WALLEYE PROGRAM WILL BENEFIT UPPER ST. FRANCIS RIVER REGION

Anglers of the upper St. Francis River will have something more to look forward to, thanks to a new walleye stocking program just started by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

Fisheries Management Biologist Mark Boone, who works at MDC's Cape Girardeau Regional Service Center, says the agency stocked about 40,000 2-inch walleye between the Highway 72 bridge in Madison County and the Highway 34 bridge in Wayne County in late May.

MDC will follow up the initial stocking with releases of about 51,000 walleye fingerlings each May for the next two years. Boone notes that the stocking program is not intended to be a permanent program.

"The goal is to release enough walleye to establish a self-sustaining population," said Boone.

Walleye, locally known as jack salmon, were present in the upper St. Francis River until the early 1970s. In fact, the former state record came from the St. Francis River. It weighed 20.5 pounds and was caught in July 1961. Boone says fisheries managers don't know what caused walleye in the upper St. Francis River to decline. Possible reasons might include the construction of Wappapello Dam, a period of poor water quality, or extensive over-harvest.

Biologists collected adult walleye from the Black River below Clearwater Dam during March. These fish were transported to Chesapeake Hatchery near Mt. Vernon where they were spawned and the eggs were hatched. The young fish were raised to 2 inches long at Indian Trail Hatchery near Salem.