Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Wisconsin Fishery
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Wisconsin Fishery Project


Assessment of walleye population characteristics in Stevens Point Flowage using passive integrated transponders

May 2014 - June 2016


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

The Wisconsin River supports some of Wisconsin’s most prominent walleye fisheries, but information on these populations is often lacking because of other sampling responsibilities. Our objectives are to use mark-recapture of walleyes implanted with passive integrated transponders (PITs) to develop population models that will allow us to estimate abundance, growth, and mortality metrics for walleyes in Stevens Point Flowage. Our larger goal is to determine whether this approach will be useful for other populations where annual sampling does not occur and sacrifice of fish for otoliths is not desirable.