It will be “All hands on deck” when these 4.5 million walleye eggs decide to hatch at the same time. These eggs will hatch and all the frye and eggshells will flow out of the hatchery and into our tanks. We will need to watch the flow very carefully 24/7 and make sure the eggshells are constantly cleaned from the filters. If not, the filters will clog and the frye will spill onto the ground. Major loss for all the hard work we’ve put in to date.

See the eggs below that have reached the “eye-up” stage.

Since these eggs were stripped and fertilized within 2 days of each other we will probably see the hatch do the same thing. The eggs are supposed to start hatching based on rise in temperature. This temperature change are called DTU’s (Daily Temperature Units). On May 5th, 2014 we have reached 210 DTU’S. If we do the math based on the law of ratios and averages, we can expect to reach 300 DTU’s this Saturday May 10th, 2014.

 We are watching pumps, flow, temperatures in and outside, checking eggs for clumping and potential fungus, removing dead eggs, cleaning filters daily to assure we have a successful hatchery in our first year of operation.

I will be putting together a spreadsheet and hanging it in the hatchery so people can write down the times they can volunteer for helping with the hatch of the frye and the cleaning of filters.

To read more about the whole process to date, go to the Walleye Wagon page on the Pewaukee Chapter of Walleyes for Tomorrow’s website.

For more information on becoming a member or Sponsor contact Tom Koepp – Pewaukee Chapter Chairman at (414) 333-9306 or email me at thkoepp@wi.rr.com