on LSC.

– Iowa and Indiana have been contacted about any surplus they might have this year. Iowa is going through problems with cannibalism right now and isn't sure how their year will turn out. Indiana may have a surplus this year and that looks like the best option. Both sources can only be stocked in a limited number of waters in the state.

Failure has been and will be an option any time with the muskie program, that's just part of the game.

"MattG_braith" said:
Switching strains is obviously going to take time to get going strong but there should be no doubt in our minds that moving to the native GL strain is the right thing to do for the future of our state.

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They will figure it out. IMO a hiccup or two the first few years is to be expected.