Spring spawn egg collection a success

BISMARCK (AP) — North Dakota wildlife officials say they collected 22 million northern pike eggs and 61 million walleye eggs during spring spawning operations.

That nearly reached the pike goal and far surpassed the walleye goal, said Jerry Weigel, a fisheries official with the Game and Fish Department. Department staff and personnel from the Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery at Riverdale collected the eggs.

“We had a very good spring, with high-quality eggs that are far above average,” Weigel said.

Weigel said South Dakota officials came up short of their walleye goal, so some of the North Dakota eggs will be sent south. In return, South Dakota, which had a surplus of perch eggs, is sending some of those eggs to North Dakota.

“That was unexpected,” Weigel said. “We struggled a little bit with perch, and didn’t anticipate re-ceiving any help. Everything worked out well.”

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