Steve Silic Talks Fish

Steve Silic is the Forest Preserve District of Cook County Fisheries Biologist and he was kind enough to be the clubs guest speaker on October 11, 2012.  Steve spent time telling us about the incredible Walleye reproduction/stocking program that takes place at Lake Tampier which is just south west of Chicago.  Steve starts in early spring by catching several adult walleye from the lake using gillnets, fyke nets as well as Electro shock.  The electro shock is done at night when walleyes are most active and can yield as many as eighty in an hour.  The fish are sorted by sex and as many as 35,000 to 615,000 eggs are harvested from a female per year.  The eggs are mixed and fertilized in bowls and hatched at the McGinnis Field station.  The fry are then transported to a small holding pond for about 6-8 weeks until they are two to three inches and are then called fingerlings.  The fingerlings will then be transported to Lake Tampier and will now have a 25% survival rate compared to the only 1% if they were released as fry. Lake Tampier has an incredible walleye population with several walleye weighing in from eight to twelve pounds.