DENVER — More than 132 million walleye eggs have been collected by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) ensuring another great year for anglers.
CPW said each spring its biologists and volunteers spend weeks capturing thousands of walleye and spawning them at Front Range reservoirs.
From March 14 to March 30, CPW collected 132,374,000 eggs from 1,813 female walleye at Lake Pueblo State Park and Cherry Creek State Park.
CPW said its staff had to strip one slippery fish after another of its milt and roe (sperm and eggs).
The eggs will be fertilized in a boathouse at Lake Pueblo and on a floating barge at Cherry Creek Reservoir. The fertilized eggs will then be sent to CPW hatcheries at Pueblo and Wray where they are hatched and nurtured until they are ready to be stocked in waters across Colorado.
CPW said its hatchery staff also trade them to other states in exchange for desirable gamefish otherwise unavailable in Colorado.
"Our team of aquatic biologists, other CPW staff, and volunteers were able to collect the eggs we needed in only 18 days," said CPW Assistant Aquatic Section Manager Josh Nehring. "Anglers ought to be thrilled because it’s going to mean great fishing in the coming years in Colorado."
CPW has conducted the annual walleye catch since 1988 at Lake Pueblo.
2022 walleye spawn facts
- 18 days of spawning from March 14 to March 30
- Collected 132,374,000 eggs from 1,813 female walleye
- 89,430,000 Walleye
- 40,381,000 Saugeye
- 2,563,000 Triploid Walleye – sterile walleye created by a precise technique of pressurizing the just fertilized eggs to 10,000 psi
Trades with other states for other warm water fish (catfish, wiper)
- 4 million eggs to Oklahoma.
- 4.5 million eggs to Texas.
- 10 million eggs to Nebraska (Colorado gets 10 million late spawn eggs back).
- 2.6 million eggs to North Dakota.
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