WDNR Forage Harvest A Musky Fisheries Tipping Point By Craig Sandell © 2013 I was alerted by Kurt Krueger, outdoor writer for the Vilas County News Review, to the practice of the Wisconsin DNR of harvesting forage to feed hatchery production. I had not heard of that practice, so I contacted Tim Simonson at the DNR in Madison. He referred me to Bruce Underwood at the Woodruff hatchery. In addition to sending me a spread sheet chronicling forage harvest on lakes in Vilas and Oneida Counties, Bruce indicated that forage harvesting was suspended in 2006 due to VHS concerns but did note that sucker eggs are still taken to support hatchery production. The spread sheet that Bruce sent me covers the years between 1998 and 2006 and shows the forage harvest in pounds for the lakes listed. The two tables shown below list the total pounds of forage taken from lakes and rivers in Vilas and Oneida Counties from 1998 to 2006 and are arranged by the highest poundage taken.
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