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+--- Thread: orthern Pike Broodstock Collection (/showthread.php?tid=193393)
orthern Pike Broodstock Collection - Hutch00 - 03-31-2005
Hackettstown State Fish Hatchery
Broodstock Collection Notes
Week of March 21, 2005
The 2005 broodstock collection season for the Hackettstown Hatchery
officially began on March 21 when the hatchery crew set their first trap
nets in Farrington Lake to collect northern pike. In the first five
days of trap-netting, seven northern pike were caught. Of those seven
pike, two were ripe females that were subsequently spawned at the
hatchery. Those two fish produced 96,212 eggs that are now being
incubated at the Hackettstown Hatchery.
The largest of the pike captured in the trap nets at Farrington was a
14.4 pound female, which demonstrated to biologists that Farrington is
continuing to produce quality fish. Equally encouraging were three fish
in the 16-20 inch range representing a successful year-class of fish
from the hatchery.
In addition to the seven pike, which were transported from Farrington
Lake to the Hackettstown Hatchery where the spawn-taking operation was
performed, several hundred other fish representing a variety of species
were caught and immediately released back into the lake. Included in
the catch were 330 yellow perch, 24 white perch, 90 black crappies, 975
bluegills, 130 pumpkinseed sunfish, 8 white suckers, 5 golden shiners,
17 chain pickerel, 16 largemouth bass, and 26 brown bullheads. The bass
were predominantly in the 2-3 lb. range with the largest weighing almost
4 pounds. The bullheads were remarkably good-sized, ranging from 12-15
inches in length and the largest weighing almost 2 pounds.
The number and variety of fish caught indicate that the 41 to 43 degree
temperatures in the lake are warm enough to get some fish moving out of
winter haunts and into shallow, near-shore environments. The northern
pike that were removed from Farrington will be returned to the lake in a
few weeks when the spawning operations have been completed.
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