Walleye restoration and conservation in the Lake Champlain Basin 

Egg Collection and Incubation 

The Walleye rearing season begins in the spring when the Walleye come into the rivers to spawn. The spawning season is usually in the month of March and early April. Each year the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department heads to either the Poultney, Winooski or Missisquoi rivers on a rotating basis to collect Walleye. Both males and females are collected and held for egg stripping, fertilization and incubation 

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 The captured fish are first weighed, measured, tagged and checked for health. Those fish deemed ready to spawn by the biologist on site are then placed in a hatchery truck and moved to Vermont Fish & Wildlife’s Bald Hill Hatchery Facility and the Lake Champlain Walleye Association Portable Hatchery on the Misisquoi River. When the timing is right for the females they are stripped of their eggs. Their eggs are stripped into a round shallow pan and then fertilized by the male’s milt. Quickly they are placed in a mixture of clay and water which coats the eggs and keeps them from sticking together. After being thoroughly stirred and coated with the clay water mixture they are then taken to a water bath were they sit for a period of time to harden. 

LCWA also runs a portable Walleye Hatchery in Whitehall New York. The egg collection for this hatchery is supported by New York Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The same process takes place in the Whitehall Hatchery that takes place in Vermont. After fish capture all fish operations are run by our southern Director John Rozell. John has done a great job raising Walleye Fry to be stocked in the southern end of Lake Champlain. Under John’s direction each year LCWA stocks from 800,000 to 1,300,000 walleye fry in the southern end of Lake Champlain.