Wolf Lake walleye stocking: 12 years & counting

The walleye stocking on the Indiana side of Wolf Lake is one of the great private citizen efforts in Chicago outdoors. On Saturday, the 12th annual stocking took place with 4,200 walleye of 5-8 inches placed in Wolf Lake.

And I am beginning to feel old. I still remember the first one and everybody wondering if it would work or go on.

But it does go on and with much success, in part because of a lot of people being involved. Such as Carl Vizzone, who sent a bunch of photos.

Mainly, a lot of people in the outdoors could take a lesson in coalition building from Bruce Caruso below, as the explanation below shows.

Here are the details from Caruso:

On November 14th 2009 Perch America completed its 12 annual walleye stocking at Wolf Lake in Hammond Indiana. We deposited an estimated 4,200 5-8 inch advanced growth walleye fingerlings at noon. Perch America has been working in conjunction with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources on a comprehensive walleye stocking program since 1998. This was our 12th consecutive year of stocking walleyes into Wolf Lake and this brings a total of an estimated 70,000 advanced growth walleye fingerlings that we have deposited into Wolf Lake since the programs inception. This has been a very productive program due to the fact that Wolf Lake has an excellent forage base made up of gizzard shad, White perch and stunted bluegills and also has an excellent habitat for walleyes. The following participants are who make this walleye stocking program such a success. The Indiana DNR, The Indiana Board of animal health, The Hammond Port Authority, the Hammond Parks FOUNDATION, Exxon Mobil, Mik-Lurch tackle,Lake County Fish & Game, the Hammond Mowhawks and Jeff Oesterle, Perch America plus all the anglers who deposit money into the donation jar set up at Mik-Lurch. This is an continual stocking program due to minimal if any natural reproduction and we are trying to offset angler harvest and natural mortality. If anyone is interested in Wolf Lake or Perch America they can contact me at 219-836-1764

Those are a good size for surviving, one of the reasons that the stocking continues to be a success.

But the main reason for the success in the stocking is the people is the people and groups that continue to back the stocking of a lake once considered an industrial wasteland.

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